Financial services company LV urges government to scrap stamp duty for pensioners looking to downsize April 12, 2016 A well-known financial services company is today urging government to scrap stamp duty for pensioners who are looking to downsize to help further fund their retirement. Research by LV has discovered that retirees are increasingly looking towards bricks and mortar as a way to finance their golden years, but many are unable to unlock the [...]
Lawyers and accountants are increasingly looking to property, not pensions, to fund their retirement April 11, 2016 What do the legal eagles and the bean counters have in common? Both lawyers and accountants are increasingly turning to property as a means of funding their golden years, research released today has discovered. The study by Bower Private Clients found that 29 per cent of lawyers and 34 per cent of accountants are planning to [...]
Trying to sell your house? A third of homes in some London boroughs have cut their asking prices April 11, 2016 Another sign London's housing market might have hit its peak – after new research suggested sellers of as many as a third of homes in some parts of the capital cut asking prices. The research, by property analysis firm Propcision, found sellers in Kensington and Chelsea were the worst-hit, with asking prices on a third [...]
Tube map shows most unaffordable areas to rent in London April 9, 2016 Everybody knows that renting in London is really, really expensive. But which areas require city-dwellers to cough up the most cash? The answer is most places, according to a tube map drawn up by housing charity Shelter which lumps areas into three categories – "unaffordable", "difficult to afford," and affordable." So it will come as no surprise [...]
Why rising London house prices have got parents buying homes for their school-age children April 8, 2016 Every week, City A.M. invites an industry professional to write about an emerging trend in the property market. Over the past few years, given the exceptional price growth London has seen, the role of “the bank of mum and dad” in house sales has evolved considerably. No longer restricted to parents helping their 20-something adult children finishing [...]
Another sign London’s ultra-high-end homes are losing their sparkle, as One Hyde Park designer Candy & Candy falls into a loss April 8, 2016 When the first homes were sold in 2012, its gleaming towers became the centre of a storm of criticism: now the interior designer behind controversial uber-prime residential development One Hyde Park have slumped into a loss. Figures filed with Companies House yesterday show interior designer Candy & Candy, which designed the communal areas and many of the apartments [...]
Oh, he does like to be beside the seaside: Luke Johnson has just bought Brighton Pier for £18m April 8, 2016 He may be best known as the former owner of Pizza Express, but it seems Luke Johnson is more of a scream-if-you-want-to-go-faster man now: he's just splashed out (see what we did there?) on the company behind Brighton Pier. This morning Johnson's company, Aim-listed Eclectic Bar Group, said it had entered into an agreement with the [...]
Shiver me timbers: Architects propose plans for London’s first wooden skyscraper April 8, 2016 Forget steel and concrete. Wood is poised to take over as the construction material of the 21st century according to architects at the University of Cambridge and PLP Architecture, who have revealed plans for what London's first timber skyscraper could look like. Researchers at the university will today present London mayor Boris Johnson with conceptual [...]
From Doctor Who penthouses gothic three-beds, here are the new builds hitting the London property market this week April 7, 2016 Queen’s Wharf, Hammersmith Four penthouses are on sale atop a riverside scheme in Hammersmith. Named Clark, Dixon, Appleby and Thorne after four key figures in the construction of Hammersmith Bridge, the penthouses have three bedrooms and a private roof terrace each. Prices start at £4.2m and they’re due to be finished in 2017. The scheme [...]
Another sign that stamp duty deadline sent buy-to-let investors into a buying frenzy April 7, 2016 More proof George Osborne's stamp duty wizard wheeze served to push up prices in the run-up to the deadline, after new figures showed UK house prices rose by the most in at least a year in March. Halifax's house price index, published this morning, showed prices rose 10.1 per cent in the year to March, [...]