Alt Fi Data on its new report, why transparency is so badly needed and what platforms need to do now November 19, 2015 It's been difficult to garner much substantive data on the equity crowdfunding industry. Reports have often been scanty, or just inaccurate. Evidently, the youth of the industry has meant that samples have not been large enough, or raises not long enough ago, to draw any meaningful conclusions. But with most of the larger players [...]
With consumer price index inflation negative but house price rises strong, is CPI failing to capture the cost of living? November 17, 2015 Shaun Richards, an independent economist, says Yes A fundamental problem with the UK official CPI inflation measure is its exclusion of owner-occupied housing costs. Without them, it arrives at an ice-cold annual rate of inflation of -0.1 per cent for October. However, our official statisticians also report house prices rising at an annual rate of [...]
London house prices: Buyers in the capital now have £100k income for first time ever November 17, 2015 The average income of London's homebuyers has shot up in the past three months, putting the figure at a six-digit sum for the first time since records began. Buyers' income now stands at £104,000, a rise of six per cent on the previous three months, according to the latest official figures on house prices from the Office [...]
UK house prices: Greenwich, Kew, Westminster and the country’s Unesco World Heritage sites command an £80k property premium November 17, 2015 Homeowners living near the landmarks of maritime Greenwich or leafy Kew Gardens are sitting on a premium worth nearly £80,000. Along with another 27 spots across the country – from Devon to Orkney- homes nearby command more thanks to their status as a World Heritage Site. While the average property price across the UK comes in at £284,127, those located near to a [...]
UK house price growth at its highest since March – as average house price edges towards £290,000 November 17, 2015 The average UK house price hit £286,000 in September this year, setting yet another record, after August's average of £285,000. Prices rose 6.1 per cent in the year to September, up from 5.5 per cent in the year to August. Between August and September, prices rose 0.8 per cent on a seasonally-adjusted basis, with first-time buyers found [...]
London rent price rise 2015 defies traditional Autumn slow down November 17, 2015 London rents continued to climb in October, up 0.8 per cent, hitting an average of £2,063 despite the seasonal slowdown usually associated with Autumn months. The data suggests that London’s housing shortage, falling unemployment rate, and growing pay is the cause, according to the analytics company MIAC in its monthly Landbay Rental Index. So far [...]
A Hong Kong billionaire has bought the most expensive diamond ever auctioned – but who came before him? November 13, 2015 A new jewel has just topped the list of the most expensive diamonds ever sold at auction. The “Blue Moon” was bought this week in Geneva for $48.4m, smashing all previous record diamond sales. Vivid blue in colour and weighing 12.03 carats, it went for the “highest price per carat” ever obtained for any kind [...]
Suburbs lag behind inner London boroughs in housebuilding drive November 13, 2015 Inner London boroughs are granting planning permission for more new homes than the all of the surrounding outer boroughs put together, according to a new report that warns of a growing prosperity divide within the capital. Stirling Ackroyd’s latest New Homes Monitor showed London’s thirteen Inner boroughs approved a total of 11,970 new homes throughout [...]
UK house prices: Buyers and sellers care about completely different things when assessing the value of a property November 12, 2015 What would you care most about when buying a house? That it smells of fresh-baked bread or what the local crime figures are like? You might think that buyers and sellers would place value on similar things, especially considering that most people in the process of buying one house are also simultaneously selling another, and [...]
House purchase lending jumps to seven-year for October November 12, 2015 Mortgage lending reached its highest level for the month of October in seven years, new data released today shows, as low inflation rates and rising wages helped keep consumer confidence levels high. Overall house purchase lending approvals reached 72,409 in October, up by 5.1 per cent on the previous month and 21.9 per cent ahead [...]