London set to maintain reputation as global divorce capital after landmark ruling October 15, 2015 London is set to maintain its cosy reputation as the divorce capital of the world after yesterday's Supreme Court ruling, which gives divorcees the right to go back to the negotiating table if their ex has lied about or hidden their wealth. The highest court in the land has backed Alison Sharland and Varsha Gohil, [...]
The average UK house price is now growing at twice the rate of London property October 14, 2015 What a difference a few months can make. Having once been seen as pulling up average UK house price growth, it seems London is now having the opposite effect, dragging the national average down, according to new figures. The National Housing Market Monitor, by estate agent Haart, found UK house prices grew 10 per cent to [...]
£1bn IPO is finally on for retirement housebuilder McCarthy & Stone October 14, 2015 After years of rumours, retirement housebuilder McCarthy & Stone finally announced its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange today, an IPO which City A.M. understands could give the company a valuation of £1bn. McCarthy & Stone, which said it has a 70 per cent share of the UK's owner-occupied retirement property market, hopes to [...]
London house prices: This is how frenzied demand for London’s super prime homes became between 2007 and 2014 October 13, 2015 London's super-prime residential market may have cooled somewhat over the last year since tougher stamp duty rules came into force earlier the year. But new research seen today by City A.M. reveals just how frenzied the sales of £10m-plus homes in the capital’s golden postcodes surrounding Hyde Park has become since the financial crisis. Read [...]
UK housing: Remove the mavericks and stabilise the property market October 13, 2015 The wave of financial services regulations introduced over the last five years has caused deep changes in the way we invest in various asset classes, from equities and fixed interest securities to cash – yet the property market seems to have escaped the regulation firing line. According to the Investment Property Databank (IPD), residential property has been [...]
UK house prices: Buy-to-let lending drove the mortgage boom in August, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders October 13, 2015 Mortgage lending ticked up in August compared with the same month last year, with buy-to-let lending posting a rapid increase. There was a whopping 37.9 per cent jump in buy-to-let lending on the year, with 22,200 mortgages approved. The amount of money lent out was up 47.8 per cent to £2.3bn, according to the figures released this morning [...]
How to get into Oxford University: Sample interview questions released to help people trying to get onto PPE, economics, biomedical sciences, experimental psychology and engineering courses October 13, 2015 As thousands of A-Level students clamour to put together personal statements and find grades, one select bunch is beginning to sweat, with deadline day for Oxbridge candidates just two days away. But do you have what it takes to get into Oxford? This year, the university has decided to give prospective students a bit of a [...]
Thought London rental prices were bad? A New Yorker advertised a bar toilet stall to rent and got loads of responses October 13, 2015 Like London, we know that only the very flush can afford rental prices in Manhattan – but this is ridiculous. A New Yorker became so depressed at the property market in her city, she decided to advertise a toilet stall at the bar she worked in on a property site as a joke – but got more responses than [...]
Bellway share price soars as housebuilder’s profit beats expectations on record house sales October 13, 2015 The figures Bellway shares rose 3.5 per cent in mid-morning trading as the UK housebuilder smashed expectations, reporting pre-tax profits soaring by 44 per cent year-on-year to hit £354.2m in the year to 31 July, comfortably ahead of analysts’ expectations of £343m. The housebuilder, one of the UK's largest, sold 7,752 homes, up 13.2 per cent, [...]
UK housing market activity rose to a six-month high in September – Connells Survey & Valuation October 13, 2015 UK housing market activity reached a six-month high in September, according to data out today from Connells Survey & Valuation. Last month also saw the number of property valuations reach the second-highest monthly level on record – there were just 0.5 per cent fewer valuations carried out than in March 2015, which is when they [...]