Gym Group eyes £31m of investor funding for 40 new sites July 1, 2021 The UK’s second-largest gym chain, Gym Group, aims to raise £31m from investors to fund an expansion with 40 new branches. The low-cost gym operator said it plans to open the new sites over the next 18 months as it continues its rapid rollout programme. It said the impact of Covid-19 on the commercial property [...]
‘Busiest six months in 57 years’: Stamp duty holiday causes pandemonium in property sector July 1, 2021 The last week has seen chaos for buyers trying to beat the stamp duty holiday deadline, and long hours and stress for all other parties involved in the process. This week homebuyers were in a race against time to beat the deadline on the most generous stamp duty holiday, which ended at midnight last night. [...]
To succeed in 2021’s complex world of trade, businesses need to go beyond the basics June 29, 2021 As businesses grapple with the effect of COVID-19 on global supply chains and issues of geopolitical instability, and with global sustainability and emerging technologies weighing on the minds of business decision makers, international trade is more complex than ever before. New research from EY shows that this fact is not lost on businesses, with the [...]
House prices: Growth rates surge across UK, with London homes averaging £509,000 June 29, 2021 UK house prices: Growth rates surge across UK, with London homes averaging £509,000
Property investor Kennedy-Wilson buys £177.5m London office building June 29, 2021 American company Kennedy-Wilson Holdings has bought an office building in London for £177.5m, betting on a rebound in workspace demand after the pandemic and Brexit hit property valuations in the city. The U.S.-based real estate investment firm’s purchase of One Embassy Gardens, a 156,000-square-foot building in Nine Elms district, follows its recent sale of a central [...]
Stamp duty holiday pushes 1.8 million houses into higher land tax bracket in Treasury win June 29, 2021 Intense market activity driven largely by the stamp duty holiday has pushed nearly two million UK properties into a higher stamp duty bracket in a win for the Treasury. Thanks to feverish market activity in the last 12 months, of all UK homes, 940,000 additional properties will now attract some level of stamp duty at [...]
Green is the colour for the day as Bitcoin emerges from a slump June 28, 2021 The Bitcoin price shot back up to $35k again last night, having dropped to $30k late on Friday.
DeFi defying gravity: risk, reward, hype and FUD June 26, 2021 Alex Lightman walks us through how decentralised finance works, including the risks and trends to look out for.
Cost of buying first home in London more than doubles over last half century June 26, 2021 Today’s first-time-buyers in London have to pay two and a half times as much for their first home as they did five decades ago, according to new research. A report published by the Resolution Foundation today shows the cost of purchasing a first home with a mortgage in the capital was £212,000 in 1974 – [...]
Investors should have a duty to investigate links to modern slavery June 25, 2021 While slavery might sound like an egregious crime of the past it is still commonplace in modern society. It is a crime that exploits and dehumanises individuals and sees them as property to be bought, sold or traded. While it is prevalent, it is not public, and across the world acts of modern slavery take [...]