Why long-term investors shouldn’t fear Brexit: Alarming projections have emerged about the impact of Britain leaving the EU on sterling, stocks and bonds. But there are reasons not to expect the worst May 25, 2016 You’d be forgiven for thinking the investment industry is united against Brexit. Accompanied by alarming forecasts about the impact of a Leave vote on sterling or the risk to various sectors of the UK economy, repeated reports have painted the referendum as a choice between emotion and reason, with Remain the only sensible option for [...]
Focus on Notting Hill property: Prices may have fallen, but is it all down to stamp duty reform? May 19, 2016 Notting Hill hasn’t been having the best of weeks, if truth be told. On Tuesday, a report from estate agent Stirling Ackroyd revealed that average house prices had fallen in several prime central London locations. In W11, they’ve gone down by 10 per cent from the first quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of [...]
Malaysian PM’s stepson bought £23m house in London using troubled state fund 1MDB May 19, 2016 The stepson of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak reportedly bought a house in London for £23.25m using money from troubled state investment fund 1MDB. The property located in upmarket Belgravia is registered with Qentas Holdings Ltd., a company based in the British Virgin Islands. However, sources told the WSJ that Najib's stepson, Riza Aziz, is the beneficial owner. Read more: The [...]
House prices of the future: London will average more than £1m while properties in much of England will be worth more than £500,000 May 17, 2016 The average price of a home might feel eye-watering today – but by the standards of 2030, they'll seem positively good value. New research claims to have estimated how much prices will go up by across Britain – and all those skinny houses and over-priced garages suddenly look like bargains in comparison. Indeed, if prices [...]
Tale of two cities: Winners and losers in the London housing market May 17, 2016 House prices in some of prime central London’s most expensive postcodes have plummeted by more than 10 per cent, while further out of town prices have powered ahead, resulting in a new two-speed market in the capital. The sea-change, caused by factors as diverse as stamp duty reforms and an economic slowdown in China, is creating [...]
This tiny London garage sold for more than the price of the average house May 10, 2016 A tiny garage in west London is the latest sign of the ridiculous scramble for prime property locations in the capital, after being bought up for more than the price of the average home in the UK. The 18ft by 35ft spot in Hammersmith and Fulham smashed the already rather steep £250,00 guide price, the Guardian reports. It went for [...]
The five best train journeys in the world April 29, 2016 Train travel affords a vision of the world that seems so much more interesting than road journeys; somehow you hardly ever see anything interesting from a motorway. As John Betjeman said, “you need never be bored in a train”. Train travel is liberating in the time it affords for oneself – to read, write, think, [...]
When Brent meets Chelsea: How buying property in all 32 London boroughs over the last 20 years would have made a savvy investment April 21, 2016 Judging which areas will generate the best returns over the next 20 years can be tricky even for the wisest property sage. Data from estate agent Knight Frank show that Hackney was the best performing borough during that time, with an annual price growth of 11.9 per cent, followed by Lambeth at 11.2 per cent. However [...]
London house prices: More than 35,000 high-end homes planned in next decade – just as the prime property market starts to falter April 11, 2016 London's prime residential market is already suffering from the early signs of a slowdown but a flood of new properties is coming in the next decade that could exacerbate it further. A new report out today suggests there are 35,000 prime London homes due for construction in the next 10 years – a 40 per [...]
EU referendum: Will leaving the European Union lead to more sovereignty for the UK? April 2, 2016 Prime Minister David Cameron lambasts claims by the pro-Leave campaign that leaving the EU will bring sovereignty back to the UK. He says that if Britain leaves the EU, you will end up with the "illusion of sovereignty, but not the power, you don’t have control and you can’t get things done". That stands in [...]