Stamp duty up over £900m in last 12 months June 19, 2014 THE ANNUAL total stamp duty bill has soared to £5.6bn in the year to March 2014, up by over £900m from £4.7bn for the previous year, as home buyers are increasingly being hit by the levy as house prices rise while stamp duty thresholds remain flat, according to research by Lloyds Bank. The increase means [...]
Middle East sets sights on UK real estate June 17, 2014 It is estimated that investors from the Middle East will spend $180bn on commercial real estate abroad in the coming decade, and that nearly half of that will be directed at the UK. The research, conducted by CBRE, predicts that $85 will flow into the UK and a further $60bn to continental Europe: in total [...]
In graphs: London house prices up 18.7pc in just a year June 17, 2014 House prices in London rose 18.7 per cent in the 12 months to April according to new figures released today by the Office of National statistics (ONS). Across the country prices were up 9.9 per cent, with growth outside London and the south east at 6.3 per cent. Despite figures from Rightmove yesterday showing the market [...]
Could this be the end of London’s housing boom? June 16, 2014 The property market boom could be seeing the first tentative signs of a slowdown, according to property website Rightmove. Prices across England and Wales rose by only 0.1 per cent in May according to the Rightmove house price index, compared to 3.6 per cent in April and 1.6 per cent in March. Average prices fell in [...]
London house market shows sign of cooling June 16, 2014 HOUSE prices in London dropped for the first time this year between May and June, dipping 0.5 per cent as buyers’ ability to pay rapidly accelerating asking prices wanes. The average price dropped to £589,776 on the month, according to Rightmove’s latest price index. However, asking prices are still up by more than £70,000 from [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 13 June 2014 June 12, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Corporate PC demand boosts Intel Intel has raised its profit guidance for the second quarter on the back of strong demand for business PCs, pushing shares up by more than five per cent in after-hours trading. Demand for the PCs – the market Intel’s chips dominate – is stabilising as companies begin to [...]
Riskier house lending rises to five year high June 10, 2014 MORTGAGES with smaller deposits now make up the largest share of the mortgage market in five years, as the credit market recovers. In the first quarter of 2014, mortgages with higher loan-to-value (LTV) ratios were growing as a share of the market, according to statistics released by the Bank of England yesterday. Loans worth 90 [...]
Tipping point: Why there’s never been a better time to start a business in Britain June 8, 2014 WE HAVE now heard Her Majesty the Queen utter the words small business and enterprise in Parliament. Last week, she announced the first ever bill dedicated to small firms in the Queen’s Speech: the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill. This was soon followed by a release from the Office for National Statistics showing the [...]
Queen denies housing bubble exists June 4, 2014 There is no housing bubble, we are all safe from the spectre of another boom and bust. Or so says the Queen’s speech and the accompanying notes the government published today. “My ministers will continue to promote the Help to Buy and Right to Buy schemes to support home ownership,” she said this [...]
Now RBS caps UK mortgages June 3, 2014 RBS yesterday joined Lloyds in cutting back mortgage lending for the most expensive houses, in the latest sign that banks are worried that the market could overheat. The move came as Nationwide reported house prices are at a record high, while ex-City watchdog boss Lord Turner said he is worried about the towering pile of [...]