UK house prices: Mortgage lending enjoys best first quarter in nine years despite March dip April 14, 2016 Mortgage lending enjoyed its best first quarter in nine years thanks to buy-to-let landlords rushing to beat April's stamp duty hike, according to new figures published this morning. An average of 71,710 house purchase loans were approved in the first three months of the year, the data from surveyors e.surv shows – making it the highest opening [...]
House prices: London’s first time buyers will need £106,000 salary to afford an average home by 2020, warns Shelter April 14, 2016 Londoners looking to buy their first home will need to earn over £100,000 a year by 2020, research by housing and homelessness charity Shelter has found. The study said this was an increase over the quarter on the £80,000 needed for a typical first time buyer’s mortgage today. On top of this, first-time buyers will also need an [...]
Property bubble shows no sign of popping yet as mortgage lending marches higher April 13, 2016 Mortgage lending grew by one-fifth over the last twelve months as the number of first time buyers, people moving homes, buy-to-let investors and remortgages all grew according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). In total, £8.7bn was taken out for new mortgages in February 2016, up 21 per cent on last year, while another [...]
Shell could sell some North Sea assets April 12, 2016 Royal Dutch Shell could sell some of its older, lower grade North Sea assets as part of a two-year programme to help pay for its £35bn purchase of BG. It confirms previous reports that the oil major would use its assets there to help hit a $30bn sales target between 2016 and 2018, a goal which will go towards financing the [...]
London house prices actually fell last month – but Londoners need a six-figure salary to afford to buy a home April 12, 2016 Another day, another set of house price figures – but this time there's a bit of good news for those struggling to afford a home. Yep – house prices in the capital actually fell in February on the month before – dropping to £524,000, from £540,000 in January. But house prices can be volatile – [...]
House of Lords defeat government on plans for starter homes April 12, 2016 The government has suffered a setback after the House of Lords defeated it on two starter homes policies. A coalition of Labour, Liberal Democrat and crossbench peers voted to moderate the government's plans to offer "affordable" homes to first-time buyers at a discount. The flagship policy was proposed by the government ahead of the General Election [...]
This is where Brits spend the most money buying their first car (spoiler alert: it’s not London) April 11, 2016 Supercar season may be just getting under way in the city, but for all the golden Lambourghinis causing congestion in Knightsbrige, Londoners on average don't spend as much on their first cars as you'd think. Scotland is the real home of Britain's petrol heads, as new drivers north of the wall spend the most on their [...]
London house prices: More than 35,000 high-end homes planned in next decade – just as the prime property market starts to falter April 11, 2016 London's prime residential market is already suffering from the early signs of a slowdown but a flood of new properties is coming in the next decade that could exacerbate it further. A new report out today suggests there are 35,000 prime London homes due for construction in the next 10 years – a 40 per [...]
Verizon Communications lines up bid for Yahoo’s web business, with Google and others also considering moves April 7, 2016 Verizon Communications is said to be interested in bidding for Yahoo's web business. The share price of Yahoo initially shot up when news of the potential bid emerged, before closing down 1.3 per cent at $36.17. Verizon's shares closed down nearly 2.8 per cent at $51.99. Read more: Yahoo-h dear. Web portal expects 15 per cent revenue [...]
Another sign that stamp duty deadline sent buy-to-let investors into a buying frenzy April 7, 2016 More proof George Osborne's stamp duty wizard wheeze served to push up prices in the run-up to the deadline, after new figures showed UK house prices rose by the most in at least a year in March. Halifax's house price index, published this morning, showed prices rose 10.1 per cent in the year to March, [...]