London house prices: Thousands of London homes are left vacant long-term February 21, 2016 Despite a chronic housing shortage in the capital, tens of thousands of homes in London are left vacant on a long-term basis, according to new data. More than 22,000 homes have been left empty by their owners for more than six months, despite soaring rents and property prices, data obtained under Freedom of Information by the [...]
Proptech: Technology is poised to transform the UK housing market February 19, 2016 The phrase “fintech” has long since entered mainstream use, while buzzwords like adtech, edtech and medtech are becoming increasingly familiar too. Now a newish category is entering the technology startup lexicon: “proptech”. The UK’s property industry has remained stubbornly resistant to change, even as innovation reshapes entire verticals across the wider economy. Compared with, say, [...]
Pension changes: Government plans to let pensioners sell their annuities on a new secondary market have been universally criticised February 18, 2016 Pensioners will be able to sell on their annuities from next year, swapping regular income payments for a lump sum. It’s part of government plans to give greater freedom to the 5m pensioners who are already living with annuities. Some may be regretting their choice, and the idea of a fat lump sum instead of [...]
Consumer’s guide to blockchain: How the cryptocurrency will revolutionise life for the consumer February 18, 2016 When I spoke to Peter Kirby, chief executive of blockchain startup Factom, he laughed when I described myself as a “blockchain traditionalist”. I meant that I still think of blockchain as the technology that made bitcoin credible – a peer-to-peer distributed ledger which immutably logs all transactions. This all sounds like jargon, so what does [...]
UK housing crisis: The next problem area will be retirement homes February 17, 2016 Talk of the housing crisis conjures up images of first time buyers trapped by sky high prices, as their income is syphoned off into rent. But alongside the cash-strapped "generation rent", there's another age group at risk: the next crisis may well be in retirement homes. At the heart of the difficulties in residential care lies [...]
Local governments demand more control over starter homes after warning they will be unaffordable February 17, 2016 Local governments have today warned Westminster that discounted starter homes will be unaffordable to the majority that need them unless the scheme is given more flexibility. First-time buyers will be able to buy 200,000 new starter homes over the next five years at a discount of at least 20 per cent to market value. Research by [...]
Japanese M&A deals in the UK hit $9.5bn last year, boosted by Nikkei’s purchase of the Financial Times February 16, 2016 Nikkei's purchase of the Financial Times helped Japanese acquisitions in the UK reach $9.5bn (£6.6bn) last year, according to new analysis from Deloitte. The figure is the highest level this century and dwarfs the $0.67bn in Japanese UK deals recorded for 2014, the accountancy firm's research shows. Nikkei, Japan's largest media company, announced last July [...]
Buy-to-let mortgage boom runs out of steam as lending falls in December February 16, 2016 The buy-to-let mortgage boom receded toward the end of last year, new figures show today. The amount of cash loaned to buy-to-let investors dropped by three per cent in December compared with November, the Council of Mortgage Lenders said. It was also down one per cent in the three months from the three months to September. Over [...]
What happens when you talk markets on Facebook February 16, 2016 What do you do when everyone is active on Facebook except you? You get with the programme. How do you do that? You (naively) say yes to going live for your company on Facebook to “do a little Q&A session on the markets”. What happens then? First you freak out as you discover how “personal” [...]
UK house prices: Help to buy has boosted the number of houses built and first-time buyers – but it’s not inflating prices, claims government report February 15, 2016 Suffering from misgivings about whether help to buy is really the panacea the government claims it is? A new report published this morning claims it has boosted both house building and first-time buying – but it has not artificially boosted prices. And the report has been published by… er… the government. The equity loan scheme, [...]