Mortgage lending plummets in April as estate agents cross fingers for rate cut June 2, 2025 Mortgage lending dropped in April after the market ‘reset’ following the end of the stamp duty holiday, according to new figures. Net borrowing of mortgage debt decreased sharply by £13.7bn to -£0.8bn in April, according to the Bank of England’s latest data. Net mortgage approvals for house purchases also fell for the third consecutive month, [...]
Government slashes red tape to tackle housing crisis May 28, 2025 The government will slash red tape to get more construction by smaller building firms off the ground, and to “get working people on the housing ladder,” Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has said as Labour looks to promote its pro-business credentials. A relaxation of environmental protections is expected, including Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirements which [...]
Happy Cost of Rent Day Londoners – for the rest of the year your money is yours May 27, 2025 With the average London tenant needing to work 146 days a year just to pay off their rent, today marks a miserable milestone, writes Sebastian Charleton.
New rules could see housebuilders who leave sites unfinished stripped of land May 24, 2025 Housebuilders who leave vital development sites unfinished for years could face losing their land to local councils under new Government rules. For the first time, developers will have to commit to delivery time frames before they get planning permission. They will also have to submit annual reports showing their progress to councils to keep them [...]
London house price growth cools as rents continue to climb May 21, 2025 Annual house price growth in London was just under one per cent in April, although rents continued to climb above the national average. Average house prices in the UK as a whole increased by 6.7 per cent £296,000 in England in the 12 months to April 2025, according to new data from the ONS. Prices [...]
Support for local housebuilding plummets since election May 20, 2025 Brits’ support for housebuilding in their local area has fallen since the general election in a risk to the government’s lofty construction goals, according to new data. Net support has dropped by 11 percentage points, with renters’ backing for new housing near where they live falling by 14 percentage points, according to new research by [...]
Is this the end of the private landlord? May 20, 2025 There has been a sharp divergence in the attitudes of private and professional landlords as new regulations continue to upend the sector, according to new data. While private landlords continue to become more negative – and threaten to leave the sector in droves – professional landlords are, dare we say, genuinely optimistic about the prospects [...]
Safe as houses? Landsec bets on build-to-rent May 16, 2025 Property investment group Land Securities – known as Landsec – has turned away from offices and towards housebuilding in a major pivot. It said long-term demographic trends made housing a better bet than the cyclical office market, which is set to slow from its current high growth rate as supply constraints ease The company’s chief [...]
Rental crisis to worsen in the next decade, says UK’s biggest landlord May 15, 2025 Ongoing supply constraints are set to worsen the UK’s rental crisis in the coming years, according to the country’s biggest landlord. Grainger said it expected rental demand to grow 20 per cent from its 2021 level by 2031, far above growth in housing supply. “The private rental market in the UK faces growing demand [and] [...]
Mortgages rates set to fall after Bank of England interest rate cut May 9, 2025 Analysts have predicted that the Bank of England’s decision to reduce interest rates on Thursday will encourage major banks to cut mortgage rates. Lower rates will be a major affordability boost for the UK’s housing market, which continues to price out young buyers unable to rely on financial gifts or savings. “If homebuyers can borrow more, they [...]