WHAT DOES THE CHANCELLOR’S BUDGET MEAN FOR YOU? March 24, 2010 KATE SOLWAY, 30 FUNDS CONTROLLER AT PRIVATE EQUITY FIRM COGNETAS Kate is single and lives in rented accommodation with flatmates. She also owns two investment properties – one a London flat with a mortgage which she rents out, and the other a holiday home under construction in Cape Verde, which she owns outright and will [...]
Chancellor slashes stamp duty for first-time buyers March 24, 2010 ALISTAIR Darling has said stamp duty will be scrapped on house purchases up to £250,000 for first-time buyers – to be funded by a five per cent levy on those buying homes over £1m. The chancellor unveiled the measures in his budget in which he said the economy was at a “crossroads”. Meanwhile he said [...]
US home sales dip amid fragile market recovery March 23, 2010 Sales of previously owned US homes fell slightly in February, according to a trade group report yesterday that underscored the fragile nature of the housing market’s recovery. The National Association of Realtors said sales fell 0.6 per cent month-on-month to an annual rate of 5.02m units, the third straight month of declines in sales. January’s [...]
REGULATION WILL EXCITE THE MARKETS March 22, 2010 POLITICAL issues look like dominating markets this week. This started on Sunday when President Obama’s healthcare reform was passed narrowly by the House of Representatives. In France, Nicolas Sarkozy has seen his party battered in regional elections and tomorrow we have the last budget before the UK election. Finally, there is the European summit, which [...]
First-time buyers hit by rising house prices in January March 16, 2010 FIRST-time buyers were faced with house prices 8.9 per cent higher in January than the same month last year, according to figures from the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG). The department said average prices paid by those buying their first home was £149,924 in January. This was up 0.2 per cent against December [...]
London house prices too high for first-timers March 15, 2010 LONDON continues to lead the fragile national housing market recovery with asking prices in the capital rising 0.3 per cent in March to stand at 8.7 per cent higher than they were a year ago. According to the house prices and affordability index from FindaProperty.com, the average London property is now on the market at [...]
London house prices hit by March slump March 14, 2010 HOUSE prices have come to a standstill this month as sellers return to the market after a dismal winter. The latest survey by property website Rightmove shows that UK property is now a buyers’ market and new sellers have been forced to ask for just 0.1 per cent more, the lowest rise ever-recorded in March. [...]
The sun is shining on property in the Med March 11, 2010 THIS year’s freezing winter may well have proved a tipping point in your decision to invest in a sunny property abroad – and it couldn’t have arrived at a better time. Possibly by the time the time London’s largest overseas property fair, A Place in the Sun (held at Earl’s Court) rolls around 26-28 Mar, [...]
SELLING March 4, 2010 Russell Hunt MANAGING DIRECTOR OF PROPERTY HUNT Q.Dear Russell, we are cash buyers but we keep losing out on houses. I thought cash buyers were supposed to have a better chance. Any advice? A.Buying your home is one of the biggest decisions that you ever have to make and it is also one of the [...]
Tough economic climate and fiscal laxity to keep pressure on sterling March 3, 2010 JANE FOLEY RESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COM IN CONTRAST to last month’s meeting, today’s decision by the Bank of England has not been billed as a headline event. February’s meeting had a much higher profile, thanks to its coincident timing with the quarterly inflation report, which gives the central bank a fresh set of growth and inflation [...]