Circle Property makes £42m debut on London’s junior market February 16, 2016 A regional property company chaired by former Land Securities boss Ian Henderson has listed on London's junior market with a market value of £42m. Circle Property, which was founded by a group of family investors in 2002 and also counts banking heir Jamie Hambro and the Duke of Roxburghe as non-executive directors, owns 16 commercial properties across the country valued at [...]
Zoopla injects £1m into four property technology start-ups February 16, 2016 Zoopla is throwing its weight behind the next generation of property technology firms after investing £1m in four start-ups. The FTSE 250 firm, which owns uSwitch, Prime Location as well its eponymous property search firm, said it has agreed exclusive partnerships with four "promising and innovative property technology start-up companies" to help ramp up their expansion and improve [...]
Buy-to-let mortgage boom runs out of steam as lending falls in December February 16, 2016 The buy-to-let mortgage boom receded toward the end of last year, new figures show today. The amount of cash loaned to buy-to-let investors dropped by three per cent in December compared with November, the Council of Mortgage Lenders said. It was also down one per cent in the three months from the three months to September. Over [...]
Upmarket hostel owner Safestay says it is on track to hit forecasts as visitor numbers rise February 15, 2016 Safestay, the Aim-listed property developer of upmarket hostels, said its performance for the year was on track after increasing the number of beds in its portfolio by over 1,000 during the past year. The company, which was founded five years ago with the idea of sprucing up the hostel market, added a fourth hostel to its portfolio in September after [...]
UK house prices: Help to buy has boosted the number of houses built and first-time buyers – but it’s not inflating prices, claims government report February 15, 2016 Suffering from misgivings about whether help to buy is really the panacea the government claims it is? A new report published this morning claims it has boosted both house building and first-time buying – but it has not artificially boosted prices. And the report has been published by… er… the government. The equity loan scheme, [...]
London house prices: Asking prices hit record high as concerns grow over help to buy eligibilty February 15, 2016 London asking prices reached a new record high in February, property website Rightmove said this morning. Rising prices are making buying a new home difficult for many Londoners even when using the government’s help to buy scheme. Prices in Greater London climbed 5.4 per cent over the course of last month and are 10.5 per cent higher than [...]
Human drivers will be obsolete by 2050 as driverless technology takes over, say researchers Moshe Vardi and Bart Selman February 14, 2016 Cars driven by humans will become obsolete with the rise of driverless car technology, leading researchers have predicted, and it could happen as soon as 2050. "You cannot ride a horse in downtown Houston anymore. If you like horse riding, you have to go to horse ranches. The same is likely to happen with cars," said Moshe Vardi, [...]
First-time buyers who purchase a house this year will have already spent £52,900 on rent – or the deposit on a £1m house February 12, 2016 Those who are about to step on to the property ladder this year will have already cashed out £52,900 on rent, according to new research – more than you would spend on a five per cent deposit on a £1m house. And the figures published by the Association of Residential Lettings Agents (Arla) show that [...]
Countryside pushes ahead with £1bn IPO – and share price rises 1.54 per cent February 12, 2016 Its timing could have been better. Developer Countryside Properties (not to be confused with fairly recently-IPOd estate agent Countrywide) pushed ahead with its IPO this morning, despite general gloom on the markets. Rather sensibly, it had decided to price shares right at the bottom of its range of 225p to 275p, valuing it at just over £1bn. As the [...]
UK house prices: Buying a house with your heart instead of your head costs more than £16,000 – but London isn’t the worst February 12, 2016 Waiting until you fall in love with a house before agreeing to buy it? New research claims that could really be hurting your wallet. Zoopla estimates that over a third of purchasers (34 per cent) spent more than their allocated budgets because they were ruled by their heart instead of their head – and the average [...]