UK house prices: ‘Only the Autumn Budget could derail this train’ September 6, 2024 UK house prices grew at their fastest annual rate since November 2022, although analysts have already started to warn about the effects of a potentially bruising Autumn budget. Prices rose by 4.3 per cent year on year and 0.3 per cent month on month, taking the price of the average property in the UK to £292,505, [...]
Building on the green belt won’t fix the housing crisis September 5, 2024 Labour’s plans to relax protection for the green belt will incentivise developers to build expensive houses for commuters while leaving city centre brownfield sites to rot, says Sam Fowles Labour has put solving the housing crisis front and centre, promising to build 1.5 million new homes by the end of the parliament. But its key [...]
Grenfell: Firms involved to be barred from public contracts, Starmer vows September 4, 2024 Companies involved in the failings that led to the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy will no longer be awarded government contracts, Sir Keir Starmer has said. The Prime Minister apologised for the disaster – which saw 72 people die in the tower block blaze in June 2017 – in a grave statement to the House of [...]
House prices dip unexpectedly as interest rates continue to dampen demand August 30, 2024 House prices dipped unexpectedly for the first time since April this month, but a closely watched survey today suggests that the outlook for the property market is likely to strengthen as interest rates are reined in. In its closely watched house price index today, mortgage lender Nationwide said British house prices slipped by 0.2 per [...]
Build, Baby, Build: The Apprenticeship Levy is a tax by another name August 23, 2024 SME house builders need to attract young talent more than ever, but the inflexible Apprenticeship Levy is standing in the way, says Rowland Thomas The new Labour Government’s pro-development approach and commitment to getting Britain back building has been largely welcomed by the housebuilding industry. However, even if the Government delivers on its promise to [...]
Social rent increases may not ‘move dial’ on housebuilding, Rachel Reeves warned August 21, 2024 Rachel Reeves’ plans to increase social rent may not “move the dial in a material way” on council housebuilding, a corporate finance firm is warning. The Chancellor will reportedly up social rent by bringing in a decade-long formula to raise housing costs in England boosted by the CPI inflation measure – currently 2.2 per cent [...]
There’s a hidden carbon cost to the government’s housing targets August 15, 2024 But an innovative use of cement could help reduce the construction sector’s emissions, writes Dalraj Nijjar
UK’s largest pension fund agrees £405m homes deal with Blackstone August 13, 2024 The UK’s largest pension fund has acquired 3,000 homes from Blackstone for more than £400m. The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has snapped up the portfolio of shared ownership homes from affordable housing company, Sage. Sage is majority-owned by Blackstone alongside real estate investor Regis and was formed in 2017. The £405m deal is the first [...]
Marshalls: Revenue at building supplier drops but group ‘cautiously optimistic’ about the future August 12, 2024 Housing industry supplier Marshalls has reported a mixed set of results for the first half of the year due to what management called “weak end markets.” However, despite weakness in the construction market over the past year, the company said it was “cautiously optimistic” about the future. Marshalls announced revenue of £306.7m in the half-year [...]
Danger! Labour want all our new homes to be ugly August 9, 2024 Labour thinks it's 'ridiculous' to consider beauty when building new homes and towns. That's a travesty, says James Price