Today’s interest rate hike may hit mortgage holders hard, warns IFS director ahead of BoE announcement May 5, 2022 Paul Johnson, director of the Institute For Fiscal Studies, warned this morning of the impact on people’s mortgages of an expected interest rates hike by the Bank of England on Thursday. “We are still at historically staggeringly low levels of interest rates,” he told Radio 4’s Today programme. “So you look at it that way [...]
UK mortgage debt swells to £7bn as interest rates rise May 4, 2022 Mortgage debt swelled in March, according to Bank of England data, with net borrowing climbing from £4.6bn to £7bn in March as interest rates rise. House purchase mortgage approvals slipped to 70.7k in March from 71.0k in February, slightly ahead of consensus but moving towards their 2015 to 2019 average of 66.5k – which analysts [...]
7 in 10 first-time buyers forced to delay property purchase as cost of living crisis drains home seekers’ wallets May 4, 2022 A staggering 70 per cent of potential first-time buyers looking to buy in the next year or two have decided to delay their purchases as rising living costs hit their ability to save, according to a survey. Nearly nine in 10 said their ability to save for a deposit has been affected by the rising [...]
Spiralling house prices push millions into higher stamp duty bracket May 4, 2022 Spiralling house prices have pushed 4.3m households into a higher stamp duty bracket since March 2020, according to the latest research. The average price of a home has skyrocketed by £29,000 to £249,700 since Covid-19, spurred in part by a city exodus and the rush to get deals done amid the pandemic-era stamp duty holiday. [...]
West End set for booming recovery as tourists flock back to capital May 3, 2022 Londoners can bet on a roaring West End comeback, after Peel Hunt analysts pointed to a resilient recovery in occupier demand and rental tone. In a note yesterday, Peel Hunt said that the future looked cheery for the central London shopping and theatre destination, “despite wider uncertainty and the cost of living squeeze.” It comes [...]
UK construction headed for a drastic slowdown, warns trade association May 3, 2022 Construction activity is headed for a drastic slowdown, according to a top UK trade association, as geopolitical pressures weigh on British builders. Inflationary headwinds, labour shortages and supply chain disruptions have scuppered growth in the sector, with construction forecast to eek out 2.8 per cent growth in output – a stretch away from the 4.3 [...]
Boris Johnson mulls a new Right to Buy scheme as housebuilding hits the curb May 2, 2022 Prime minister Boris Johnson is reportedly mullinh plans to bring in a new Right to Buy scheme, inspired by Margaret Thatcher, amid reports housebuilding has hit the curb. The plans seek to target “generation rent”, those whose hopes of owning a home have fallen increasingly out of reach despite being ‘of age’ to buy. [...]
Prime London house prices skyrocket by 114 per cent as homebuyers flock back to the city April 30, 2022 While prime London property prices have remained largely flat on a year on year basis, life is starting to return to the capital’s top tier, with some postcodes seeing average sale prices climb by as much as 114 per cent. However, not everywhere has fared so well with some postcodes seeing a reduction in average [...]
Businesses splash £5bn on London offices as overseas firms eye UK capital April 28, 2022 Businesses have splashed £5bn on office assets in London in the first few months of this year – the highest level of investment since 2018, commercial real estate services firm Avison Young has revealed. The figure is more than double the amount spent in the same quarter last year, buoyed by recent high-value deals. The [...]
Hidden expenses: Londoners shoulder extra costs in all-inclusive rent bills April 28, 2022 Londoners are unknowingly shouldering extra costs by opting for more convenient bills-inclusive rental arrangements, new data has found, as landlords seek to buffer spiralling energy prices. The hidden cost of all-inclusive rent could be as much as £700 for those renting in the capital, according to London rental platform Rentd. The average cost of renting [...]