BREAKING NEWS – top 5 stories 27/05/2021
BARRATT DEVELOPMENTS IN HUGE FLAT BUY BACK DEAL
A development of nearly 100 units that had all been sold by Barratt developments, have now all been bought back from the leaseholders, due to large scale problems with the construction of the build. The problems with the building came to light as part of the nationwide re-inspection of buildings following the Grenfell debacle. Which uncovered problems with the construction of the dwellings at Citiscape in Croydon.
LSL PROPERTY SERVICES CASH IN £12M FROM SALE OF LMS SHARES
Continuing their strategic focus on mortgage business, LSL have sold off their 49.6% stake in LMS a conveyancing enterprise, to a private equity group.
Clearly the pandemic has given many in the boardrooms time to reflect what business they really are in, are we about to see a return to property groups focusing on core objectives, just like they did in the mid to late 1980’s. Has diversification had its day?
NEW RICS GUIDANCE COMES INTO FORCE IN AUGUST
From early August 2021, there are new guidelines being set down by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, to give a unified way to describe
‘Land measurement for planning and development purposes (and) is an important piece of guidance for surveyors engaged in preparing land for development, and is intended to bring consistency in the use of the terminology applied to different areas of land for this purpose’.
IS PURPLERBRICKS GOING TO BE UNLUCKY AGAIN WITH ITS OLYMPIC SPONSORSHIP?
With the games not happening last year, sadly Purplebricks missed out on the branding opportunity, will history repeat itself this year. At present with less than two months to go everything is very much in the balance.
Whilst there is no official statement that the Olympic games will not take place, The New York Times wrote only two days ago that,
‘When the I.O.C. postponed the Tokyo Olympics in March 2020, Japan had 865 active cases of Covid-19 against a global backdrop of 385,000 active cases,” the article said, noting that many people had assumed the pandemic would be under control by 2021. “Fourteen months later, Japan is in a state of emergency, with 70,000 active cases. Globally, there are 19 million active cases’.
HOUSING MARKET IS STILL OVERHEATING
According to RICS “Agreed sales rose firmly during March, evidenced by +50% of contributors reporting an increase. This marks a sharp acceleration compared to last month (+7%).” This shows that market sentiment is supporting what everyone knows, property is in short supply, buyers are often paying over asking price and there seems to be no brakes on the market.
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