Housebuilders have become hooked on the government’s help to buy scheme August 7, 2017 Have we witnessed the beginning of the end of help to buy? Shares in UK housebuilders plummeted at the end of last week after reports suggested the government has asked the London School of Economics (LSE) to review the scheme’s efficacy. It is arguable the scheme, whose first iteration was launched in April 2013, is [...]
Focus On Brixton: David Bowie, buzzing nightlife and honest burgers keep average house prices at around £550,000 July 27, 2017 In many ways, Brixton is the capital of south London. With its excellent transport links into central London and exhaustive range of shopping, dining and nightlife options, if you didn’t have to work, you probably wouldn’t need to leave. It even has its own currency. Over 250 businesses accept the Brixton Pound and around £50,000 [...]
Property of the Week: This four-storey penthouse next door to Tower Bridge is on sale for the first time in 35 years July 27, 2017 There are penthouses with views and then there’s the High Command. This highly unusual Grade II Listed property in Shad Thames is so close to Tower Bridge that it’s practically within touching distance when you’re having a cup of tea on one of its many terraces. High Command, Shad Thames, £9.5m This is the first [...]
Business which treat GDPR as a burden will get left behind July 24, 2017 Modern life is lived online. Whereas ten years ago we may have had a MySpace profile here, an MSN chat account there, today our digital world is an all-encompassing extension of our physical lives. The Internet is home to some of our most sensitive data, from the state of our bodies to the political thoughts [...]
No let-up in falling London house prices, says Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) July 13, 2017 There has been “no real easing” in the pace of decline of London house prices, a survey has suggested, with 45 per cent of chartered surveyors in the capital saying they observed a fall in prices in the past three months. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said stamp duty, Brexit and the political [...]
American investment in London property is at an all time high due to the fall in sterling. But what are they buying and where? July 7, 2017 Earlier this week, US citizens all over the world were celebrating Independence Day, yet for the first time in a long time, many of them had one eye on the fireworks and another across the Atlantic on the bargains to be had back in the Old Country. Following the fall in the pound due to [...]
High London house prices are not a bubble waiting to burst July 5, 2017 History is replete with examples of financial bubbles, from Dutch ‘Tulipmania’ in the 1630s and the South Sea bubble of 1720, through to the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the dot com boom and bust at the turn of the twentieth century. Could London house prices be the next big bubble to burst? To [...]
An analyst has worked out what happens to London house prices under three scary political scenarios July 4, 2017 Politics: it's been decidedly unpredictable in recent years. Not surprisingly, the resulting uncertainty has led to homeowners taking a moment to consider whether now is the best time to buy or sell. Now an analyst at UBS Wealth Management has confronted three of property owners' scariest political nightmares head-on, working out exactly what would happen [...]
Focus On New Cross: With year-on-year house price growth at nearly 15 per cent, SE14 is a safe bet in Zone Two July 3, 2017 Like many areas tipped for great growth in years to come, New Cross is a place that’s sandwiched in between two much trendier neighbours. The meteoric rise of Peckham and Deptford has left poor SE14 trailing in its wake, but there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be just as popular in just a few years. [...]
Are car loans a slow-motion car crash? June 29, 2017 The car industry understandably attracts a lot of attention in the financial press. Although the sector is small compared to giant sectors like financials and technology, cars are culturally relevant in a way that banks are not. The auto industry is involved in areas of exciting technological change, such as electric cars and autonomous driving. [...]