Creative sector drives growth in October office space take-up as pre-let activity jumps November 25, 2018 Take-up of Central London office space surged last month, with demand from the UK’s creative sector helping to drive growth in the capital’s commercial property market. Roughly 1.3m square feet (sq ft) of office space was let in October, marking a 30 per cent rise on the same month last year, according to new data [...]
Poll: Millennials split on Help to Buy November 25, 2018 Fresh fears that the government’s Help-to-Buy programme has failed to help its target millennial market have been underlined today, with a new poll suggesting that young adults were the most likely group to oppose the scheme. According to a survey by property investment platform British Pearl, more than 40 per cent of people between the [...]
FTSE round up: Index drops on oil and mining share sell-off following fears of oversupply November 23, 2018 The FTSE 100 closed 0.14 per cent down this week after falling to 6,950.82, driven by a sell off in oil and mining shares. The biggest faller was silver and gold miner Fresnillo which saw a 6.98 per cent decrease to 746.4p as the company continued to feel the effects of being downgraded by Morgan Stanley [...]
London house price boom to end as buyer’s market returns November 23, 2018 The London property market is slowly returning into the hands of buyers, as the days of house price growth outpacing the rise of inflation look set to come to an end. Industry analysts and economists polled by Reuters over the last week have predicted house prices in the capital will fall 1.7 per cent this [...]
Public speaking 101: Stick to what you know November 23, 2018 "The problem with your method”, the head of organisational behaviour of a tier-one investment bank tells me, “is that our bankers are often asked to speak about subjects that they know little about. Can you help them with that?” My client was referring to the main premise of my presentation training: that in a presentation, [...]
Shareholders yearn for retail chiefs like Swann November 22, 2018 It has been an annus horribilis for the high street. Closures, job cuts and profit warnings in the last 12 months have all thrown scrutiny on the industry – and its bosses – like never before. Which is why yesterday’s announced departure of SSP chief executive Kate Swann is all the more significant. Swann is [...]
How Brexit could help mortgage prisoners break free November 22, 2018 In the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, lenders were dishing out large mortgages and asking for tiny deposits in return. Property values were rapidly outpacing wage growth, and buyers were being allowed to borrow eight times their annual salary. For many homeowners, the problems started after the crash when the regulators forced [...]
City Moves for 22 November – who’s switching jobs at Carter Jonas, Rathbones and RBC? November 22, 2018 Who’s making moves? Carter Jonas Carter Jonas, the national property consultancy, has recruited education specialist Carolyn Puddicombe as a partner in its commercial team. Puddicombe will lead Carter Jonas’ Education business and be based predominately in the firm’s UK headquarters in London, One Chapel Place, and its regional hub office in Oxford. Carolyn will work [...]
Greater government powers over takeover deals could be used for political purposes, critics warn November 21, 2018 Leading investors, trade bodies, lawyers and banks have criticised proposals to give the government greater powers to intervene in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), raising concerns that new rules could be exploited for political purposes. The proposals would give officials greater scope to scrutinise deals on security grounds. A senior minister could call-in any merger, acquisition or [...]
Paragon gets tough on property valuation to mitigate against Brexit concerns November 21, 2018 UK bank Paragon will take a “robust approach” to property valuation to mitigate against a potential economic downturn following Brexit, it announced today. The FTSE 250 lender said it has strengthened an in-house property team that conducts two thirds of valuations and validates all valuations undertaken by third party surveyors. The company said in a statement: “The [...]