The Building Safety Levy will cost eight times more in London than County Durham Opinion The new Building Safety Levy, introduced to pay for historic fire safety defects, will make many new developments unviable, especially in London where they are needed most, says Mark Holloway The introduction of the Building Safety Levy (BSL) marks a shift in how the government funds the remediation of historic building safety defects. Due to [...]
I’m a property developer – here’s why I’m still building in London Opinion Today’s housing market is hampered by higher interest rates, build cost inflation, weaker sales and headlines about war in the Middle East and Ukraine. But residential development has always been about managing cycles: with many projects taking more than a decade from conception through planning, construction to handing over the key to new homes. Property [...]
Vistry takes £500m hit as new boss downsizes housebuilder Property Vistry has taken a nearly £500m hit to its value, as the beleaguered housebuilder’s new chief executive sets out drastic plans to downsize the firm to ensure its survival. Adam Daniels, the new boss of the FTSE 250 housebuilder, told shareholders on Thursday that his review into the group revealed that its assets were worth [...]
Sadiq Khan’s plan for London housing is detached from reality September 21, 2026 Sadiq Khan’s draft London plan will not deliver the housing or infrastructure London badly needs, says Thomas Turrell “Reality can be whatever I want it to be”. The words spoken by Thanos as he claimed the reality stone in‘Avengers: Infinity War. This quote seems to have formed the foundation of Sadiq Khan’s approach to the [...]
Winkworth warns on profit citing family boardroom bust-up September 16, 2026 London estate agent Winkworth has warned on profits for the year ahead, citing the legal costs tied to a boardroom family feud that has led its chief executive to take his father to court. The Aim-listed company, which is one of the UK’s oldest estate agents and specialises in high-end properties in boroughs like Pimlico, [...]
Global city rankings: London shines but appeal ‘hurt’ by cost of housing September 15, 2026 London’s ‘quality of life’ score has been dragged down by a housing affordability crisis as workers spend more as a share of their income on housing than residents of “nearly every city in the world”, a new report has found. The latest Global Cities Index by Oxford Economics found that Londoners’ financial wellbeing was hindered [...]
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 [...]
Crest Nicholson slashes housebuilding targets in ‘difficult’ summer September 3, 2026 Crest Nicholson has cut back its housebuilding and earnings targets as crunch talks with lenders drag on. The London-listed builder now expects to build up to 1,400 homes this year, compared to earlier forecasts of as many as 1,500. It expects to make an earnings loss of £10m, having previously guided to a profit of [...]
Mortgage rate hikes cost London homebuyers £35,000 August 27, 2026 The surging mortgage rates caused by the Iran war have forced the average London homebuyer to fork out an extra £35,500 for their deposit. The rising cost of borrowing caused by the Middle East conflict has meant that the average deposit in the UK is £18,400 higher than in January – though costs have risen [...]
Housebuilder shares soar on Burnham council housing plans August 25, 2026 Shares in the UK’s biggest housebuilders rose sharply on Tuesday morning after Andy Burnham revealed plans to spend an initial £10bn on affordable housing. In an announcement on Monday evening, the Prime Minister said the initial funding package would be used to build “thousands more quality council, social and affordable homes”. The funding would be [...]