Focus on Chiswick: Why are families flocking to west London? November 13, 2014 Many people seem to think that, between oligarchs buying up prime central London and renters occupying the trendy suburbs, the capital is becoming a place of transition. But there’s one place that’s defying that trend: Chiswick. This ancient country retreat, which was once part of Middlesex, is every inch the traditional London village. [...]
Lending decline points to cooler housing market November 11, 2014 LENDING to home buyers fell month-on-month in September, but remains substantially higher than a year ago. The number of loans to home buyers was 58,000 in September – seven per cent lower than in August – according to figures released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders yesterday. However, the figure is still 13.1 per cent [...]
Rightmove stays bullish despite cooling down of housing market November 6, 2014 Property website Rightmove yesterday said it had a confident outlook for the full year, as more agents and developers used its service to advertise despite signs of a cooling housing market. In a trading update for the four months to 31 October, Rightmove said its membership had grown two per cent since the first half [...]
Go all the way with Beaujolais November 5, 2014 My least favourite date in the entire wine calendar is 19 November. It is, of course, Beaujolais Nouveau Day, the time when marketing men and desperate wine bar owners flood the Square Mile with cheap, nasty, pink plonk and try to kid us that it is something special. If I haven’t made myself clear, Beaujolais [...]
McCarthy & Stone leads calls for support to help elderly homebuyers November 3, 2014 Retirement housebuilder McCarthy & Stone yesterday called on ministers to focus on addressing housing issues for the elderly and not just first-time buyers. The company, founded in 1977, said housing for the over-65s must become a “priority” for the government. “Most household growth over the next 20 years will involve older people and policy makers [...]
London property prices: More million-pound properties have been sold in London this year than ever before October 31, 2014 London house prices might be cooling, but things are certainly hotting up at the premium end of the market. Sales of properties costing more than £1m have reached record levels in the UK with 6,143 houses sold in the first half of the year- 70 per cent of which were in London. That’s nearly 2,000 [...]
Bow, Tower Hamlets: All you need to know about London’s new eastern hotspot October 30, 2014 Everyone knows how well Hackney is doing in the property stakes, with house price increases outstripping any other borough in London over the last 12 months. But how about its neighbour Tower Hamlets? As a borough, it’s building more new homes than any other in the country. Bromley-by-Bow, in particular, has been popular with [...]
Merchants Walk in east London: Affordable house prices, yet very commutable October 30, 2014 As the fringes of the City soar in both popularity and price, first-time buyers and young professionals on modest incomes are looking to move a bit further afield. In this case “further afield” means 15 minutes away by Tube. Bow in Tower Hamlets, east London, has seen a spurt in popularity as a result, [...]
Help-to-buy sees high use October 30, 2014 JUST under 34,000 homes have been bought using the government’s Help-to-Buy scheme, requiring £1.42bn of loans from the Treasury. The scheme provides a loan to first-time buyers of new builds. The loan can be up to 20 per cent of the house price with only a five per cent deposit needed. The homes most commonly bought [...]
The art of theft: Why do thieves steal famous paintings when they’re so hard to sell? October 28, 2014 On a freezing Stockholm evening just before Christmas 2000, a group of six to eight Middle Eastern men put into action a plan they’d been working on for months. The group parked cars in the middle of the three central roads leading to the Swedish National Museum and set them ablaze. As fire engines [...]