Londoners face a £1bn annual mansion tax bill April 9, 2014 LABOUR and Liberal Democrat proposals for a mansion tax would fall almost entirely on homeowners in London, with three boroughs in the capital footing over two thirds of the bill, research out yesterday by Zoopla showed. A mansion tax levy would effectively be a “London tax”, with homeowners in the capital paying just over £1bn [...]
HS2 deluged by 11,000 complaints on postcards April 9, 2014 Spare a thought for the post room at Golder Associates, the company hired by the Department for Transport to assess the environmental effects of High Speed 2. The consultancy recently received some 7,500 postcards entitled “Don’t miss your chance to tell David Cameron the only AONB [area of outstanding natural beauty] on the route of [...]
How London can smash through the brick ceiling limiting housing supply April 9, 2014 OVER four days, 300 people queued in a field by Heathrow to buy a home. It was 1964, and for £50 people could fulfil their homeowning dream in the soon-to-be-built suburb of Sunbury-on-Thames. The first 187 people did. Those odds don’t feel dissimilar to those faced by Londoners in today’s booming property market. The answer [...]
PassivSystems aiming for £45m valuation on London’s market March 31, 2014 ENERGY monitoring firm PassivSystems is seeking to raise up to £12m on London’s Alternative Investment Market (Aim) as part of its plans to hire more sales staff and speed up the launch of new products. The Berkshire-based firm, which provides software for homeowners to manage solar panels and household heating systems, is seeking a valuation [...]
Perfecting the art of seduction with bespoke interiors March 28, 2014 Melissa York talks to Julia Reynolds, the saleswoman who makes every viewing a singular experience THE next time you walk into a show home, take a good sniff. It’s likely that a lot of thought has gone into what permeates your nostrils. The days of sales teams brewing coffee or arranging flowers at strategic intervals [...]
London’s property boom: Right up there with the dot com bubble and Dutch tulips March 27, 2014 More great news for homeowners in the capital! Following on from Tuesday’s revelation that London house prices shot up by an eye-watering 13.2 per cent in the year to January, research out this morning claims that our city’s property market is the third biggest economic boom of all time. An Office for National Statistics house [...]
Hand-painted, wall-to-wall art for the home March 13, 2014 Meet the designer bringing back affordable, quality wallpaper MOVING house is said to be one of the most stressful things you can go through. But one busy professional turned her decorating frustrations into an idea for a business start-up that brings ancient Chinese art into London homes. Over a year ago, Nina Tryon, formerly head [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 10 March 2014 March 10, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Spotify’s credit line hints at IPO Spotify has secured a $200m credit facility from lenders including Morgan Stanley, bringing the Swedish music company a step closer to a potential initial public offering in the US, according to people close to the deal. The Stockholm start-up, which last year sold equity that implied a [...]
Brand Index: Hot housing market masks finance fear for many Brits March 4, 2014 THE LATEST figures from the YouGov/Cebr consumer confidence index show that the economic recovery is finally starting to move from a headline to a concrete reality for greater numbers of ordinary people. Champagne bottles are by no means being uncorked in large numbers, but there has been a steady increase in the percentage of people [...]
Boris: Increase council tax and cut business rates in the capital March 3, 2014 LONDON Mayor Boris Johnson has called for a cut to business rates and increases to council tax for those who own expensive homes in London. Speaking at a Communities and Local Government select committee yesterday the Mayor said businesses are being “clobbered” by high rates while rich homeowners pay low rates of tax as council [...]