Greene King: Pub giant calls for ‘urgent help’ after losing £150m May 19, 2025 Pub giant Greene King has issued an urgent plea to the government for help after slumping to a near-£150m loss in 2024. The Suffolk-headquartered group fell to a pre-tax loss of £147.1m during its latest financial year, having posted a profit of £45.2m in 2023. Greene King, which operates around 2,600 pubs, restaurants and hotels across England, [...]
Government urged to prioritise high streets or risk losing seats to Reform May 19, 2025 A retail lobby group has warned that job losses in the sector could overwhelmingly affect areas at risk of turning from Labour to Reform. The Retail Jobs Alliance (RJA), made up big names like ASDA, Primark, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, found that retail is a major driver of local employment in areas where Reform made significant [...]
UK house prices continue to rise following stamp duty deadline May 19, 2025 Demand for houses has dipped following the end of first-time buyer relief on stamp duty, despite a cut in interest rates. House prices grew by 0.6 per cent in April, according to Rightmove, the lowest at this time of year since 2016. The number of new properties coming onto the market for sale is 14 [...]
Boss of King Charles property portfolio in talks with old firm for slice of HS2 Euston May 16, 2025 King Charles’ property company is in talks to buy up part of HS2’s Euston site from its floundering owner, according to reports. The Crown Estate, led by Dan Labbad, is in talks with the Australian developer Lendlease for a 50 per cent stake in six major UK projects, an announcement on the Australian Stock Exchange [...]
PHP makes surprise third approach for Assura at £1.68bn May 16, 2025 Primary Health Properties has made a third approach for Assura as the war for the real estate investment trust heats up. PHP has offered £1.68bn for Assura, valuing its share price at 51.7p – a premium of 38.2 per cent to the company’s closing share price of 37.4 pence on February 13. This is the [...]
Safe as houses? Landsec bets on build-to-rent May 16, 2025 Property investment group Land Securities – known as Landsec – has turned away from offices and towards housebuilding in a major pivot. It said long-term demographic trends made housing a better bet than the cyclical office market, which is set to slow from its current high growth rate as supply constraints ease The company’s chief [...]
Landsec boosts profit amid residential and retail pivot May 16, 2025 Property investment group Land Securities – known as Landsec – has reported a five per cent boost amid a strategic repositioning of the firm’s commercial property portfolio in favour of residential and retail property. Profit before tax rose to £395m from £341m, as the group plans to invest £1bn in retail and more than £2bn [...]
Tax cost hikes and digital red tape could push landlords to sell up May 15, 2025 Buy to let landlords are set to face fresh tax hurdles that could lead to a squeeze in supply for the rental sector, according to new research. The advisory firm Blick Rothenberg found that the government’s Making Tax Digital (MTD) scheme would add to the costs and administrative burdens of letting properties to tenants. The [...]
Rental crisis to worsen in the next decade, says UK’s biggest landlord May 15, 2025 Ongoing supply constraints are set to worsen the UK’s rental crisis in the coming years, according to the country’s biggest landlord. Grainger said it expected rental demand to grow 20 per cent from its 2021 level by 2031, far above growth in housing supply. “The private rental market in the UK faces growing demand [and] [...]
Central London offices ‘top pick’ for UBS real estate analysts May 15, 2025 London office real estate investment trusts (REITs) like British Land are the “top pick” for UBS analysts, as interest in the capital has surged since the start of the year. As property investors seek to move away from the US to avoid the uncertainty created by president Donald Trump, the UK has been one of [...]