Revealed: £82bn in rental properties across UK are occupied by fraudsters and criminals November 21, 2022 Almost 280,000 UK rental properties, with a combined market value of £82bn, are thought to be occupied by fraudsters, City A.M. was told today. The rental market has long been a leading target for fraudsters, criminals, and money launderers. Research estimates that 5 per cent of all rental stock is being let to criminals and the [...]
Barclays makes green property push by giving eco-friendly home owners £2,000 November 15, 2022 Barclays bank said this morning it plans to run a trial to pay back customers who install new insulation, heat pumps or solar panels, among other solutions. Barclays will start paying up to £2,000 to its mortgage holders to help them green their home as three in four say they cannot afford the changes they [...]
Not a good Monday for home sellers as UK house prices dive by £4k+ in just one month November 14, 2022 The average price tag on a home fell by more than £4,000 in November compared with the previous month, according to new industry figures released this morning. Across Britain, the average price of a newly marketed home in November is £366,999, Rightmove said. The £4,159 drop in the average asking price compared with October equates [...]
Avoiding a residential permacrisis: House-hunters better buying today than waiting for tomorrow November 4, 2022 The Bank of England has just raised interest rates to three per cent, the highest in 14 years. And this might not be the end of it. Newspapers rightly point to the challenges of such rapidly rising borrowing costs for those looking to buy or re-mortgage at the same time as so many people are [...]
Weekend Read: Britain’s ‘secret’ property market generates staggering £30bn in just one year October 29, 2022 Britain’s secret property market saw almost £30.9bn worth of property transactions last year, the highest annual market value in well over a decade. New figures show that in 2021, 98,235 homes are estimated to have been sold off-market, a 51.4 per cent increase on the previous year and the third largest annual total of off-market [...]
Property lawyers should prepare for 2008-style crash, regulator says October 24, 2022 Property law firms should ready themselves for a “significant fall” in work as a result of a downturn in the UK’s real estate sector, the industry regulator has said. The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC), which regulates conveyancers and property solicitors, said firms should prepare for a reversal of the past decade’s boom as economic [...]
Exclusive: How London’s prime property financing space weathered Brexit, Covid and market mayhem October 24, 2022 Prime property finance is experiencing a boom in demand but battling falling prices. Yet, as the most resilient part of the market shows it can insulate itself from Brexit, the pandemic and current financial woes. While not immune from external shocks, its ability to recover faster than the rest of the industry makes it a [...]
Investors scramble to dump UK property funds as valuations dive amid widening Kwarteng mini-budget chaos October 13, 2022 Following last week’s bond market turmoil, which sent shockwaves through the City, investors are now scrambling to exit UK property funds. Since the new chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, presented his Mini-Budget at the end of September, the pace at which investors are pulling out of UK commercial real estate funds has accelerated. In the 10 days [...]
Fire sale UK plc: Goldman Sachs to snap up British assets on the cheap as panicky UK pension funds flee October 11, 2022 In a near-unprecedented rush by British pension funds to raise their cash holdings, Goldman Sachs and a range of other investment giants are planning to snap up UK assets at discounts of up to 30 per cent. Since Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrously received mini-budget at the end of September, UK pension funds are rushing to improve [...]
Watkin Jones’ investment chief announced as new executive director October 10, 2022 Property developers Watkin Jones announced a raft of board appointments, including a new executive director. Alex Pease has been promoted from chief investment officer to the top job after joining the company in 2010. He was responsible for helping to Watkins Jones floating on the London Stock Exchange in 2016, before taking on its its [...]