Focus On Vauxhall: Donald Trump might not be keen on it, but international investors dig these skyscrapers south of the river February 2, 2018 Vauxhall got dragged through the mud by no less a figure than the President of the United States recently. The US Embassy’s much touted move to the “off location” was supposedly the reason behind Donald Trump’s cancelled visit to the UK, even though the new building has its own moat. Clearly, tech behemoth Apple didn’t [...]
London startup Ahauz is helping millennials buy a home with an innovative new Help to Buy-style scheme January 31, 2018 Forget ditching coffee and avocados, a new startup which describes itself as the “bank of mum and dad for everyone” is aiming to help more young people get on the property ladder with an innovative take on the Help to Buy scheme. Ahauz is set to start offering first-time buyers help by offering a loan [...]
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn wants powers to take over empty luxury properties to solve the housing crisis January 28, 2018 Jeremy Corbyn wants to reclaim luxury property that is left “deliberately” empty to help solve the nation’s housing crisis. “We would give local authorities the power to take over deliberately left vacant properties,” the Labour leader said, speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show on Sunday morning. Read more: Editor’s Notes: May can benefit from [...]
Focus On Deptford: We delve into the housing market in the Help to Buy capital of London January 26, 2018 Since Help to Buy, the government’s equity scheme to help first time buyers on to the property ladder, was announced in 2013, it’s created thousands of new home owners. And nowhere has benefited more from this than Deptford. This once run down part of south east London is now the Help to Buy capital of [...]
Stripe is scrapping its support of bitcoin payments by April but says it remains “very optimistic about cryptocurrencies” January 24, 2018 Stripe has said it will no longer be supporting bitcoin payments by April, noting a decline in customers using it as a method of payment. The payment platform said it will gradually wind up support with the end date being 23 April. In a blog post, Stripe said it had “long been excited about the [...]
UK house prices: Demand for UK property fell more than seven per cent last year January 22, 2018 The UK’s housing market continues to look shaky, after new figures showed the number of new buyers registering with estate agents dropped last year – as the number of properties on the market plunged. Figures from estate agent Haart showed demand for homes fell 7.4 per cent in the year to December, falling 3.4 per [...]
Opinion: London is a hub for superstar musicians, but they’re all have very different needs when it comes to choosing a place to live January 19, 2018 It’s said there’s no business like show business and with the top 10 musicians taking $278m in tour revenues between them in 2016, the numbers speak for themselves. London is a key destination on the international touring scene. Money generated by live music in the capital exceeded £1bn for the first time in 2016, in [...]
It’s pensioners, not first-time buyers, who should get stamp duty relief January 18, 2018 Stamp duty is in the news again. Earlier this week, Labour’s shadow housing minister, John Healey, called on the government to extend the tax break introduced in the November Budget to first-time buyers who use the shared ownership scheme. Policies that are seen to help struggling first-time buyers always go down a treat from [...]
Opinion: Should we be pleased that housing has been promoted to cabinet or should we be taking it out of party politics altogether? January 12, 2018 Take housing out of government control says Glynis Frew The government is beginning to view the importance of housing in the context of national prosperity more so than ever before. Encouraging proposals were announced at the Budget and just this week it was confirmed that housing would at long last have meaningful cabinet representation, for [...]
Focus On Angel: House prices have almost doubled in this central part of Islington in the last ten years January 4, 2018 Though the name has pious connotations, the Angel is actually named after a pub. Well, the 17th century Angel Inn was a hotel, too, then a restaurant, but is now a Co-Op Bank. Although there is a JD Wetherspoons pub called The Angel next door. As an incredibly central part of the London borough of [...]