Breaking News
Mortgage approvals in March are up.
The British Bankers Association today released March 2016 figures for the High Street Banks. Gross mortgage borrowing of £17.1 billion in March was 64% higher than a year ago and the highest borrowing since April 2008 following a reported sharp increase in purchase of buy-to-let and second homes, ahead of the increase in stamp duty on…
Allen Walkey
European loan to help build social housing
Those who are pushing to remain in the EU must be pleased with the timing of the recent announcement by the European Union’s investment arm who are lending Britain 1 billion pounds to help build social housing, however a spokesman for the vote leave campaign reportedly said “It seems like some in Luxembourg think they can buy…
Allen Walkey
Elections and referendum causing uncertainty
Only just last week we had the Hometrack cities House Price Index for March 2016 telling us that City level house prices at highest quarterly growth for 12 years, in the report this was put down to seasonal upturn being boosted by investors rushing to beat the stamp duty deadline. The outlook from here on…
Allen Walkey
Hometrack Cities HPI March
The Hometrack Cities House Price Index for March 2016 released at the end of last week reported that City level house prices at highest quarterly growth for 12 years. City house price growth in 2016Q1 was 4.2%, the highest for 12 years as the seasonal upturn in demand was boosted by investors rushing to beat…
Allen Walkey
High London house prices getting cut.
High value London property prices appear to be cooling down, recent research reveals that up to 40pc of houses for sale in some areas of the capital have had to cut their asking prices since coming to market, the price cuts are mainly in the centre, west and south-west of the city. The brakes may be…
Allen Walkey
Agents run for Charity in London Marathon
Here we are again, London Marathon this Sunday and as usual so many agents get involved in this event for the sake of their chosen charities. I have just picked a few at random who I would like to mention on here: Charles Thursfield of Harveys Estate Agents is running the London Marathon this weekend…
Allen Walkey
Lords vote on changes re social housing tenants
On Monday the House of Lords considered changes that would see social housing tenants charged market rates once a household earns over £30,000, this threshold would be more than £40,000 in London. The Lords reportedly voted 240 to 176 for allowing local authorities to decide whether or not to charge an increased rent for those…
Allen Walkey
UK Property Transactions March 2016
UK Property Transactions March 2016 released yesterday by HM Revenue and Customs. The provisional seasonally adjusted UK property transaction count for March 2016 was 165,480 residential and 9,830 non-residential transactions. The seasonally adjusted estimate of the number of residential property transactions increased by 41.5% between February 2016 and March 2016. This month’s seasonally adjusted…
Allen Walkey
Indian Property Show at Olympia
The Indian Property Show arrives in London this weekend at Olympia, India continues to encourage growing foreign investment. In a recent BBC documentary ‘The Real Marigold Hotel’ it followed a group of celebraties who made temporary home in Jaipur, in one of the episodes we watched them looking at buying or renting a property from…
Allen Walkey
Housing construction slows
A recent poll by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) reportedly found that the level of construction work in the private housing sector is rising at the slowest pace since 2013, this comes despite the huge commitment to the sector by the government. A shortage of skilled labour in the building sector, in particular ‘bricklayers’ along…
Allen Walkey
Two out of three for ‘Shelter’
Following the Fix Renting Campaign launched in January by the Housing Charity Shelter, which focused on 3 ways to make renting safer, they have now announced that thanks to the work of Shelter and their amazing supporters, the first two of them should now become law, along with strong measures tackling rogue landlords! Changes to…
Allen Walkey
“Airbnb phenomenon is a growing issue for landlords” says Landlord Action
Leading tenant eviction firm, Landlord Action, says the Airbnb model poses a growing threat to landlords. Over the last 12 months, the number of cases Landlord Action has received, where tenants have sub-let properties without their landlord’s permission, has trebled. Aside from breach of tenancy agreement and additional wear and tear to the property, landlords…
Christopher Walkey
Metro Bank lending more than doubles.
Shares in Metro Bank edged higher early today, the Bristish lender which listed on the London Stock Exchange in March and opened the first branch of Metro Bank in Holborn in central London, revealed its first quarter loss narrowed on the back of solid growth in commercial lending and residential mortgages. Metro Bank said its…
Allen Walkey
(LCCI) London Mayoral Election 2016
The agenda from London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) identifies new ways in which it believes the new mayor can tackle London’s housing crisis. London’s chronic housing undersupply impacts on employees and employers. Liberating more land and empowering more builders is required. To fix the housing crisis the new Mayor or London should: 1….
Allen Walkey
Zoopla Property Group to aquire PSG
Zoopla Property Group has conditionally agreed to acquire Property Software Holdings Limited for GB75m on a cash-free, debt-free basis. Established in 2007, PSG is the UK’s market-leading provider of software solutions to property professionals, used in over 8,000 agency branches. PSG provides workflow tools to over 40,000 estate and lettings agents across the UK through…
Allen Walkey