Opinion: Agents are turning into party planners to entice buyers and investors to buy new homes in London January 6, 2017 Last year marked a shift in the central London market. The buyers are still out there – only now they have a broader choice of new homes to buy. This poses a challenge for developers: how do you target a particular group of buyers with precision and make them remember your homes above all the [...]
Bag a bargain: Here’s how much high-end London house prices fell last year January 5, 2017 Got a couple of million going spare? You could bag a bargain in the capital, after new research suggested top-end house prices fell 6.9 per cent year-on-year in the final quarter of 2016. Research by Savills suggested house prices in so-called prime central London, high-end areas including Mayfair, Belgravia and Chelsea, fell 2.2 per cent during [...]
Government opens bidding for £7bn affordable housing fund January 5, 2017 Bidding has started for housebuilders looking for a slice of a £7bn government fund for affordable housing. As part of its commitment to get would-be homeowners on the housing ladder, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) is inviting housing associations, local authorities and other developers to apply for funding to build the homes [...]
Persimmon lays strong foundations for 2017 January 5, 2017 Persimmon is kicking off 2017 with some good news, as it reported today that its revenues and sales were up. And the markets certainly seem to be happy with the housebuilder – the company's share price was up 4.42 per cent at the open. The figures The housebuilder's trading update has laid some strong foundations for the [...]
Middle Eastern investor buys up Sullivan & Cromwell’s European HQ January 4, 2017 A Middle Eastern investor has snapped up 1 New Fetter Lane, the European headquarters of international law firm Sullivan & Cromwell. UBS Triton Property Fund sold the Grade A property, which is located just south of Holborn Circus, for £69m. Sullivan & Cromwell recently agreed a new lease on the building which will end in 2026. Read [...]
Bat boxes and playgrounds are holding back property development, says industry group January 3, 2017 A property industry group has called for changes to the planning system because bat boxes and playgrounds are holding back house building in the UK. Housebuilders are forced to meet various conditions before building, called pre-commencement conditions, some of which are halting development unnecessarily, the Home Builders Federation (HBF) has said. Read more: These are the [...]
Man Group completes deal to buy Aalto Invest January 3, 2017 Investment management giant Man Group has completed its buyout of property investment firm Aalto Invest, a "key step" in plans to diversify its business. Man Group's share price was up 1.78 per cent after it made the announcement. The firm first unveiled plans to take on Aalto in October 2016, and said it will also launch a new business, [...]
The UK property market will be boosted by global uncertainty in 2017, according to Colliers January 3, 2017 The UK's property market will be boosted by global uncertainty through 2017, according to forecasts from Colliers International. With Prime Minister Theresa May set to trigger Article 50 before April, the real estate advisor warned that Brexit fears could affect the UK market. But it added that investors would see through that uncertainty, with property [...]
The average rent in London has reached a record high December 30, 2016 The government may have spent the last few years doing everything in its power to reduce the number of people buying second homes – but that hasn't hurt the capital's rental prices, after new research suggested rents in London reached a record high in November. The Your Move rental index showed average rents in the capital [...]
UK house price growth has edged up from its November low December 29, 2016 December may traditionally be a bad time to try to sell your house – but UK house prices bucked the trend this month, with growth edging up from their low in November. Nationwide's house price index showed prices rose 4.5 per cent in the year to December, up from 4.4 per cent in November, its [...]