As help to buy winds down, caps on savings schemes will only hinder home ownership March 30, 2023 Help to Buy, an equity loan scheme, helped hundreds of thousands of first time buyers get on the housing ladder, as it ends, it makes lifting the cap on Lifetime ISAs all the more important, writes Annabelle Williams
Mortgage approvals snap back following mini budget chaos, but net lending at lowest since 2016 March 29, 2023 Mortgage approvals have improved for the first time since August, as the market begins to shake off the stress of the mini-budget, however experts have warned that the housing market will “remain price sensitive”. According to the Bank of England’s Money and Credit report for February, net mortgage approvals for house purchases increased to 43,500 [...]
Asda owners shrug off £9bn debt pile and size up £8bn Subway take over March 28, 2023 The billionaire owners of supermarket Asdaare reportedly sizing up an £8bn takeover of global sandwich maker Subway. According to reports in The Sun, billionaire’s Mohsin and Zuber Issa are understood to be eyeing up the 44,000 restaurant chain. The pair, who gained their notoriety as the founders of forecourt business EG Group, already have Subway [...]
Analysis: Is Michael Gove going to war with landlords? March 28, 2023 Michael Gove has accused “unscrupulous” landlords of using no-fault evictions to jack up rents.
Bellway: How a spring uplift in the property market is giving housebuilder cause for optimism March 28, 2023 Bellway has said homebuyer demand has started to improve after seeing reservations plunge by nearly 50 per cent due to soaring mortgage rates. The housebuilder group, whose headquarters are in Newcastle, reported underlying pre-tax profits falling 4.6 per cent to £312.1 million for the six months to January 31. It delivered record revenues, up 1.6 [...]
Moorgate moves: Why a Malaysian property fund is betting big on Deutsche’s London HQ March 28, 2023 A MALAYSIAN property fund has teamed up with London-based Castleforge to buy Deutsche Bank’s current London base in Moorgate for just over a quarter of a billion – in what amounts to a big bet on London’s commercial property market and the ‘flight to quality’ in office space. Castleforge and its Malaysian partner Gamuda plan to refurbish [...]
SEC targets crypto space after stablecoins’ de-pegging event, while FTX recovers $500 million for refunds March 27, 2023 Crypto analyst Francisco Memoria looks over the past week to see what news narratives have been driving Bitcoin and the wider crypto markets.
Inside the £10,000 BVI retreat teaching ethical capitalism March 27, 2023 There are certain moments in life that you will always remember. For me, one of these is paddling out to sea at night in a transparent, glow-in-the-dark kayak, while looking up at the stars off the shores of a private BVI island. Back on land, a banquet was taking place on the beach – everyone [...]
Exclusive: Home REIT’s biggest tenant dished out £1.2m to bosses before bankruptcy March 27, 2023 The three bosses of Home REIT’s now-bankrupt biggest tenant pocketed over £1.2m last year even as the firm struggled to pay rent and slumped to a multi-million-pound loss, City A.M. can reveal. Gurpaal Judge, the chief of Wolverhampton-based social housing provider Lotus Housing, hiked his own and two directors’ pay to £1.2m in 2022 – [...]
Belvoir weathered mini budget interest rate storm with small dip in profit March 27, 2023 Belvoir reported a small dip in pre-tax profit this morning as its chief cited a “general pressure on interest rates” from the mini-budget for its results. For the year, the London-listed property firm reported pre-tax profits dip two per cent to £9.1m from £9.3m, saying the budget from Liz Truss shook the market. The Lincolnshire headquartered [...]