New Homes partnership for Aberdeen

An article appearing on the Scottish Housing News website reported that Places for People  has signed a pioneering partnership with Aberdeen City council  which will create 2,000 new homes in the city with the potential to build a further 1,000 properties. The landmark £300m Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) model is the first of its kind…

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Planning permissions hit 8 year high

New figures published yesterday (8 March 2016) by the Department for  Communities and Local Government, show that the number of planning permissions for homes rose 6% on a year earlier, as housing measures continue to turn the market around and build more homes for hard working families and first time buyers. The number of major…

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Surge in new homes built and bought.

Help to buy creates surge in new homes built and bought according to Press release yesterday from the Department of Communities and Local Government and Brandon Lewis MP. New research has found 43% additional new homes built as a direct result of Help to Buy equity loan. Key points are: 82% of buyers would not…

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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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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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BTL adds to UK property price growth

Some would say that the UK property boom is now bigger than that of the US in 2007 and we all know what happened there, the bubble burst. Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England reiterated his concerns about the growth of the Buy-to-Let  (BTL) mortgage when speaking to a panel of MP’s on…

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Skills shortages affecting construction industry growth.

Government targets to build 100,000 new homes a year during the period they are in office could be put at risk due to a skills shortage in the construction industry, which in turn would see rises in wages in the sector. New research by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has revealed a lack…

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Housing Zone Funding

The Department for Communities and Local Government and Brandon Lewis announced yesterday by press release on the Gov.UK website: Housing Zones will see councils working in partnership with private developers to deliver thousands of new homes on brownfield land. Housing Zones around the country are  receiving funding that will kick-start work to build tens of…

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Massive housing boost from Persimmon

The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne welcomes the massive housing boost from Persimmon, they have announced to build over 80,000 homes and create 1000 jobs over the next five years. The 1,000 new employees will join Persimmon’s existing 4,500-strong workforce, which in the past year has included 200 young apprentices. The company started work…

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Autumn Statement and Spending Review today.

George Osborne will later today in the combined Autumn Statement and Spending Review  set out government spending plans for the next five years, this will include the government’s taxation and deficit reduction plans but should also include new money for house building. The chancellor is expected to  pledge almost £7bn to make house building a…

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Numbers of new homes rising.

A recent press release from the Department for Communities and Local Government announces that the number of New Homes keeps rising – the highest annual increase since 2008. Greg Clark MP   welcomed the latest figures showing the country is building again, with 753,000 new homes provided since 2010. The Communities Secretary said that these figures…

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Barrat Developments Trading Update

Barratt Developments PLC  Trading Update is for the period from 1 July to 8 November 2015. Market conditions remain strong, with the Group trading well since the start of the new financial year. There is good consumer demand for our homes across the country, supported by a positive economic backdrop. With demand outpacing supply, we…

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Housing policies and promises in PM conference speech.

Yesterday at the final day of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester,  David Cameron the Prime Minister was welcomed onto the stage with rapturous applause from his party faithfulls and  his team of Ministers including London Mayor Boris Johnson. The PM opened up by saying that the Conservatives are the “Party for working people, today,…

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Rent controls..good or bad?

Private rents are becoming increasingly more expensive across the UK, that is a statement of fact, would the introduction of rent controls solve the problem though? Figures recently released by the Office for National Statistics suggest that rents paid to private landlords in the UK have increased by 2.5 per cent over the last year, …

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Future of Housing Associations

The Communities and Local Government (CLG) Committee is to investigate the viability and sustainability of the Housing Associations, the inquiry will have a particular focus on the proposed extension of the right to buy and how this, and a number of other recently announced government measures, may impact on the ability of housing associations to…

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