If we cannot build on the green belt, then we must build up and build faster in inner city parts of the capital February 8, 2017 Has there ever been a more opportune time to reform the UK’s exceptionally strict rules against building on the so-called “green belt”? Huge swathes of protected land surround cities and towns such as London, Oxford, Cambridge, Birmingham and Manchester. Soaring house prices and rental costs in these areas have prompted a sea change in people’s [...]
Government has the skeleton of a plan to fix UK housing: Now it needs the drive to actually do it February 7, 2017 The government’s Housing White Paper, released yesterday, was an attempt to get England to the 250,000 new homes a year required to reach housing need. It went in many good directions and created a skeleton of a system that could meet need – but in places it did not go far enough, and perhaps pulled [...]
St Modwen has found a buyer for its Nine Elms site February 7, 2017 St Modwen's share price climbed today after it said it had found a purchaser for its Nine Elms site. The developer's share price was up two per cent at time of writing – even though the company also reported a slide in profits. The figures In its results for the year ending 30 November, St [...]
The big winners of the housing white paper: Housebuilders’ and estate agents’ shares are climbing February 7, 2017 If you work in residential property, today is a good day – share prices went up across the board after the government published its long-awaited housing whitepaper. On the FTSE 100, Persimmon was the big winner, with shares rising 2.3 per cent to 1,983p in mid-afternoon trading. That was followed by Barratt, which rose 1.7 per [...]
“Really, is that it?” – reactions to the government’s housing white paper February 7, 2017 In the year that the US President signed an executive order to build a wall, UK politicians got together to write a housing paper that was lacking in concrete ideas. There were some general indicators of where the government is going on housing, however. Here's how the property industry reacted: On the lack of content [...]
11 things we learned from Sajid Javid’s speech on the housing white paper February 7, 2017 Communities secretary Sajid Javid stood in the House of Commons today to unveil the government's long-awaited housing white paper, so what did we learn about the government's plans to fix the housing crisis? Well, not much. The speech was pretty vague. Javid said the government would be speeding up construction, encouraging institutional investment in the rental sector and [...]
Bellway boosted by strong affordable housing demand in London February 7, 2017 Bellway's share price has climbed three per cent this morning after the company reported a boost in sales due to a "significant" requirement for affordable housing in London. The figures Bellway increased its housing completions by 6.5 per cent for the six months ending 31 January; volumes reached 4,462, up from 4,188 during the same [...]
This is how far house prices fell in January February 7, 2017 House prices fell month-on-month in January, reversing the strong house price growth recorded at the end of last year. According to Halifax's house price index, house prices fell 0.9 per cent last month. Year-on-year growth was 5.7 per cent, down from an annual growth of 6.5 per cent in December. Read more: This is how [...]
We’ll never solve the housing crisis if we continue to blame it on house-builders and migrants February 7, 2017 England's housing disaster is well-publicised. Construction has not kept pace with demographic change and successive governments have failed to address the consequences. The hotly-anticipated housing White Paper, out today, will sound an attempt to address this and some backlash against its proposals seems inevitable. It’s commonplace for us to blame greedy house-builders or uncontrolled immigration, [...]
This is how far house prices have plunged in Chelsea February 6, 2017 Chelsea house prices fell by as much as 13 per cent year-on-year in January as vendors were forced to drop prices due to higher transaction taxes. Data from estate agents Knight Frank shows prices on high-end homes have dropped sharply in London's most sought-after neighbourhoods. In Kensington and Notting Hill, prices have fallen by 12 per [...]