Retirement housebuilder McCarthy & Stone blames profits drop on government ground rent policy September 6, 2018 Retirement housebuilder McCarthy & Stone expects profits to slump amid a slowdown in the sector and uncertainty surrounding government policy. Read more: Largest UK housebuilder Barratt Developments hits record pre-tax profits The figures Operating profit for the year ended 31 August is expected to be between £65m and £73m, a drop from the 2017 figure of £96m, [...]
Time for MPs to act on three-year tenancies September 6, 2018 The terms of the debate on longer-term tenancies are well set. On the one hand, tenants deserve to feel at home in their rented accommodation. On the other, there needs to be a stock of rented housing, and if landlords are too penalised, they will leave the market. The debate is now reaching a crunch [...]
Bovis Homes shares up after profits boost in half year results September 6, 2018 Shares in Bovis Homes were up more than five per cent this morning after the housebuilder reported a strong first-half performance. Read more: Largest UK housebuilder Barratt Developments hits record pre-tax profits The figures Profit before tax jumped 41 per cent to £60.2m this year, up from £42.7m in the first half of 2017. The Kent-based company generated revenue of [...]
Property-lending challenger firm Glenhawk lands £75m funding September 5, 2018 Short-term finance disruptor Glenhawk has secured £75m of funding in a sign of the UK’s rapidly growing alternative property-lending sector, Morning Wire can reveal today. The latest cash injection from two UK institutions, one of which is Shawbrook Bank, comes six months after the specialist lender launched, having amassed a pipeline of £35m and lent over [...]
Facebook partners up with online giants in move into UK property market September 5, 2018 Facebook is to list properties from two of the UK’s largest online estate agent on its website, in a sign that the social media giant is dipping its toes into the UK property market. In a partnership with Facebook Marketplace, Zoopla and OnTheMarket (OTM) both announced yesterday that their UK agents’ home rental property listings [...]
Largest UK housebuilder Barratt hits record pre-tax profits and builds highest number of homes in a decade September 5, 2018 The UK's largest housebuilder Barratt Developments has announced record pre-tax profits of £835.5m for the year after building its highest number of homes in a decade. The company said it had built 17,579 homes in the year to June – an increase of one per cent on the previous year. Its average selling price also rose by [...]
Housebuilder Berkeley warns UK housing market ‘lacks urgency’ September 5, 2018 Housebuilder Berkeley Group has warned of Brexit “headwinds” harming the UK housing market’s prospects for growth, with London and the south east particularly affected. However, it expects to post strong financial performance for the four months to the end of August, the construction firm said in a trading update it will share at its annual [...]
Now is not the time to reform Help to Buy – it’s the time to scrap it entirely September 5, 2018 Housebuilders weighed on the FTSE yesterday following reports that the government is unlikely to extend the Help to Buy programme – in its current format – beyond 2021. Help to Buy has been doping up the housing market for more than half a decade since former chancellor George Osborne revealed his plan to stimulate demand. Prices [...]
Real estate giant swoops in for prime London student property September 4, 2018 One of Europe’s largest real estate investors agreed to buy a prime central London student block for nearly £70m today, in a move that reflects the growing level of property investment being poured into the capital’s student accommodation sector. Aberdeen Standard Investments, which manages more than £43bn of real estate assets, has splashed out £68.8m [...]
FTSE 250 housebuilder Redrow boosts profits but calls for Brexit clarity September 4, 2018 Housebuilder Redrow called for clarity over Brexit and the government’s Help to Buy scheme today to improve the health of the UK housing market, as it reported its full-year results. The figures Despite the deflating nature of the UK housing market, the FTSE 250 firm managed to buck the trend, posting a 16 per cent [...]