Singapore bank UOB suspends London property loans following Brexit vote June 30, 2016 Singaporean bank UOB has become the city state's first lender to suspend loans for London properties citing uncertainty caused by the result of last week's EU referendum. "We will temporarily stop receiving foreign property loan applications for London properties," a UOB spokeswoman said in an email. "As the aftermath of the UK referendum is still [...]
Canvas & Stone: We ask five entrepreneurs who inherited country estates how they managed to turn their crumbling piles into profitable businesses June 29, 2016 Inheriting a country estate sounds like one of the most ridiculous privileges that could be bestowed upon a 30-something in modern Britain. In reality, it’s a bit like being told to look after a dying relative in the middle of nowhere who keeps stealing from your wallet when you’re not looking. When five friends suddenly [...]
Why British homeowners still aren’t buying into the idea of the home connected by smart tech June 29, 2016 Take any object in your home and you can guarantee that at some point a Silicon Valley startup has tried to create a web-enabled version of it. The ever expanding “Internet of Things” (IoT), as it’s clunkily termed, now includes almost every household item under the sun. Many are useful, such as thermostats, light bulbs, [...]
The architectural concepts behind 2016’s Serpentine Pavilion and Summer Houses in Hyde Park June 29, 2016 The annual unveiling of the pavilion in front of the Serpentine Gallery has become a prestigious event in the British architectural calendar. It all started in the year 2000, when Zaha Hadid designed a space for a fundraising event in Hyde Park. The result was so popular the gallery has invited an architect to reimagine [...]
Hot Property: Buy a house on an award-winning scheme created by the neighbours of a vacant, rubbish-strewn site in north London June 29, 2016 Everyone walks past an eyesore on their way home from work, but very few people choose to do something about it. But Jake Edgley, an Islington resident who lived next to a vacant site on Godson Street, went further than that; he turned it into an award winning piece of contemporary design and moved his [...]
Global: Move over Hong Kong. Macau, China’s former sin city is suddenly looking like a safe bet on the property market June 29, 2016 Established in the 1960s as a gambling hotspot, Macau was once infamous in Asia as the ultimate vice town. Gambling was entirely legal, but it wasn’t the sort of place you went for a weekend unless you had friends in the people-removal business. Skip forward to 2002 and the lifting of the monopoly on Asian [...]
Now trending: The simple tile is the unsung hero of 21st century interior design; here are some of the best to transform your home June 29, 2016 There is a story, probably apocryphal, that when architects were designing Apple’s new Cupertino headquarters, Steve Jobs spent a few minutes looking at the blueprints before telling the architects to go away and make the building half a foot longer. “Half a foot? How on earth will that make a difference?” they implored, knowing it [...]
My House: Make-up artist Laura Pye, whose portfolio includes working backstage at the BAFTAs, talks about her converted church in Stepney June 29, 2016 The flat is in a converted church, so it has loads of funny architectural quirks where the developers had to work around existing features. My favourite part is the beautiful stained glass windows, which let in loads of natural light. I’m a make-up artist so that’s really important; it means I can invite people round [...]
UK house prices rose in June – but will Brexit hit house prices? Three experts give their view June 29, 2016 It seems the nation's house buyers were unperturbed at the prospect of a Brexit vote, after new figures showed house prices rose in June – despite warnings by the chancellor. Figures from Nationwide this morning showed prices crept up 0.2 per cent in June, or 5.1 per cent in the year to the end of [...]
Nearly a fifth of Londoners are less likely to sell their home post-Brexit June 29, 2016 Nearly a fifth of Londoners say they are less likely to sell their property after Britain voted to leave the European Union. A survey of UK homeowners found an average of 12 per cent are less likely to put up a 'for sale' sign in the next three years – and the figure rises to 18 per cent of [...]