Unite to build student housing on its new car park in Wembley September 18, 2013 WEMBLEY is set to get more university housing, after Schroder Real Estate sold an acre plot of the north London site to student accommodation specialist Unite. The £7.4m site, currently a car park, will be the new home of a 684-room student block and 10,000 square feet of retail space, providing Unite and its Singaporean [...]
Builders hit out at bureaucratic house planning September 18, 2013 HOUSEBUILDER Redrow dismissed debate that government mortgage schemes were fuelling a housing boom and said the UK’s “bureaucratic mess” of a planning system was the main cause of the housing shortage. The government has been criticised by economists and industry players for its launch of the Help to Buy scheme in March, the first part [...]
Palace Street block to be turned into apartments fit for a queen September 18, 2013 IT’S AN address that could soon be one of the most desirable in London: a listed building just across the road from Buckingham Palace. Property company Northacre yesterday pledged to turn the former offices for the Department for International Development into a luxury apartment block. DfiD has freed up the prime location at 1 Palace [...]
Funders need guarantees before they will invest in infrastructure September 18, 2013 BRITAIN is failing to build the infrastructure it requires because the government does not give enough clarity on what returns investors can expect, a new report will claim today. Private sector backers want to invest in new UK infrastructure but the government does not currently offer enough long-term assurances on the risks associated with individual [...]
The price of housing in Chinese cities soars up to 20pc in a year September 18, 2013 LONDON might be experiencing signs of a housing bubble, but the pace of property price growth is dwarfed by the boom in China, which yesterday said real estate prices were soaring by almost 20 per cent a year in the biggest cities. China’s new home prices rose at the fastest rate in at least two [...]
Stan Life cash for property debt September 18, 2013 Standard Life Investments has entered the commercial real estate debt market with a £250m pot to invest. The group has a segregated mandate on behalf of Standard Life Assurance to spend the money on high-quality secured loans in the UK market, the company said yesterday. The announcement comes after the recent appointment of Neil Odom-Haslett [...]
Helical Bar invests in regions September 18, 2013 Helical Bar has splashed out on a £50m portfolio of properties across the country, ranging from retail units in Doncaster to an office for the department of communities and local government. The seller was an unnamed private client of Jones Lang LaSalle. Duncan Walker, investment director at Helical Bar, said the purchase “provides good cashflow [...]
LondonMetric buys Wickes units September 18, 2013 LondonMetric has snapped up £28m-worth of Wickes outlets across the country from Aberdeen Asset Management, the firm announced yesterday. LondonMetric’s joint venture with the Universities Superannuation Scheme will use its loan facility to buy the buildings, and added that the firm is already in talks with Wickes to “materially extend the unexpired lease terms and [...]
Positive results for M&C Saatchi as profits rise on new business wins and growing markets September 18, 2013 M&C SAATCHI yesterday reported profits up six per cent for the first half to 30 June, on the back of new business wins for the company. The London-based advertising agency, behind the NHS’s “Change 4 Life” promotion to encourage healthy eating and the “Keeping London Moving” campaign to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the London [...]
London is making an effort to bring in Islamic finance players September 18, 2013 BRITAIN is encouraging banks through a task force to establish sharia-compliant products, aiming to position London as a Western hub for a fast-growing Islamic finance sector that is expected to reach $2.6 trillion by 2017. “We want to be the leading (Islamic) finance sector outside of the Muslim world,” deputy mayor of London Edward Lister [...]