UK house prices are going to keep going up – Standard and Poor’s March 2, 2016 The UK's rapid house price growth will not end anytime soon, a major ratings agency said today. "Conditions for ongoing robust gains of UK residential property prices remain intact," Standard and Poor's said in a new report. Low mortgage rates and record high employment are fuelling demand, the report said. It added that "the search for yields in a [...]
Tower Hamlets invests in its image and shells out up to £100,000 for a new head of marketing March 2, 2016 Tower Hamlets' new marketing boss will have a lot of work to do. The London Borough of Tower Hamlets, a self-described "high performing authority, with numerous awards and national achievements in housing, diversity and innovation", is on the hunt for a new head of marketing and communications, with an annual salary of up to £100,557. [...]
UK house prices: Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) says government failure to confront Nimbys is fuelling the housing crisis March 2, 2016 A leading free-market think tank has accused the government of yielding to self-interested local residents at the expense of pressing ahead with major housebuilding projects. In a new report out today, the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) argues that the government’s “failure to tackle the housing crisis is due to its unwillingness to confront the [...]
UK house prices: More than half of first-time buyers would buy ex-army barracks to get onto property ladder March 2, 2016 Times are tough for first time buyers and more than half would buy just about anything – from a church to a school or ex-army barracks – to get on the property ladder, according to Your Move and Reeds Rains. According to the estate agency’s latest first time-buyer barometer, 57 per cent claimed they were willing [...]
EU referendum: Lord Mandelson warns Brexit would lead to tariffs of up to 20 per cent on UK exports, inflicting “serious damage on competitiveness” March 1, 2016 Labour peer Peter Mandelson has warned Britain leaving the European Union would lead to tariffs of up to 20 per cent on UK exports, inflicting "serious damage on the competitiveness" of some industries. The former European Union trade commissioner said in a speech today that those campaigning for a so-called Brexit are "trying to sell people a fantasy” [...]
London house prices: South East and commuter areas dominate list of Britain’s best rural places to live March 1, 2016 London’s commuter areas have dominated a new list of the top 50 rural places to live in Britain. South Oxfordshire was the top local authority district to live in, according to the Halifax Rural Quality of Life Survey. Chiltern and Waverley, both within the commuter belt, helped make up the top four along with Rutland [...]
Information Commissioner’s Office hits Brighton-based Prodial with record-breaking fine of £350k for over 46m nuisance calls February 29, 2016 The UK's personal data watchdog has today slammed a Brighton-based firm with its largest ever fine issued for a "staggering" number of nuisance calls. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) levied a £350,000 fine to Prodial, which was operating out of a residential property, after the company sent out over 46m calls consisting of automated messages, resulting in [...]
EU referendum: Brexit could affect property prices – but the Chinese slowdown and a potential interest rate rise are greater causes for concern February 29, 2016 The date has been set and the die has been cast – after 40 years this June voters will have a chance to decide if Britain should stay in the EU and speculation on the possible impact of a Brexit has reached fever pitch. While politicians, businesses and industry experts are willing to throw their [...]
House purchase approvals hit two-year high as buy to let investors rush to beat April’s stamp duty change February 29, 2016 Mortgage lending picked up in January as buy to let investors rush to buy properties before a hike in stamp duty in April. Net mortgage lending rose to £3.7bn in January from £3.2bn in December, according to figures published by the Bank of England this morning. There were 128,709 mortgages approved. Approvals for house purchase, as opposed to [...]
London house prices: Sub-£1m homes in central London “becoming extinct like the Dodo”, according to Wetherell and Dataloft report February 29, 2016 Remember the Dodo? That's the way affordable homes in central London are heading, a new report has claimed. Within the next 12 to 24 months, apartments costing less than £1m and houses valued at less than £2m "will become extinct across Mayfair and the West End", according to the latest research by Wetherell, with data analysis [...]