Swelling house prices continue into February March 6, 2014 UK HOUSE prices surged in February according to a major index of prices, jumping 2.4 per cent in the month alone, and up 7.9 per cent from February last year. The monthly change is the fastest that Halifax has recorded since the first half of 2009, and February saw the 11th month-on-month increase in the [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 06 March 2014 March 5, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Church defends hedge fund plan The man responsible for the Church of England’s £6bn endowment has defended plans to increase its investment in hedge funds, arguing that not all of the industry has “devil’s horns”. Andreas Whittam Smith, first church estates commissioner, told the Financial Times that the Church’s own ethical watchdog sanctioned [...]
How one million homeowners have only known ultra low rates March 4, 2014 MORE than one million first time buyers have jumped on the property ladder in the five years since the Bank of England cut interest rates to 0.5 per cent, raising fears that borrowers are unprepared for a rate rise in the years to come. It is five years to the day since the base rate [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 04 March 2014 March 3, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Nine private equity heads share $2.5bn The nine founders of the four big listed US private equity companies took home more than $2.5bn between them last year, with Apollo Global Management’s Leon Black alone receiving $546m. The dividend income, investment profits and other compensation shared by the founders of Apollo, Blackstone, Carlyle and [...]
Housing market surge spreads through the UK March 3, 2014 HOUSE prices rose across the largest proportion of the UK on record this February, shooting up at the fastest pace recorded for a single month, according to Hometrack’s latest assessment of the rapid recovery in the property market. Last month, 51.1 per cent of postcodes saw price increases, according to the research, released today. Only [...]
Living a sporting life in the heart of new business hub February 27, 2014 New homes in Glasshouse Gardens hope to entice buyers eastwards to live in the Olympic Park NEW BUILD developments are sprouting up all over east London these days, but Stratford seems to be quite a hotspot for them. The former site of the Olympic Games is now carving its way into the capital, developing its [...]
Furnishings designed to impress February 27, 2014 Melissa York talks to Karen Howes about creating riverside luxury HOW DO you please the buyer that has everything? This is the question Karen Howes has to answer every day. She’s the co-founder and chief executive officer of Taylor Howes, an interior design firm that specialises in furnishing the homes of the uber-rich. “Every element [...]
We can solve Britain’s housing crisis. Here’s how February 27, 2014 IF WE could build and heat homes with the hot air generated by the UK’s housing crisis debate, we would solve both issues in one go. Eighteen months ago, the issue was the availability of mortgage finance. We could not build because our customers could not borrow, and that was dragging the volume of new [...]
British mutuals seize customers from big banks February 26, 2014 THREE major building societies yesterday reported big increases in profits for 2013 as the sector seized customers from the big banks. The Yorkshire Building Society saw pre-tax profits jump to £199.3m, up 26 per cent on the year. It is the second largest mutual behind Nationwide, and its gross lending volumes increased 48 per cent on [...]
Taylor Wimpey returns £250m to shareholders February 26, 2014 TAYLOR Wimpey said yesterday it would pay £250m to shareholders after it became the latest housebuilder to report impressive results on the back of a surging housing market. The company said it will pay shareholders a special dividend of £50m in 2014, and £200m in 2015 from its growing cash pile, with plans for further [...]