New mortgages hit 10-year high as lending activity grows September 11, 2018 Mortgage lending picked up in the second quarter of the year, with new commitments hitting their highest level in more than a decade amid a bump in the number of first-time buyers coming onto the property market. Read more: London house prices set to hit lowest growth levels since financial crash The value of new [...]
Arch rivals: Blackstone and Telereal Trillium win bid for Network Rail property portfolio September 10, 2018 Network Rail is to sell off its £1.46bn commercial property portfolio to an Anglo-US consortium in a deal with significant interest for commuters and other rail travellers. The much-criticised railway infrastructure owner says it plans to use the cash, from US giant Blackstone and Britain’s Telereal Trillium, to upgrade services across the country after coming [...]
Property supply sinks as hot summer distracts hopeful buyers September 10, 2018 The number of houses being put up for sale tumbled for the third consecutive month in August, in a sign that the summer’s bumper hot weather has distracted buyers from the UK property market. Newly-listed houses dropped below 62,000 last month, marking the lowest level since the start of 2018, according to online estate agents [...]
Singapore buyer swoops up £180m student property portfolio September 10, 2018 A Singaporean media conglomerate agreed to buy a series of university accommodation assets in a deal worth £180m today, as the demand for the UK’s student property market shows no sign of slowing down. Unite Students, which is looking to reshape its portfolio in a bid to focus on UK universities which have the highest [...]
Look to the green belt: Paper calls for radical changes to land near train stations in bid to solve housing crisis September 10, 2018 Freeing up green belt land near train stations could pave the way for the construction of 1.5m new houses, according to a report which seeks to tackle London’s chronic shortage of affordable housing. Radical proposals that call on the government to loosen development restrictions around green belt areas within a half-mile radius of train stations have been [...]
Warren Buffett partners with London estate agent Kay & Co in vote of confidence for capital’s property market September 10, 2018 The capital's property market has received a vote of confidence as billionaire Warren Buffett partners with London estate agent Kay & Co, despite a recent house price slump. Luxury agent Kay & Co has signed a franchise agreement to join Buffett's investment vehicle Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. Buffett, known as the "Oracle of Omaha", is the chief [...]
London house prices set to hit lowest growth levels since financial crash September 10, 2018 London house prices are set to drop 0.7 per cent next year, marking the lowest annual rate of growth in the UK’s property market since the 2008 financial crisis. Big Four accountancy firm KPMG has projected that property prices in the capital will continue to fall until 2021 in a report out today that suggests [...]
Interiors: Here are the high street brands winning a PETA Innovation Award for venturing into vegan homeware September 7, 2018 Let’s face it – if we saw where our meat comes from, most of us would be appalled. While some choose to the look the other way, others have turned to veganism and the stars of the US Open showed us this week that it’s a lifestyle that’s just as much about health as it [...]
Holiday Homes: Morocco is re-fashioning itself into a hotspot for the international polo crowd with houses to match September 7, 2018 In pride of place on the wall of the Jnan Amar Polo Club in Marrakech is a picture of Sir Richard Branson. Taken in 2014, it shows the grinning Virgin mogul at the first British Polo Day, held at these Moroccan grounds for the first time and contributing a tidy donation to the Eve Foundation, [...]
Property of the Week: The wing of a church damaged during the war is now a huge house of historical proportions September 7, 2018 What makes a house worth £22m? Well, there are a few things. Firstly, location, location, location. This property on Upper Cheyne Row, one of the most sought after addresses in Chelsea, is also home to vacuum supremo Sir James Dyson and, not one, but two Rolling Stones in bassist Bill Wyman and frontman Mick Jagger. [...]