Sadiq Khan slams Boris Johnson’s “toothless” Concordat housing scheme at Mayor’s Question Time June 22, 2016 Sadiq Khan has slammed former mayor Boris Johnson's flagship housing scheme for failing to stop new London homes being sold as "golden bricks" to overseas investors. Johnson's Concordat scheme, which was launched in 2014, was pitched as the solution to stopping major developers advertising London homes abroad first for overseas buyers, who had months more [...]
Going for gold: Transactions for bullion soar ahead of Brexit vote June 21, 2016 The flight to safe havens ahead of the EU referendum has led to a surge in transactions for gold bullion as the 23 June approaches. According to the Royal Mint there has been a 32 per cent jump in the number of transactions compared to last month, as sharp volatility on the stock markets and [...]
Sellers are shifting their housing stock in record time despite Brexit worries June 20, 2016 The time it takes to sell a house has hit a record low, as Britain's housing market continues to prove its resilience despite the backdrop of the EU referendum. The uncertainty of the outcome of the vote doesn't seem to have deterred buyers; property website Rightmove said today sellers only have to wait an average of [...]
The new housing crisis is upon us – and it’s those who already own property that should be worried June 18, 2016 We hear an awful lot about the "housing crisis" in the UK and – particularly – in the capital. At one end of the ladder, rents are rising faster than wages and house prices are going up quicker than people can save for a deposit. At the other, new taxes and regulations on second homes [...]
Oil rises for the first time in seven days as the US dollar weakens June 17, 2016 Oil snapped its biggest weekly drop in more than two months today, helped by foreign exchange rate movements. The greenback slumped 0.2 per cent to $94.407 against a basket of currencies, making the dollar-priced commodity more attractive to foreign buyers, and helping crude shrug off a sharp drop in the previous six sessions. Read more: IEA says global [...]
EU referendum: Big bets for “In” backers as two gamblers put five-figure sums on Remain with one week to go June 16, 2016 Brexiteers Nigel Farage and John Longworth might like to think they're heavy betters after placing modest sums on Britain voting to leave the EU on 23 June, but high-rolling Remainers are putting them to shame. Bookies at Ladbrokes were stunned to see a first-time better stroll into the firm's Marble Arch branch and put £35,000 — in cash — on a vote [...]
Housebuilder Crest Nicholson’s shares fall – despite rebuffing Brexit blues June 14, 2016 Nothing can dampen the profits of a housebuilder, not even Brexit – housebuilder Crest Nicholson this morning posted healthy results despite the uncertainty about the outcome of the UK's upcoming referendum. The figures In its half-year report this morning, Crest Nicholson announced pre-tax profits at the firm were up 26 per cent in the six months [...]
Shoppers beat the Brexit blues to hit the high street as footfall increased slightly in May June 13, 2016 As the battle over the fate of BHS continues, the high street bounced back slightly in May as footfall figures increased year-on-year, new figures have shown. Despite a backdrop of retail failures towards the end of May and beginning of June, with Austin Reed shutting up its shops and BHS being "wound down", total retail footfall was [...]
London house prices: Property owners in prime central London are selling their homes to free up savings, according to new research June 13, 2016 London home-owners are selling their premium properties to free-up savings, according to new research. Four in 10 sellers in London put their homes on the market in order to release their investments in the first quarter of this year, making this the most prominent motivation behind selling up. Just under one third (29 per cent) of [...]
The next internet: AppNexus CEO Brian O’Kelley lays out his vision for the programmable age June 13, 2016 At six foot five, there isn’t much which can dwarf Brian O’Kelley. His adtech company AppNexus, which allows marketers and publishers to buy and sell advertising space in real-time, has grown exponentially since its founding in 2007. Today, the firm’s ad-serving infrastructure processes 5m requests per second at peak periods, facilitating an estimated $2bn of transactions [...]