London rents rise again as house prices hold: ‘It is nothing short of brutal’ December 18, 2024 Rents in London have continued to show double-digits rises despite a stablisation in the housing market and lower mortgage rates. Average UK private rents increased by 9.1 per cent in the 12 months to November 2024, with rents in London up 11.6 per cent, according to the latest ONS figures. Propertymark chief Nathan Emerson called [...]
Lack of bids keeps 17,000 homes stuck in development purgatory December 17, 2024 Around 17,000 affordable homes are stuck in development purgatory due to a lack of demand from housing providers, according to new research. Under the English planning system, housing developments must set aside a proportion of the site for affordable housing via a Section 106 deal. These Section 106 houses have become an increasingly important mechanism [...]
Persimmon boss warns triple Budget hit will add billions for housebuilders December 16, 2024 Persimmon chief executive Dean Finch has warned that higher costs from new levies will add around £40m in annual costs and add “billions” in expenses across the housebuilding sector. He claimed that the taxes would hurt the government’s ambitious target of building 1.5m homes by 2029, telling The Times that there was a “disconnect” between [...]
Housing market braces for the New Year rush December 16, 2024 The housing market is getting ready for a big Boxing Day bounce following a seasonal dip in house prices this month. New seller asking prices dropped by 1.7 per cent in December to £360,197, according to Rightmove, but ended the year 1.4 per cent above December last year. Activity remained substantially stronger than the same [...]
Lloyd’s of London insurer Canopius favours IPO in private equity exit December 12, 2024 The private equity owners of Canopius plan to list the Lloyd’s of London insurer on the UK stock market next year, City AM has learned. A consortium led by US investor Centerbridge Partners is leaning towards an IPO rather than sale as part of its review into exit options for Canopius, according to a person [...]
S&U says Budget and motor finance scandal weighing on performance December 11, 2024 S&U said the Budget and a scandal over motor finance commissions have dragged on the specialist lender’s financial performance. Anthony Coombs, a former Conservative MP who has been S&U’s chair for the last 16 years, argued Labour’s first Budget had “curtailed the sector’s growth ambitions and cast doubt over the new government’s plans to ‘Get [...]
More companies to follow Homebase and Typhoo Tea into administration following Budget, warns Begbies Traynor December 10, 2024 More UK companies will crash into administration following the tax hikes announced in Labour’s Budget at the end of October, according to Begbies Traynor. Announcing its half-year results to the London Stock Exchange, the Manchester-headquartered group said “UK insolvencies remain at elevated levels” and that it expects “continuing growth” in its business recovery division as [...]
Take a long weekend at The Bristol hotel in… Bristol! December 10, 2024 The thing I love about Bristol is that it is a city of wild contrasts. This is the place that birthed Banksy, that invented its own version of hip-hop because the original wasn’t chill enough, and whose inhabitants decided one morning that a statue of slave trader Edward Colston would be better positioned at the [...]
Games Workshop: Amazon buys rights to Warhammer 40K December 10, 2024 Amazon is set to launch a series of films and television shows based on Games Workshop’s hit game Warhammer 40,000. In a stock exchange notice this morning, Games Workshop said it had agreed “creative guidelines” and reached a deal with Amazon for it to adapt the Warhammer 40,000 fictional universe into films and television series. [...]
The Notebook: Doom spending, girl math, and the impact of financial social media trends December 10, 2024 Many of us have heard the term ‘doom scrolling’ – where you feel like you’re mindlessly scrolling through social media, and I think we can all agree that you never feel better after it. But I hadn’t heard of the term ‘doom spending’ until recently. It’s a newer trend on social media which essentially glamorises [...]