UK house prices see fastest growth in four years but monthly rate slows November 6, 2020 UK house prices grew at their fastest annual rate since 2016 in October, new figures have shown, although month-on-month price growth slowed considerably. House prices jumped 7.5 per cent in October, according to the Halifax house price index, compared to 7.3 per cent in September. Yet growth slowed to just 0.3 per cent when looked [...]
Airbnb suspends 800 party houses in crackdown on antisocial behaviour November 6, 2020 Airbnb has suspended more than 800 UK property listings as part of a crackdown on party houses. More than 13,500 booking requests have also been blocked as part of a pilot to prevent under-25s to rent homes close to where they live in a bid to stop anti-social behaviour. Airbnb removed listings that have received [...]
Carlyle Group buys UK retirement homes group Beechcroft November 4, 2020 Private equity firm The Carlyle Group has acquired UK retirement homes group from Alchemy Partners for an undisclosed sum. The US investment giant’s €540m Carlyle Europe Realty fund invested in Beechcroft, which owns a portfolio of homes in Greater London and South East England. Founded more than 35 years ago, Beechcroft covers the entire development value [...]
Deloitte Legal acquires London tech and digital media law firm November 3, 2020 Deloitte Legal will acquire technology and digital media law firm Kemp Little, adding 29 partners and up to 57 lawyers in the process.
CEOs, take note: Hygiene is now a boardroom issue November 3, 2020 The history of business is full of inflection points. Some are instantly easy to recognise, and fatal for non-innovators: the iPhone surpassed and killed the once ubiquitous Blackberry, while digital streaming rendered Blockbuster obsolete. Others are more gradual and harder to see. Entertainment venues, for example, took anti-smoking legislation in their stride and transformed, while [...]
UK house price growth rises to highest rate in five years October 30, 2020 UK house price growth jumped to the highest rate in five years this month, as the market continued to experience a post-lockdown bounce. Annual UK house price growth rose to 5.8 per cent in October, the highest level since January 2015. Property prices were up 0.8 per cent month-on-month compared to growth of 0.9 per [...]
Negative rates explained: should UK investors prepare? October 30, 2020 The UK’s banks received a letter from the Bank of England (BoE) this week which has brought negative interest rates back into the headlines. The letter, published here, asked banks how ready they would be if the Bank of England base rate – which currently sits at 0.10% – moved into negative territory. The letter, signed [...]
Corona Impact Series: A vegan stop off Oxford Street October 29, 2020 In this series, City A.M. looks at the financial and economic impact of the ongoing pandemic on a range of small and medium-sized businesses across London. Today: how evaporated demand and high rent obligations ultimately proved fatal for Ethos. Meat-free and plant-based Ethos opened six years ago, catering for vegans by offering ‘deliciously different’ meat-free and [...]
Mortgage approvals soar to 13-year high as UK housing market booms October 29, 2020 Mortgage approvals jumped again in September to hit a 13-year high as pent-up demand and the stamp duty holiday fuelled the housing market despite the economy’s fragile state. Approvals of mortgages for house purchase rose sharply to 91,500 in September from 85,500 in August, the Bank of England said today. Analysts had expected the number [...]
Lloyds profit beats forecasts on pandemic mortgage boom October 29, 2020 Lloyds posted a forecast-beating profit for the third quarter as Britain’s biggest domestic lender cashed in booming demand for mortgages and set aside a smaller amount to cover bad loans. The bank returned to profitability in the three months to September after posting an unexpected loss in the first half. Lloyds reported a pre-tax profit [...]