Nervous homeowners on edge as mortgage rates hit highest level since 2016 with market fading fast August 2, 2022 The latest Bank of England data found last week that net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals decreased to £5.3bn in June, from £8bn in May. Approvals for house purchases, an indicator of future borrowing, decreased to 63,700 in June, from 65,700 in May, which is below the 12-month pre-pandemic average up to February 2020 [...]
Following ‘dreadful’ results shareholder calls for Purple Bricks chair to be removed August 2, 2022 The chairman of estate agency Purple Bricks should be removed following its “dreadful” annual results this morning, a key shareholder has said. Lecram Holdings, which owns 4.2 per cent of the company, called for it to take action after disastrous losses and plummeting revenue for the last financial year. Calling for chairman Paul Pindar to [...]
London exodus: Record numbers escape the capital as pandemic trend continues August 1, 2022 There has been an exodus of Londoners since the pandemic, with more than 40,000 escaping eye-watering rent in the capital to buy their first home. The pandemic trend of leaving London has continued, with a record 28 per cent of new homes outside the M25 being first-time buyers. In the first half of 2022, 40,540 [...]
DIY giants Wickes posts growth in first half but cautious of softening sales and worrying outlook July 26, 2022 Home improvement giant Wickes registered strong sales for the first half of 2022, but has reined in its expectations for the second half due to economic uncertainty. The Northampton-based company had sales growth of 5.5 per cent in the first six months of this year, with progress in its score revenue and ‘Do It For [...]
No property policies: Lack of housing ideas from Truss and Sunak branded ‘deeply alarming’ July 24, 2022 Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss need to put tackling the housing crisis at “the top of their list” if they become Prime Minister, a major housing association told City A.M. this morning. The National Association of Property Buyers said a whole generation of people faced being unable to own or rent a property due to [...]
Kitchen seller Howdens posts ‘strong’ performance as home improvement boom continues July 21, 2022 Kitchen seller Howdens today posted “strong” financial results for the first half of 2022, as the firm said it “remains on track” to deliver end of year results “well ahead of pre-Covid levels in 2019.” The London headquartered firm said it continued to “manage effectively ongoing inflationary and supply chain pressures” as it set out [...]
Average UK household owns £1.2m less than richest July 20, 2022 The wealth of the richest UK households is on average £1.2m higher than typical Brits, a new report released today shows. Wealth inequality has hovered around the same level since the mid-1980s, albeit from an already elevated footing, with the richest consistently owning around half of the UK’s stock of assets, according to the Resolution [...]
Property prices to smash through £300,000 mark by next month, industry expert predicts July 13, 2022 AVERAGE property prices will smash through the £300,000 mark by the end of the Summer, an expert said today. Latest data show that prices hit a record £294,845 – as rates rose at the fastest level in 18 years. Despite claims prices could be set to crash, Jonathan Rolande, from House Buy Fast, believes we [...]
No Brexit exodus: Foreign homeowners sit on £45bn worth of property in London alone July 12, 2022 It has been revealed this morning which areas of the property market are home to the highest value of homes owned by overseas homeowners, with the total market value of foreign owned homes currently standing at £90.7bn across England and Wales. Just shy of a quarter of a million homes are owned by overseas buyers, [...]
Boris Johnson’s plan for 50-year mortgages is outright ‘risky’ and solely aimed at inflating the market, warns property guru July 5, 2022 Boris Johnson’s latest proposal for the housing market is “another risky, spontaneous announcement aimed at temporarily inflating the housing market” according to the boss a major property firm. David Alexander, the chief executive officer of DJ Alexander Scotland, part of the Lomond Group, told City A.M. today he believes that the comments from the Prime [...]