Cameron’s cabinet reshuffle is taking shape September 4, 2012 YESTERDAY’S reshuffle left the great offices of state untouched but the changes David Cameron made to his cabinet provide an insight into the Prime Minister’s plans for the second half of this government. He has turned to trusted allies, with aides saying the focus is on ensuring government policies pass into legislation within the timeframe of [...]
OED endorses mansion taxes and micro pigs August 22, 2012 LEXICOGRAPHERS of the internet rejoice: the latest additions to Oxford Dictionaries Online are out. Like its dead-tree counterpart the Oxford English Dictionary, ODO periodically picks the best new words and phrases to add to its online library, skewing the list towards trendy buzzwords to craftily boost its traffic. Today’s additions include “Dunbar’s number”, the upper [...]
HOUSE PRICES ON THE SLIDE July 30, 2012 House prices across the country fell for the first time in seven months in July, with even resilient London and the south east of England seeing a slowdown in growth, claims research out today from Hometrack. Rising house prices in London and the south east have been offsetting the decline across the rest of the [...]
RAPID RESPONSES July 16, 2012 Building problems [Re: London homes still horribly expensive for first time buyers, yesterday] Unfortunately, policy-makers are stuck in a house building dilemma. If they supply more homes to help first-time buyers, the price of the average home will drop – therefore moving many existing homeowners into negative equity. Stephen Bishop Private sector contractors are certainly better [...]
London still outperforms the rest of the country June 28, 2012 Q What is happening to London prices at the moment? A London property continues to outperform the rest of the UK market. The latest official data showed that average house prices across the capital are up 5.1 per cent year on year, compared to a one per cent fall across England and Wales. The average [...]
The decade of booming house prices revealed… June 25, 2012 House prices in the UK’s most economically active areas surged upwards by an average of £228 a week according to a recent decade of data released yesterday. Homeowners in parts of the country with a high gross value added (GVA) score – a measure of the local economy – saw their properties rise in value [...]
Jump in adults priced out of flying the nest May 29, 2012 SOARING rents and large deposits are making it increasingly difficult for young people to buy a home, industry data showed yesterday. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) recorded a 20 per cent jump in the number of young adults living with their parents since 1997, while figures from Rightmove showed that 30 per [...]
PROPERTY NEWS IN BRIEF May 24, 2012 EMBERCOURT ROAD Price: £1.2m This five bedroom, four bathroom property has a large drawing room with a feature fireplace and French doors leading to the rear gardens. The property benefits from concrete floors and under-floor heating throughout. A ground-floor study has views out to the front. Contact Savills on 01372 461 900. HOLMBURY Price: £2.3m [...]
Tax dash boosts home buying April 16, 2012 February saw a sharp rise in the number of first-time buyers, according to figures out yesterday from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), as the stamp duty holiday’s end date in March drew closer. A total of 14,100 loans worth £1.7bn were taken out by first-time buyers in the month, up eight per cent by [...]
Rental boom ahead of Olympics April 11, 2012 BRITAIN’S rental market is booming, with the number of properties available to lease rising 10 per cent on last year, according to figures out yesterday. Research by data group Experian shows that an additional 58,000 properties were being marketed to rent in 2011 compared to the same period in 2010. By contrast the number of [...]