Now that he is mayor, Sadiq Khan must ignore the Nimbys and look to the Greenbelt to solve our housing crisis May 9, 2016 London needs to build more homes, but from reading the press coverage of the mayoral election over the past few months you may have forgotten that. Instead, you could be forgiven for thinking that this election was all about deciding if we wanted a Corbyn-supporting son of a bus driver or a posh boy Etonian [...]
Dip in house price growth “caused by weak consumer confidence”, says Halifax – but others think it could be the Brexit effect May 9, 2016 UK house price growth actually dipped last month, with economists blaming weakening consumer sentiment for a slowing in annual increases. According to the Halifax House Price Index, average house prices fell 0.8 per cent in April to £212.321. This meant the annual change had slowed from 10.1 per cent recorded in the year to March to 9.2 per cent. [...]
Parking mad: London parking spaces sold for over £200,000 May 8, 2016 LONDON is one of the world’s most expensive places to pay for parking space. On Brewer Street in Soho, for example, you could spend over £50 on just three hours of parking. That may be why some mysterious buyers have forked out as much as much as half a million pounds to buy a parking [...]
Housebuilders have their doubts about government targets May 6, 2016 When the government revealed its target to build one million homes by 2020, plenty of those dreaming of stepping onto the property ladder must have rejoiced. However, a study out today warns that they might have celebrated too soon, as over half (51 per cent) housebuilders believe that the target will not be met, with lack of land, painfully [...]
Canary Wharf boss says London could be overtaken by EU cities within years if Brexit happens May 6, 2016 Canary Wharf property boss Sir George Iacobescu has said London would be overtaken by other key European cities within five years if Britain leaves the European Union. "There is nothing you have here in London that is not replicable," Iacobescu said at the City Property Association's EU referendum debate last night. "Whether it is Frankfurt [...]
Knowing me knowing Kew: your guide to buying and living in this greenest of London areas May 5, 2016 For a capital city, London is pretty green – not environmentally, of course – but aesthetically, coming in at number three for green space globally. Kew, however, is pretty green even by London’s standards and its 75 acre botanical gardens are world-renowned. This, coupled with an underground and overground line and good schools, make it [...]
Reviving the Mary Celeste of property: Wandsworth’s most astonishing home May 5, 2016 When city recruiter Susan Cuff first viewed her home in Wandsworth, it was a bit like a residential Mary Celeste. Abandoned 18 months previously, there was still washing in the machine and uneaten food lying around. But underneath the debris of bachelors gone by, she saw there was potential for it to be an incredible [...]
The £18 million view: designer Martin Kemp on overlooking the Tower of London May 5, 2016 Of course the money shot is the view,” says interior designer to the world’s squillionaires, Martin Kemp, pointing out the vista of the Tower of London, Tower Bridge and the Thames at close quarters. I can spare a glance out of the window, but turn back to the job at hand of stroking my way [...]
Settled aims to make the home buying process far smoother May 5, 2016 While most people will start a home search these days on Rightmove or Zoopla, less of us are ready to ditch the traditional estate agent and go online, when it comes to the selling process. And the reason why the online agents have failed to grab a larger market share so far is, according to [...]
Gardening spend in the UK shows signs of slowing, survey shows May 4, 2016 The amount people in the UK spend on gardening is falling, new research has revealed. Despite the UK being a nation of garden lovers, with a third of people spending time every week gardening, total spend would appear to have dropped since Lloyds Bank Insurance carried out a survey last year. Just 12 per cent [...]