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 [...]
Consumer credit growth slows in November as mortgage borrowing declines January 4, 2018 Growth in the amount borrowed by consumers in the form of credit cards and loans fell in November to its lowest since December 2015, as the amount borrowed by home buyers also declined. Figures by the Bank of England showed growth in consumer credit slowed to 9.1 per cent in the year to November, from [...]
London house prices dropped in 2017: This is how the experts reacted January 4, 2018 London house prices fell last year for the first time since the financial crisis, and the capital was the worst performing UK region for property price growth for the first time in 13 years. House prices in the capital dropped by 0.5 per cent in 2017, according to the most recent Nationwide house price index, [...]
UK Prime Minister Theresa May heads to Wokingham to promote stamp duty holiday for first-time buyers January 3, 2018 The Prime Minister will today head to Wokingham to promote her government’s decision to cut stamp duty for first-time buyers. In the Autumn Budget, Philip Hammond scrapped stamp duty for first-time buyers purchasing homes worth up to £300,000. In London, first-time buyers also receive a stamp duty holiday for the first £300,000 on purchases worth [...]
Housebuilder share prices: McCarthy & Stone share price falls along with Berkeley Group, Persimmon, Barratt and others on leasehold crackdown December 21, 2017 Housebuilders were hit hard this morning after the government revealed new rules cracking down on leasehold practices described by communities secretary Sajid Javid as “feudal”. Shares in FTSE 250-listed McCarty & Stone, which specialises in retirement homes, fell 10.3 per cent to 152.3p on the news. Meanwhile, on the FTSE 100, Berkeley Group fell 1.5 [...]
UK housing crisis: Let’s hope for a housing revolution in 2018 December 20, 2017 As the temporarily restored bongs of Big Ben sound at midnight on 31 December, those in the property sector could be forgiven for letting out a little sigh of relief at the passing of yet another year in which the government has resolutely failed to solve the housing crisis. Two stories today illustrate how severe [...]
Millennial mortgages are here: Automatic switching is go at proptech startup Trussle December 19, 2017 The era of millennial mortgages has arrived. A couple from London are the first homeowners to switch their mortgage automatically and entirely online, without the hassle of searching new deals and lengthy paperwork, thanks to an innovative property technology startup. Trussle's switching alert lets users know when they should remortgage to find a better deal. [...]
Focus On Dulwich: Forget the new shiny skyscrapers, this London village attracts well-heeled families with good schools, period houses and bags of charm December 15, 2017 A Tube stop is usually the making of a neighbourhood in London. But in the case of Dulwich in south east London, the absence of a London Underground station may have been an advantage. Left to its own devices and hardly a tourist hotspot, some say this has allowed Dulwich to develop a character all [...]
Beware Bitcoin’s bite – why crypto-currency futures might make a risky investment deadly December 13, 2017 Deutsche Bank has raised serious concerns about the risk posed to the global financial system by Bitcoin. It’s not the first to red flag the crypto-currency and warn investors that it is a potentially dangerous financial instrument to get involved with. Others have warned about the dangers of a Bitcoin bubble. European Central bankers have [...]