Yopa names new chairman as it secures £16m funding round August 21, 2019 Online estate agency Yopa has named industry veteran Grenville Turner as its chairman, as it unveiled a new funding round worth £16m. The hybrid agency said it has received the cash injection from existing investors Savills and DMG Ventures, the venture capital arm of the Daily Mail Group. Read more: London house prices rise as [...]
Summer house deals dip amid Brexit uncertainty August 21, 2019 Britain’s property market suffered a sharp fall in the number of transactions made between June and July, as the traditional summer slowdown and growing uncertainty over Brexit dented activity. Figures released by HMRC this morning show a marked reduction in the number of property transactions over the summer months, with a drop of 8.5 per [...]
Dealing with the debt conundrum August 20, 2019 Debt remains a word shrouded with negative connotations. And despite how commonplace it is, people are still strangely reluctant to talk about it openly. In reality, debt should not be seen as a bad thing. It is a vital financial instrument for enabling people to achieve major life goals and lead the lifestyles they want. [...]
Persimmon profit falls as it tries to tackle quality complaints August 20, 2019 Persimmon has reported a drop in profit for the first half of the year as it spent heavily on schemes to aimed to counter complaints over the quality and fire safety of its homes. The figures Britain’s second largest housebuilder reported a 1.4 per cent drop in pre-tax profit, which fell to £509.3m for the [...]
‘Dearth of supply’ sees London office vacancies drop to lowest level since 2007 August 19, 2019 A supply starved market and weakened investment has led to vacancy rates in London offices falling to their lowest level since 2007, a new report has found. The amount of available office space in London has fallen 19 per cent over the past year, with vacancies in the City dropping 27 per cent, according to [...]
Safestore joins forces with Carlyle in Dutch takeover August 19, 2019 Safestore has joined forces with private equity giant Carlyle to buy a Dutch self-storage chain while making a £6.5m Heathrow acquisition by itself. The business will take a 20 per cent stake in M3 Self Storage for around €5m (£4.6m) when the deal is completed at the end of August. The deal, which is expected [...]
Sales tick up as pre-Brexit buying spree gives summer boost to housing market August 19, 2019 Househunters hoping to lock in a deal ahead of the government’s Brexit deadline have driven a surprise buying spree this summer, giving life to the property market’s quietest season of the year. Agreed house sales in August rose 6.1 per cent from the same month in 2018, rising to the highest level at this time [...]
Sajid Javid pledges £600m to housing project building 50,000 new homes August 17, 2019 Chancellor Sajid Javid has announced plans to make £600m available to help a project building 50,000 new homes by investing in the necessary infrastructure. It is the latest spending pledge by the government ahead of a budget in the autumn in which Javid will set out the government’s spending and taxation plans for the next [...]
Property legal Q&A: I own a flat with a share of freehold. Do I still need the landlord’s consent before I carry out structural works to my flat? August 17, 2019 The fact you own a share of freehold does not bypass the terms of your lease. When a person owns a lease and a share of freehold they effectively wear two hats: one as a leaseholder and the other as a joint owner of the freehold. When you acquire a share of freehold, the lease [...]
Why you should be worried about the rise of the Bank of Mum and Dad August 16, 2019 The yearning to own one’s home is as British as a piping hot cup of tea, cricket, or a traditional roast dinner, and the UK’s rates of ownership-occupancy have traditionally been among the highest in Europe. Unlike many traditions, this desire hasn’t been dented by the complexities of modern life either. One recent survey revealed [...]