Autumn Statement opinion: Will the Chancellor’s ban on fees kill off the high street letting agent? November 25, 2016 Two days on and the property industry is still reeling from the Chancellor Philip Hammond’s decision to ban letting agent fees for tenants almost immediately. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, given that these fees were banned in Scotland four years ago and the Government has actually been consulting on them for the last [...]
Property of the Week: Church Grove in Kingston, an enormous Victorian treasure on the edge of a royal park, is on sale for £2.695m November 25, 2016 If you have a conservatory in your house, you’re considered pretty lucky. But few have one that was built in the 19th century that’s secured with a stable door straight from Hampton Court Palace. Church Grove, a six-bedroom house in Kingston-Upon-Thames, does though. Foxtons has been marketing the unusual feature as a “sun room”, but [...]
New Builds: Homes on sale this week on a new town square in Ealing and Help to Buy in Sydenham November 25, 2016 Dylon Works, Sydenham From £227,997 with Help to Buy London, from £389,995 for private sale apartments Over 200 homes will go on sale tomorrow, with the option to take out a 40 per cent equity loan via the government’s Help to Buy London scheme. Primed for first time buyers, 221 out of 223 one to three bedroom [...]
Sirius Real Estate to move to main market in 2017 November 25, 2016 AIM-listed Sirius Real Estate is planning to move to main market in early 2017, City A.M. understands. The property company, which focuses on commercial property in Germany, is expected to announce the news in the new year. Read more: Angela Merkel confirms she will seek fourth term Sirius is listed in both London and Johannesburg. It [...]
The average £1m London home now has fewer than three bedrooms November 25, 2016 The average home worth £1m in the capital has just 2.9 bedrooms, figures have suggested. Using data from OntheMarket.com Savills researcher Lucian Cook found homes valued at between £900,000 and £1.1m across the rest of the UK have more than four bedrooms – while in London, it is fewer than three. The next lowest figure [...]
London houses now cost 14 times average earnings November 25, 2016 The house price to earnings ratio in London is now over 14 times. According to figures from Hometrack, the widening gap between supply and demand in the capital has pushed house prices up by 86 per cent since 2009. Read more: People are pretty confident house prices rose this month This means the ratio between [...]
Regional property investment promises better returns than London in Brexit Britain November 24, 2016 Middle Eastern buyers are looking beyond London to invest in property, regional investor Palace Capital has said. With London becoming such an expensive place to buy, foreigners are eyeing up the regions to get better returns. Read more: Asian investors have spent £1.5bn on London property since the Brexit vote Palace Capital specialises in commercial [...]
Winner of the RIBA International Prize for Architecture is a university in Peru November 24, 2016 The winner of the inaugural RIBA International Prize for Architecture has gone to an engineering university in Peru. The UTEC building in Lima was priased by judges for being a shining example of merging form and function, with its brutalist design the perfect foil for the no-nonsense academic work that takes place inside. The judging panel praised [...]
Countrywide shares just hit an all-time low after it warned on its earnings November 24, 2016 As if Countrywide didn't have a bad enough day yesterday after Philip Hammond's decision to ditch letting fees, today shares in the UK's largest estate agent hit an all-time low following a decidedly downbeat assessment of the property market. In a statement this morning the company, which owns estate agent brands including Hamptons International and Bairstow [...]
Nic London says government planning procedures are impeding small housebuilders November 24, 2016 Figures released earlier this month show that nearly 200,000 homes were added to the housing stock in 2015-16 – a good start to delivering the 1m homes the government has pledged this parliament. But more needs to be done if we’re going to continue to build enough houses for our burgeoning population, and we will [...]