UK House prices: Generation rent downbeat on buying outlook April 6, 2015 A generation of Britons still fear that they will never be able to buy a home despite the number of first-time buyers reaching a seven-year high in 2014, a survey reveals today. Some 79 per cent of 20- to 45-year-olds believe banks do not want to lend to first-time buyers, while 21 per cent think [...]
General Election 2015: Osborne promises to get 2.4m first-time buyers onto housing ladder with property “revolution” April 5, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne has pledged to bring about a “property revolution” in the UK, helping 2.4m more first-time buyers to get on the property ladder. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, he said he intended to double the number of first time buyers to 500,000 a year over the next five years, should the [...]
General Election 2015: Ed Miliband promises £5bn for 125,000 new homes funded by Help to Buy ISA April 4, 2015 Ed Miliband has promised billions of pounds of funding to build 125,000 new homes over the next five years. The policy, due to be announced by the Labour party today, is based on the Help to Buy ISA revealed by Chancellor George Osborne in the latest Budget and aimed at getting first-time buyers on the [...]
David Cameron courts first-time buyers as 50,000 sign on to home discount scheme April 3, 2015 Over 50,000 people have signed up to the government's programme to give first-time buyers a 20 per cent discount on their new home. An extension of the controversial Help to Buy initiative, the programme means new properties up to £250,000 and £450,000 in London will be subject to deep discounts. However, only those under the [...]
UK house prices: We can ramp up housebuilding by turning offices into flats – if the planners let us April 1, 2015 The UK suffers from an acute housing shortage, and this has led to prices outpacing incomes in nearly every year since the early 1990s. Most government initiatives to address this problem, however, have merely resulted in greater demand for properties. In fact, the only way to tackle the issue properly is to increase supply. But [...]
April Fools’ Day? Norfolk gives a broad hint on Nelson’s Column March 31, 2015 The Capitalist inbox has been swamped by a spate of press releases that can only be described as weird. Take, for instance, a plan to relocate Nelson’s Column from Trafalgar Square to the North Norfolk coast in time for the 210th anniversary of the death of the region’s most famous son. Visit North Norfolk says [...]
UK property prices: A third of all house sales are now to first time buyers March 30, 2015 A third of all house sales are now made to first-time buyers, a new report has found, suggesting the UK's housing market is becoming less hostile towards those attempting to climb the first rung on the property ladder. The report, by the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), said 30 per cent of all house [...]
Chinese boom fuels jump in global deals March 29, 2015 A wave of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is on the way this year, driving a hiring boom in the City and shaking up industries across the globe. A combination of ultra-low interest rates and increasing confidence in the economy has encouraged firms to buy up rivals. And firms which see little room for organic growth [...]
London rents more than double UK average as high property prices lift sector demand March 29, 2015 Rents in London rose by eight per cent in February compared with the same month last year, as high property prices forced more people into the rented sector. For the UK as a whole, average rents increased by seven per cent in February compared with last year, figures released by estate agents Barnard Marcus show [...]
Housing shortage hits first-time buyers despite government help March 26, 2015 The UK’s chronic housing shortage is forcing first-time buyers to accept lower quality properties. Natural light was cited as not being vital by 51 per cent of prospective buyers, survey figures released today by estate agents Your Move and Reeds Rains show. Additionally, 63 per cent would go without a bath while 11 per cent [...]