Get into the foreign property game at a fraction of the cost February 11, 2010 FOR many people, owning a foreign property would be the ultimate luxury. However, dealing with local authorities, maintaining the place, or renting it out can turn a luxury into a time-consuming, costly hassle. And that assumes you can really afford the place of your dreams, rather than a flat in a high-rise overlooking a crowded [...]
UK AT RISK | THERE’S ROOM IN THE STY February 10, 2010 CHANCELLOR Alistair Darling might have hoped that the Greek sovereign debt crisis would draw attention away from the parlous state of Britain’s own public finances. He will have been sorely disappointed – the Eurozone’s troubles have only highlighted the problems facing other highly indebted countries such as the UK and the US. The ratings agencies [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 8, 2010 FINANCE TIMES DE SHAW MOBILISES TEAM TO BUY DISTRESSED ASSETS OF FUND RIVALS DE Shaw, the third largest hedge fund, has established an in-house team to look at buying portfolios of distressed assets and is targeting the holdings of rival hedge funds. The DE Shaw Portfolio Acquisitions Unit, launched last year, aims to capitalise on [...]
Frosty start to 2010 for estate agents February 8, 2010 HEAVY snow and icy conditions froze activity in the housing market last month but estate agents continued to report rising prices, according to the latest survey from the Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Although a net 32 per cent of estate agents saw property prices continue to rise, compared to 30 per cent in [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE HOUSE PRICES ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY? February 8, 2010 PAUL WALTERS | MCDERMOTT WILL & EMERY “London property prices are robust but I’m not sure about the rest of the country where there continues to be oversupply. In London, especially St. John’s Wood, Chelsea, Hampstead and Fulham, there will be no problem as there is huge demand.” CHRISTOPHER HAYDAY | WILLIS “It would be [...]
Bellway urges caution over housebuilding February 5, 2010 HOUSEBUILDER Bellway today said it remains cautious over the prospects for the housing market despite a modest pick-up in sales in first-half trading. The Newcastle-based group sold 2,247 homes in the six months to the end of January, up 12 per cent on the previous year. Its order book stood at £390 million or 2,506 [...]
Q&A: BUYING February 4, 2010 Q.Dear Camilla, I am thinking about selling my home this year. But is it the right time given that there is both economic and political uncertainty at the moment? A.There has been a lot of positive press about property prices in recent weeks, which should support the UK housing market. For example, mortgage lender Nationwide [...]
First-time buyers benefit from falling deposits February 2, 2010 FIRST time buyers have been given a boost after new figures showed that the availability of mortgages is on the rise. The number of deals is up 20 per cent compared to the start of the year, according to financial information service Moneyfacts. The increased has been driven by the thawing of the mortgage market [...]
US home sales edge upwards February 2, 2010 Pending sales of previously owned US homes edged up as expected in December, a survey showed yesterday, which should help to calm fears of renewed weakness in the troubled housing sector. But the housing recovery remains slow and painful, with other data showing the percentage of empty privately owned homes rose to 2.7 per cent [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 1, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES VANTIS FALLS £10.7M INTO THE RED Vantis, the AIM-quoted company acting as a liquidator to Stanford International Bank, fell £10.7m into the red in its first half to 31 October. The accountancy and professional services group incurred £11.7m of exceptional charges, mostly an impairment of current and intangible assets after a review following [...]