Property and the Spring Statement: Is anything going to change? March 24, 2025 Labour faces some tough choices with its Spring Statement: after increasing business taxes and public spending last autumn, the government now has to grapple with unhappy companies and a maxed-out credit card. The last budget was a mixed bag for the property market: there was widespread concern amongst landlords that the government would hike up [...]
Buy Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey ahead of Spring Statement says broker March 24, 2025 Investment bank Jefferies has said investors should ‘Buy’ shares in UK housebuilders like Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey ahead of this week’s Spring Statement. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to present her Spring Statement later this week. Due to her commitment to just one major fiscal event, it was intended as an update rather than a [...]
Rightmove: 74,000 house buyers to narrowly miss stamp duty deadline March 17, 2025 Rightmove’s stamp duty report has identified an estimated 74,000 moves, which includes 25,000 first-time buyers, that will just miss the March 31 deadline and complete in April. They form the unlucky section of a “massive log-jam” of 575,000 movers hoping to complete ahead of the tax change, Rightmove said. Collectively, the buyers are set to [...]
UK housing market returned to growth in 2024 March 17, 2025 The value of the UK housing market returned to growth last year after mortgage rates dropped and affordability constraints eased. According to Savills, the total value of the UK housing market expanded by 6.3 per cent in 2024 to £379bn. The increase in spending on housebuying was fuelled by first-time buyers, who collectively increased their [...]
Buy-to-let market ‘resilient’ despite fears of landlord exodus March 11, 2025 UK landlords are more optimistic than previously thought about buy-to-let as the market gears up to absorb economic and regulatory challenges, according to a new survey. A survey of 300 UK landlords has found that a third of landlords plan to expand their portfolios this year, while 43 per cent expect yields to improve. “It [...]
UK mortgage brokers expect interest rates to jump March 7, 2025 According to a new study, over two-thirds of UK mortgage brokers expect interest rates to stop falling and resume their upward trend by the beginning of next year. Butterfield Mortgages surveyed 300 brokers and 69 per cent said they believed the Bank of England base rate would be higher than the current level of 4.5 per cent [...]
Ban on new leasehold flats ‘doesn’t go far enough’ March 3, 2025 The government’s newly released whitepaper promises to ban the sale of new leasehold flats, but campaigners say the policy will not provide enough relief for current leaseholders. Labour said the plans mark the start of commonhold, rather than leasehold, being the “default tenure” in the UK. “These reforms mark the beginning of the end for [...]
The Barbican and the Ned to represent London at major New York travel show March 3, 2025 Two of the City of London’s most important cultural venues will promote the area at a New York travel show later this month. The Barbican and the Ned will attend SMU International, an event that connects industry experts with travel buyers looking to invest worldwide. Jenny Waller, head of sales at the Barbican, said the [...]
One in five Brits in ‘high financial stress’ as economic woes deepen March 3, 2025 Public confidence in the UK economy has taken another hit, with the latest City AM Freshwater Strategy poll showing little hope for the near future. The polling revealed nearly one in five voters, 18 per cent, could not pay an unexpected £500 bill, categorising them as in “high financial stress”. 35 per cent said their [...]
Mortgage approvals up a fifth since January last year March 3, 2025 Mortgage approvals rose 18 per cent year on year in January after interest rate cuts improved affordability. Mortgage approvals sat at 66,189 in January, up 18 per cent from 55,941 in January 2024, according to ONS data. “UK homebuyers appear to have begun the year on the front foot,” CEO of specialist lender Octane Capital, [...]