At 1 Hotels, luxury means something different January 18, 2025 As 1 Hotels prepare for their biggest rollout of openings, Adam Bloodworth explores the brand’s intriguing formula Sure, you can have a great dinner, and yep, the spa’s so nice you could easily pop in for an hour but end up spending the whole afternoon. But it isn’t an obvious type of luxury that appeals [...]
Savills: End of work from home drives recovery in office property market January 16, 2025 International property services company Savills has predicted a strong commercial property market this year driven by cheaper financing, the sustainability agenda and workers’ return to the office. The FTSE 250-listed firm told the market this morning that while it expected challenging conditions to continue, “most markets are in recovery”. However, the firm added that geopolitical uncertainty, [...]
Business confidence plunges to lowest level since Liz Truss’s mini-budget January 15, 2025 Rachel Reeves’s tax hikes have pushed business confidence to its lowest level since the wake of Liz Truss’s calamitous mini-Budget, as firms fret over a surge in costs and slowdown in the domestic economy, a closely watched survey has suggested. Concerns over a looming tax bill and a slump in sales caused business confidence to [...]
Home REIT: Beleaguered property fund value falls 60 per cent January 14, 2025 Scandal-hit housing investor Home REIT has published its long-delayed 2023 annual results, revealing its property portfolio has been valued at just 40.7 per cent of its original purchase cost. The results for the year to 31 August 2023 revealed that the value of Home REIT’s assets had decreased by more than a third in a [...]
It’s hard to see how City Minister survives the week January 14, 2025 Will Tulip Siddiq still be the City minister by the end of this week? It’s an important question, for a number of reasons. Siddiq’s fate matters a great deal to Keir Starmer and the government, because nobody wants to lose an anti-corruption minister to a corruption scandal. It matters to the wider Labour party because [...]
London house prices rise by just £600 as worst borough revealed January 14, 2025 The London borough where more houses fell in value than almost any other area in the UK in 2024 has been revealed. According to new data released by Zoopla, the value of 72 per cent of houses in Kensington and Chelsea fell by at least one per cent last year. A total of 73,200 homes [...]
UK consumer confidence may struggle to ‘ride out’ uncertainty January 13, 2025 Consumer confidence ended 2024 on a high, but analysts have warned that it might not be able to ride out a wave of economic uncertainty this year. Confidence was at its highest since April 2021 in December, according to Yougov’s and CBRE’s monthly consumer confidence survey. Business activity, optimism about the future, and perceptions of [...]
Halal Investing for Beginners – Everything You’ll Need January 13, 2025 If you are a Muslim who has a keen interest in investing, then it is fundamental to first be aware of halal investing principles, and what investing activities are permissible under its guidance. This is because islamic finance has certain ethical and social obligations that Muslims are expected to follow, and failure to adhere to [...]
UK housebuilders to shed light on property market amid Government targets January 12, 2025 Some of the UK’s biggest housebuilders will say whether demand is picking up in the property market after a prolonged slump, as the Government prepares to overhaul planning rules. London-listed construction groups Persimmon, Vistry and Taylor Wimpey will all provide trading updates next week. Persimmon, which will give an update on its fourth-quarter trading on [...]
Los Angeles wildfires could result in $15bn US insurance losses January 10, 2025 Early estimates of the wildfires engulfing Los Angeles county may rapidly deplete the catastrophe budgets of US primary insurers