Westminster Council rejects government proposals to legalise Airbnb lets in London for up to 90 days February 10, 2015 Government plans to allow Londoners to legally rent out their homes through websites such as Airbnb for up to 90 days has been rejected by a rebel council, claiming short-term lets can be a nightmare for neighbours. Yesterday housing minister Brandon Lewis outlined details of a reform of a law dating back to 1973 that [...]
London house prices: Capital would be hit disproportionately by mansion tax January 20, 2015 The extent to which London will be disproportionately hit by a new mansion tax has been revealed by new research looking into the most expensive properties in the UK Labour has proposed a tax on properties worth over £2m, which, according to research by Knight Frank, means 2.5 per cent of properties in London would [...]
Luxury extras for new London homes: From rooftop yoga in Hammersmith to virtual golf on the Thames January 15, 2015 New homes now come with luxury extras as standard to lure in Londoners with busy schedules. Developers are continually trying to outdo their competitors by incorporating extra leisure facilities into the service charge. And, in time-honoured property fashion, the need to keep up with the Jones’ has led to ever more outlandish services, from virtual [...]
Blame the Green Belt for Britain’s dire housing crisis: Reform is long overdue January 13, 2015 The UK, and particularly London, is in the midst of what should be seen as a housing crisis. According to LSE professor Paul Cheshire, new build houses are about 40 per cent bigger in the Netherlands and 38 per cent bigger in Germany than they are in England. And yet housing goes for 45 per [...]
London house price boom loses steam as national prices pick up December 21, 2014 London house prices are moving at a rate more in line the rest of the UK, new data shows, while homeowners borrow more in the run up to Christmas.The average UK price was up 7.8 per cent year-on-year in November compared to 7.9 per cent in London, according to figures released today from Haart estate [...]
Winkworth says mansion tax talk hitting demand for London £2m-plus homes December 2, 2014 The threat of a potential mansion tax after May’s general election was hitting demand for £2m-plus homes, estate agent Winkworth said yesterday. Shares in the agency fell 2.6 per cent after it warned of a “subdued” first half of 2015, despite anticipating a pick-up in activity in the final six months of the year. It [...]
The Riverlight development in Battersea’s Nine Elms is welcoming residents November 13, 2014 Visitors to Riverlight, a new housing development on the south bank of the Thames, are confronted by a rather extraordinary, large artwork in the lobby. It layers towering elm trees, cranes from the docks, industrial waste and six, serrated glass towers lining the river bank. “History in the Making” by Royal College of Art [...]
Rising London house prices: What we can learn from Cyprus’s 2013 economic crash November 5, 2014 As international buyers continue to snap up London property and send house prices skyrocketing, a group of economists has suggested the events leading up to Cyprus's 2013 economic crash should be taken as a warning to UK banks. In March last year, Cyprus's debt had spiraled so far out of control that it came [...]
Office building supports boom in construction November 3, 2014 CONSTRUCTION activity is making a sustained recovery with the commercial sector providing a boost, new data released today shows. The Glenigan index, produced by construction analysts Glenigan, was four per cent higher for November than it was a year ago. The figure is up from three per cent in October and marks 17 consecutive months [...]
How shared ownership can help get Londoners on the housing ladder October 22, 2014 The Scottish Parliament has set out plans to levy its first tax since 1707. In an effort to support first time buyers, it proposed reforming stamp duty into a marginal – rather than a “slab” – tax, meaning that house sales in Scotland will no longer incur the highest rate on the whole price. These [...]