Building Safety Approval Process Urgently Needs Fixing

Bradley Lay, a Leading Construction M&A Expert Calls on Government to Urgently Fix Building Safety Approval Process as Insolvencies Surge A leading UK construction expert has called on the Government to urgently reassess the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) approval process, warning that delays in the current system are “slowly killing the economy”, triggering thousands of…

Read More

Kickstarting Private Housebuilding is Key to Sector-Wide Recovery

Starts on-site decline by 9% during the three months to January 2026, remaining 16% below 2025 levels Residential construction starts fell by 24% on the preceding three months and 32% against 2025 figures Non-residential project-starts increased by 6% against the preceding three months, finishing 7% up on a year ago Civils work starting on-site remained…

Read More

London rent affordability improves

The latest research by London lettings and estate agent, Benham and Reeves, reveals that the average London renter is spending 50% of their income on rent each month. However, the good news is that strong wage growth in the capital means that this proportion has actually reduced since 2024. Bennham and Reeves has analysed average…

Read More

Liverpool leads as busiest estate agency markets

Liverpool, Bradford and Leicester lead as Britain’s busiest estate agent markets in 2026 The latest research from eXp UK has revealed that Liverpool, Bradford and Leicester are currently the busiest markets for Britain’s estate agents when it comes to the estimated number of homes listed for sale per agent in 2026. eXp UK analysed the…

Read More

Over 1.2m homes sold across the UK

The latest analysis of Government transaction data by GetAgent.co.uk has revealed that, despite widespread perceptions that 2025 was a difficult year for the property market, more than 1.2m homes sold across the UK, marking a 9.3% increase on the previous year. GetAgent analysed Government data on UK property transactions to estimate how many homes sold…

Read More

Planning reform alone will not fix the UK’s housing crisis

Propertymark has published a new position paper, Meeting UK house demand, moving beyond the planning system, warning that focusing solely on reforming the planning system will not deliver the number of homes the UK urgently needs. While planning reform is frequently cited as the primary solution to the housing shortage, Propertymark’s analysis shows that changes…

Read More

One in three mortgage hunting FTBs has at least 25% deposit

While higher loan-to-value (LTV) mortgages dominate first-time buyer demand a significant minority are seeking higher deposit deals, fresh data from Moneyfactscompare.co.uk can reveal. Of those looking for fixed term deals on moneyfactscompare.co.uk: Almost one in three (30%) first-time buyers are opting for 90% LTV mortgages, and a further 12% are looking at 95% LTV options. This…

Read More

House price growth edges higher in January

Slight rise in annual house price growth to 1.0% House prices were up 0.3% month on month Continued improvement in affordability helped drive first-time buyer activity in 2025 Headlines Jan-26 Dec-25 Monthly Index* 544.9 543.4 Monthly Change* 0.3% -0.4% Annual Change 1.0% 0.6% Average Price (not seasonally adjusted) £270,873 £271,068 * Seasonally adjusted figure (note…

Read More

Housebuilding sector shows early signs of recovery

The latest Barclays Business Prosperity Index report1 reveals that despite affordability pressures, regulatory challenges and financial caution, four in five businesses (83 per cent) operating in housebuilding and its supply chains remain confident about their outlook for the year ahead. Barclays’ anonymised client data from around 70,000 UK businesses, combined with research from 500 industry…

Read More

Clarity on energy efficiency rules for commercial property needed

Propertymark has written to Martin McCluskey MP, Minister for Energy Consumers at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, urging the UK Government to provide urgent clarity on the future of Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) for non-domestic property. The letter follows the publication of the UK Government’s Warm Homes Plan, which confirmed that…

Read More

English Housing Survey 2024 to 2025

English Housing Survey 2024 to 2025: headline findings on housing quality and energy efficiency The latest findings from the English Housing Survey on housing quality and energy efficiency. This is the second release of data from the 2024-25 survey. This report will be followed by a series of more detailed topic reports in the spring…

Read More

Propertymark responds to latest HMRC property transactions report

Nathan Emerson, CEO at Propertymark, comments: “Based on December 2025’s figures, it is encouraging to see that property transactions remained stable following the Autumn Budget. At a time when many households were concerned about rising living costs, this stability suggests that the Budget provided enough clarity for people to continue progressing with plans to buy…

Read More

Mortgage activity dips in December

Property industry reaction to the latest mortgage approval data from the Bank of England. The latest figures show that: – Mortgage approvals on house purchases for December sat at 61,013 down (-4.8%) from 64,072 in November. Approvals are down (-8.4%) when compared to the 66,634 seen in December 2024. This decline was expected due to…

Read More

£19.9bn of PRS refurbishment required

£19.9bn of refurbishment investment required to bring England’s private rented homes up to EPC C by 2030 Jonathan Samuels, CEO of Octane Capital, believes that despite the Government extending the deadline for all private rental stock to meet an EPC C rating from 2028 to 2030, refurbishment finance will remain key in helping landlords meet…

Read More