UK house prices: Mortgage approvals rise to their highest in 14 months June 24, 2015 Mortgage approvals continued their inexorable rise last month, figures published this morning showed, suggesting growth in UK house prices is unlikely to abate anytime soon. The figures, from the British Bankers' Association, showed mortgage approvals for house purchases rose to 42,530 last month, up from 42,020 in April – and way up on a 20-month [...]
UK property prices: Property sales tick up in May – but the outlook is uncertain June 23, 2015 The number of UK residential properties sold climbed in May, new data show. A total of 98,540 properties changed hands, according to figures released by HMRC yesterday. It marks a rise on April’s 97,610. However the market is slower than it was a year ago when 101,710 properties were sold. The figures translate to a [...]
What you could buy for a square metre of property in London: a new car, a year’s university fees June 23, 2015 For the price of one square metre of property in Kensington and Chelsea, you could buy a brand new car, according to figures published by Halifax today. One square metre of property in Kensington and Chelsea costs £11,635 – about the same as a Citroen C4 (around £12,000), a Volkswagon Polo (also £12,000) or a Honda [...]
Historic Greenwich factory Telegraph Works to be turned into luxury flats June 23, 2015 A Greenwich site that dates back to Queen Elizabeth I's reign – when it was used to store gunpowder to fight the Spanish Armada – is being turned into a £120m luxury residential development. The Telegraph Works – which was later used to build the first transatlantic telegraph cable, allowing Queen Victoria to conduct [...]
UK house prices: Home ownership falls for first time in over a century as renting soared June 19, 2015 The UK experienced its first fall in home ownership in a century between 2001 and 2011, according to data from the Office of National Statistics. Some 64 per cent of the 23.4m households in England and Wales were owner-occupied in 2011 – down from 69 per cent in 2001. Rented households accounted for 36 per cent [...]
UK house prices: Arsenal top the Premier League of renting June 18, 2015 Arsenal can finally claim to be top of the Premier League, at least when it comes to rental prices. Lettings agent Rentify has compiled a list of how top football clubs would rank if the table were organised on the rental price for a two-bedroom flat. Read more: How would the monopoly board look in [...]
New build or old house? Just one in five prefer new properties dubbed “rabbit hutches” with “zero charm” June 17, 2015 There may be new developments popping up all over London as housebuilders scramble to serve the property needs of an ever-growing capital, but just one in five Brits would prefer buying a newly built house. New builds have been lambasted as too small, poorly built and lacking in character and nearly half of Brits prefer [...]
UK house prices: Tony Pidgley’s Berkeley calls for Britain to stay in the EU as housebuilder’s profits rise 42 per cent June 17, 2015 London-centred residential property developer Berkeley Group announced a 42 per cent increase in full-year profits today, but warned a British exit from the EU would be bad for the capital's property market. Read more: How can the UK build more houses? In preliminary results for the year to the end of April, Berkeley stressed that the [...]
Homebuyers ready to sacrifice space for more shops and bars June 16, 2015 The number of homebuyers that are prepared to sacrifice space in favour of a short commute to work or better nightlife has jumped over the last year, according to a new survey by Santander Mortgages. According to research published by the bank today, Britons are increasingly turning into a “recreation nation”, with those citing proximity [...]
London house prices: Growth in the capital slows to lowest rate since 2012 June 16, 2015 UK house price growth slowed to 5.5 per cent in the year to May, according to data published today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). London’s market was particularly subdued, falling to 4.3 per cent – the capital's lowest figure since October 2012. Read more: Average property price in Kensington and Chelsea rises by £486,000 [...]