500m bricks ‘just sitting there’ as 1.5m homes target looms September 14, 2026 There are half a billion bricks lying unused in Britain, it has been revealed, piling fresh pressure on the government’s “stretch target” of building 1.5m homes by the next election. As many as 500,000,000 bricks – enough to build 50,000 homes – are “just sitting there” in factory yards across the country, the GMB Union [...]
Battersea Power Station enters final ‘playful’ phase of £5bn project September 14, 2026 Battersea Power Station has entered the final phase of its £5bn regeneration project after its Malaysian owners submitted plans for the site’s remaining 16 acres. The neighbourhood’s newest development will add as much as 3.2m sq ft of residential, commercial and leisure space to the area, more than 15 years on from the original plans [...]
Mortgage rates at five-month high ahead of Bank of England decision September 14, 2026 Borrowers are bracing for more mortgage woes ahead of the Bank of England’s interest rate decision this week. Mortgage rates have climbed to their highest level in nearly five months after some 25 lenders hiked their deals in the last week including the likes of HSBC, Lloyds and Nationwide. The average two-year fix has risen [...]
Stamp duty reform is ‘urgent,’ Berkeley tells Burnham September 11, 2026 Berkeley has urged Andy Burnham to commit to “urgent reform” to stamp duty, which it says has become a “binding constraint” on housebuilders and buyers. The FTSE 250 firm said that stamp duty is to blame for the slump in demand for new homes, because it makes first-time-buying unaffordable and dissuades existing homeowners from moving [...]
City policymakers push to end ‘old-school’ ban on tower logos September 10, 2026 Square Mile policymakers are ramping up pressure on the City to drop “old-school” rules which block firms from displaying logos on their buildings, in a move which they say could drive growth. The City of London Corporation, which governs the historic financial district, has long blocked companies from displaying their logos on the top of [...]
The aristocratic landowner taking record rent from ‘cradle-to-grave’ health empire September 10, 2026 One of London’s biggest landowning families raked in record rent from its Marylebone property empire last year, helped by a surge in demand at its ‘cradle-to-grave’ private healthcare district. Howard de Walden Estates, which owns the Harley Street health district and the residential Marylebone Village, grew its rental income from the estate by 9.3 per [...]
Open House Festival: The best guided walks in the Square Mile September 8, 2026 As we celebrate the Square Mile with our Toast the City Awards 2026, here are some amazing City-based Open House Festival tours, including close looks at some of our nominees. Money, money, money What is the City of London most famous for? Money, of course. This Open House tour, of the Square Mile’s financial past [...]
As it happened: FTSE 100 waivers; oil nears $100 on new Hormuz sanctions September 8, 2026 Welcome back to City AM’s FTSE 100 liveblog. The UK’s blue-chip index slipped on Tuesday morning, as investors weighed fresh tensions in the Middle East which boosted London’s oil majors but dragged on other members. Oil prices continued to march upwards. Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil prices – gained another 1.5 per [...]
Zoopla bets on house envy as Brits snoop on neighbours’ property prices September 7, 2026 Zoopla, the UK’s second-largest property portal, has cashed in on Brits’ house envy as it pivots towards serving existing homeowners who want to snoop on the value of other people’s homes. New chief executive Paul Whitehead has pushed the property site away from an emphasis on transactions, instead hoping to woo homeowners who use the [...]
House prices fall for first time in three years as borrowing costs weigh on buyers September 7, 2026 House prices fell in the year to August in the first annual decrease in nearly three years, as high borrowing costs cause prospective buyers to “sit tight”. The average UK house price edged down 0.2 per last month to £298,468, according to Lloyds’ house price index. This marks a 0.4 per cent year-on-year fall, the [...]