Groucho Marx and property bubbles: Why the Bank is right to rein in market exuberance November 11, 2015 The commercial property market in London has been booming for several years and the Bank of England is concerned about yet another property bubble building up. The executive director for financial stability strategy and risk at the Bank, Alex Brazier, argued in a speech last month that positive sentiment in the industry must be tempered [...]
First-time buyers fuel rise in mortgage lending in September November 11, 2015 Mortgage lending rose year-on-year in September, new data shows, driven by a jump in first time buyers taking out new loans. The month saw 28,600 first-time buyers take out mortgages, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), which was up four per cent on the previous month and by 8.7 per cent year-on-year. By value, [...]
Rightmove sees off threat from OnTheMarket.com as it increases market share November 11, 2015 More proof Rightmove is rising above estate agent bickering, after research by analysts Liberum found it's grabbed market share from new rival OnTheMarket.com. It was feared the property portal would be hit by the launch of OnTheMarket in January. One of the conditions of listing on the site, an estate agent-owned mutual designed to increase competition among [...]
UK house prices: “Just move out of London” – one mortgage site’s solution to Generation Rent’s affordability crisis November 11, 2015 Nowhere has the UK's housing crisis been more potent than in the capital, where a generation of people – dubbed "Generation Rent" – has been priced out of the property market. Now one mortgage site has a solution: go somewhere else. MyLocalMortgage.co.uk reckons if Generation Rent wants "cheaper housing and higher life satisfaction, it should just move out [...]
London house prices: Is the property supply crisis on the rebound? Here’s the top five spots for homes on the market with Wandsworth and Westminster top of the list November 11, 2015 When it comes to London house prices, you have to throw out your notions of supply and demand: it’s all about location, location, location. That’s no huge surprise of course, but what is surprising is the extent to which that’s the case. Wandsworth, the most expensive borough in the capital, actually had the largest number [...]
Telco giants Vodafone, Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin and BT reignite broadband battle November 11, 2015 The war of words between the UK’s biggest telecoms giants reached new heights yesterday, as the clock ticks down on Ofcom’s probe into the broadband market and decision on whether to carve out Openreach from BT. With Ofcom due to reveal its verdict in January, Vodafone’s boss accused BT of trying to “re-monopolise” the sector, prompting [...]
City Moves for 11 November 2015 | Who’s switching jobs November 10, 2015 REDEFINE INTERNATIONAL The UK real estate investment trust has appointed Janine Ackermann as head of investor relations. She joins from SABMiller, where she spent the past seven years holding positions in investor relations, financial planning and analysis, and corporate finance and development. Ackermann trained as a chartered account with KPMG in South Africa, and [...]
Rental rates on Central London office space soars at fastest pace since the financial crisis November 10, 2015 London office rents are climbing at their fastest pace since the financial crisis, according to figures published today by a commercial real estate company. Rental values in Central London rocketed 10.3 per cent in the year to October, CBRE said, the first double-digit growth since April 2008. Demand for office space is high with 3.6m [...]
UBS got it wrong: There’s no such thing as a London house price bubble November 10, 2015 Is London’s residential property market in a bubble? UBS seems to think so, after its Global Real Estate Bubble index suggested the UK's housing market is on the brink of a crash. But has it got its facts right? After all, the devil is really in the detail – and this was put together by [...]
London office rents: Naysayers are right to worry about a bubble – but London will keep growing November 10, 2015 London’s office market is booming, there’s no doubt about it. We are the midst of an upward cycle and have seen huge levels of capital investment and rental growth in the last few years. This is largely thanks to a spike in demand fuelled by the economic recovery and increased confidence in businesses. With the [...]