PROPERTY NEWS November 4, 2010 FINCHLEY ROAD’S NEW LUXURY DEVELOPMENT Albany Homes International has unveiled West Heath Place, which is a luxury collection of two, three and four-bedroom apartments as well as penthouses and a cottage on Finchley Road. Prices start from £795,000 for a two-bed apartment. Call 020 8201 8780 for appointments to visit the show home. FOXTONS OPENS [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS November 4, 2010 BRITS DON’T LIKE TO QUEUE ANY MORE British people are no longer as willing to patiently queue, according to research published today by the Payments Council. In fact, the average British adult can stand just 10 minutes and 42 seconds of waiting before getting frustrated. 83 per cent of people now turn to virtual alternatives [...]
Foreign buyers prop up London property values November 1, 2010 FOREIGN buyers are helping push up house prices in the most affluent areas of central London, according to fresh research. While the value of prime homes in London has fallen one per cent since July, overseas buyers have buoyed prices in areas like Kensington and Chelsea, says agent Knight Frank. Foreign buyers made up 68 [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 31, 2010 THE SUNDAYS The Sunday Telegraph MAUDE DEMANDS SERCO ANSWER Serco is to be ordered to explain to the government why it took the highly unusual step of writing to its leading suppliers to demand that they pay a blanket 2.5 per cent “cash rebate” on their work this year or risk losing future contracts. Serco, [...]
PROPERTY NEWS July 22, 2010 SAVILLS’ PROPERTY AUCTION NEXT TUESDAY Bargain-hunting property investors rejoice. Next Tuesday sees Savills hold one of its residential auctions. There’s a tenanted three-bedroom flat in a portered block on Great Cumberland Place next to Marble Arch is starting at £380,000 and a derelict semi-detached house on the Chiswick High Road is also up for grabs, [...]
Safeguard your possessions July 8, 2010 FROM “an Englishman’s home is his castle” to “keeping up with the Joneses”, there are plenty of old adages evoking Britons’ love for their houses and their possessions. Combine this with our customary practice of preparing for the worst and you might think that we would be rather conscientious about insuring our homes and their [...]
BAA scraps plans to add new runways May 24, 2010 BAA, the UK airports operator, scrapped controversial plans to add extra runways at Stansted and Heathrow yesterday, after the new government said it would not back expansion. The operator withdrew its planning application for a second runway at Stansted and cancelled work on a planning application for a third runway at Heathrow in reaction to [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 12, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES INDIAN TELECOMS GROUPS HIT OUT AT CHARGES Telecoms companies in India have raised alarm over a threat of retrospective charges for users of mobile spectrum that analysts warn could cost them hundreds of millions of dollars. The move by the Indian telecoms regulator has provoked interest from Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar. MICROSOFT [...]
Foreigners to avoid Darling’s stamp duty March 25, 2010 WEALTHY foreigners will avoid paying Alistair Darling’s latest stamp duty hike on properties worth over £1m at an opportunity cost of tens of millions to the Treasury’s coffers, it emerged yesterday. Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), which are set up offshore for the purpose of holding property, own a large amount of the UK’s high-end estates. [...]
Going underground to extend your home March 25, 2010 IT seems we Britons are spending more and more time down under – in our basements, that is. No longer storerooms for junk, these subterranean spaces are increasingly becoming part of our homes, and their uses increasingly varied, with owners busy moulding cinema rooms, saunas, gyms, even golf simulator rooms. And that’s just in your [...]