Breaking News
Merger of three London Housing Associations
Three London housing associations L&Q, The Hyde Group and East Thames have entered into talks for a merger, in a bid to create one of the country’s largest housebuilders. They are expected to be able to build 100,000 new homes across London and the south east over the next 10 years, an investment of £25bn over the…
Allen Walkey
Buying cheaper than renting.
An interesting article appeared on the Zoopla website yesterday with the headlines ‘Buying cheaper than renting in nearly half of Britain”s major cities’, with Glasgow, Coventry and Birmingham topping the list of places where buying beats renting. Zoopla’s Lawrence Hall explained: “On top of the enjoyment that can come with owning your property, buyers…
Allen Walkey
Bullying by Landlords in Glasgow.
Local news in Glasgow is highlighting new research by Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) that Glasgow landlords are “bullying” tenants and failing to carry out basic repairs. Citizens Advice Scotland said it received more than 6,000 complaints last year, with évidence of multiple cases of landlords failing to meet their legal responsibilities, many tenants are living…
Allen Walkey
South East expected to outperfom London
House prices in the UK are expected to grow more slowly in the second-half of 2016 according to predictions by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), however house prices in the South East are expected grow faster than London as more homebuyers are driven out of the city by an increasingly expensive housing…
Allen Walkey
Stamp Duty changes will tempt sellers towards auction rooms:
One of the capital’s leading auctioneers says that selling homes through estate agents will inevitably become longer and more frustrating because of new Stamp Duty charges. Last Friday (1 April 2016) saw the introduction of an additional 3% Stamp Duty for anyone owning more than one home – even if this is because they are…
Christopher Walkey
0.5% bank rate expected to remain until 2017
According to a Reuters poll The Bank of England (BoE) will leave British interest rates at a record low until early 2017, this is mainly down to stuttering global growth and off target inflation. The 0.5% bank rate has now not changed over the last 7 years and it is now expected according to the…
Allen Walkey
Waterfords opens for business in Farnham
Award winning independent estate agent Waterfords, which already has branches in Camberley, Chobham, Sunningdale, Fleet and Yateley, has opened its sixth branch in the affluent town of Farnham. Celebrating 21 years of estate agency covering parts of Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire, Waterfords has built expertise and knowledge, as well as relationships with local homeowners and…
Christopher Walkey
Settled launches second funding round
The online property platform Settled, which launched last year, is now looking for an additional £1m in investment from funds or venture companies to invest in marketing the business and improving its platform. Settled was launched by brother and sister team Gemma and Paul Young, the aim was to connect buyers and sellers who would take control of…
Allen Walkey
HSBC online video meeting pilot scheme
It was reported in The Express yesterday that the HSBC is set to offer online video meetings with mortgage advisors. A trial is presently being carried out by the bank in 40 branches that do not have advisors based there, it will allow customers to have their mortgage interview in their local branch which means…
Allen Walkey
Turnout will be decider in EU referendum
As we get closer to the EU referendum date of June 23rd peoples perception as to how the outcome will be is starting to change, the Remain and Leave sides are at 35% each with 30% undecided, according to TNS UK. Luke Taylor, head of social and political attitudes at TNS UK, reportedly said, “A…
Allen Walkey
Price of North East home rises by £5,000 in a month.
• Regional house prices rise by 3.1% in March – their fastest rate in eight months • Homes in Killingworth see values rise by 6.2% in just four weeks • Typical North East home cost £4811 more in March than in February and £8496 more than March 2015. • Rents fall by £3 to £552pcm…
Christopher Walkey
Nationwide HPI March
In their House Price Index (HPI) report released today Nationwide states that house price growth accelerted in March. The North – South divide continues to widen UK annual house price growth increased to 5.7% in March up from the month earlier at 4.8%, the monthly change showed an increase of 0.8% up from 0.4%…
Allen Walkey
TENANTS NOW HAVE RIGHT TO REQUEST ENERGY IMPROVEMENTS.
From today (1 April 2016), tenants have the right to request consent from their landlords to make energy-saving improvements for the properties they rent. Landlords will not be able to refuse their consent without good reason, but tenants will need to ensure that they have a way of funding improvements at no cost to the…
Christopher Walkey
Stamp duty changes apply from today
The new rate of stamp duty on buy-to-let property and second homes comes into force today 1st April. There are exemptions however to this change in property tax, buying a property for less than £40,000, caravan or houseboat will not be included. Home movers who buy their next property before selling the one they are…
Allen Walkey
The pound still vunerable to Referendum uncertainty
In the run up to the referendum for the UK to remain a member of the European Union it was expected by many analysts that the pound sterling would weaken due to the uncertainty of the outcome. The pound is very vunerable to comments and did lose some ground recently particularly against the Euro, as…
Allen Walkey