Ardmore wins £80m Canada Water deal

Ardmore has been confirmed winner of an £80m contract to build the first residential and retail phase of Project Light at Canada Water in Southwark. The scheme by Notting Hill Housing and Sellar Developments will deliver a new town centre with 1,030 new homes and a range of commercial and community uses across a seven…

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Near term pressure on house prices

A steady rise in housing supply is being offset by a dash to invest in homes for the rental market ahead of a tax hike in April,  which in turn is  driving up house prices, the number of homes up for sale has fallen, down 6% overall, that is according to  the Royal Institute for…

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Interest is high for the Help-to-Buy Scheme

Help-to-Buy is the scheme whereby first or next time buyers can purchase a new-build property,  maximum purchase price for elegible properties is at £600.000. Buyers will be  contributing a 5% deposit from their own funds  while receiving a 40% interest-free government loan for five years, allowing them to take out a mortgage of 55% loan-to-value.…

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Increase in demand for office space.

According to a new report out, Liverpool city centre has seen an increase in demand for all grades of office accommodation, Manchester registered the highest average of all nine cities outside of London that featured in the study. Ian Steele, director at Bilfinger GVA Liverpool, reportedly says: “It is clear that there has been an…

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London’s rental growth rate slows

New data from the  HomeLet Rental Index report for January 2016   reveals rent prices for new tenancies in Greater London are rising at the slowest rate for almost two years. The South East of England and the East Midlands show highest annual rent increases. Average rent in the UK (excl Greater London) is now…

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Self-Certificated Mortgage

Who would have thought we would see the return of the self cerificated mortgage? They were banned by the regulator in 2014, well it appears a loophole has been found whereby a lender operating out of the Czech Republic can offer such mortgages. The regulator has already condemned the tactics of this new business, and…

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Landlords need to be aware of changes.

No more so than now do Landlords need to be aware of impending changes  to their industry,  for the past year there has been major changes in the way they should operate and how their profitability should be  calculated, most recently are the changes to  their mortgage tax relief. The most vunerable of landlords are…

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Mandatory licensing for landlords

One in five households in Northern Ireland now rent privately for the first time in a generation, at present all private landlords who let property under a private tenancy in Northern Ireland have to register, but there is no binding professional standard or training required to practice as a property manager. In response  to the…

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Demand for property in Marbella, Spain

According to a recent report, demand for property in the glamorous southern Spanish resort of Marbella appears to be oustripping supply, there has been a surge in demand over the last year for this hotspot in the Costa del Sol, it has emerged as having one of the strongest property markets in Spain. Probably the…

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Help to Buy ISA’s proving popular

250,000 first time buyers have opened a Help to Buy Isa since the launch, that is one being opened every 30 seconds across the UK,  according to an announcement on the Gov.UK website from HM Treasury and Rt Hon George Osborne MP. A quarter of a million first time buyers, more than half of whom…

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Interest rates remain on hold

bank of england interest rate

The Bank of England votes once again to keep interest rates on hold at 0.5%, yesterday policymakers  voted unanimously to hold borrowing costs this month and they gave little indication that there would be an increase any time in the near future. The possibility of any UK interest rate rise  receded further after the Bank…

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Halifax HPI January 2016

Halifax HPI for January shows house price quarterly growth at 2.2% Prices in the three months to January were 9.7% higher than in the same three months a year earlier. Commenting, Martin Ellis, Halifax housing economist, reportedly said: “House prices in the three months to January were 2.2% higher than in the previous three months.…

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New office openings for Winkworth

M Winkworth plc, the leading franchisor of real estate agencies has  announced a positive start to 2016 and the opening of three new offices which takes them past the 100 mark, with a further four under negotiation, their offices are predominantly in the London area and the South-East of England. It is part of their…

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Landlords confidence in BTL sector at a low.

Speaking at the Building Societies Association’s (BSA) annual meet-up for mortgage professionals on tuesday 2nd February, Richard Lambert, Chief Executive Officer of the National Landlords Association (NLA) reportedly told delegates that Landlords’ confidence in the buy to let (BTL) sector has collapsed to an all-time low and is now ‘worse than levels witnessed during the…

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Foxtons Group ups dividend as revenue grows

FOXTONS GROUP PLC today announces Trading Update and Dividend Announcement Foxtons plc, London’s leading estate agency, issues its trading update for the year ended 31 December 2015  ahead of its annual audited results announcement on 8 March 2016.  The Group achieved a solid performance during 2015 with revenue growth across all business segments. Group turnover…

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