House prices are already shooting up along the Elizabeth line December 5, 2016 Property prices along the much-anticipated Elizabeth line – formerly known as Crossrail – are already shooting up. Average house prices near the stations along the route have up gone up by 22 per cent over the last two years, according to research by Lloyds Bank, even though the line won't be fully-functioning until the end [...]
This is why Purplebricks’ share price is up 20 per cent December 5, 2016 Purplebricks' share price has shot up 19 per cent this morning after the company announced a total revenue growth of 159 per cent. The figures The estate agents reported a UK gross profit of £10.2m for the six months ending 31 October, up from £4.1m during the same period last year. UK revenues grew from [...]
Building more homes will not solve London’s housing crisis – here’s why December 5, 2016 Let's be clear, the housing crisis is not a crisis just because there is a shortage in housing. It's a crisis because there is a real problem with our access to affordable housing and not enough is being done about it. London homes are the second most over-priced in the world, according to a recent [...]
Ownership of over 40,000 London properties shrouded in secrecy December 5, 2016 Thousands of London's properties are held by overseas companies registered in so-called secrecy havens, obscuring the details of their true ownership, a report out today has found. The report from Transparency International UK and Thomson Reuters identified 44,022 land titles owned by 23,653 overseas companies in Land Registry data. Of these, 91 per cent of companies, holding 40,098 of the land [...]
This housing chief thinks EU regulation protecting newts is holding back housebuilders December 4, 2016 Housebuiding in the UK is being held back by newts and other animals protected by EU regulation, one leading housebuilder has said. John Tutte, chief executive of housebuilder Redrow, has said that "we haven't got a shortage" of great-crested newts. But, due to shortages in places such as Spain, the amphibians are protected by EU [...]
Opinion: Forget banning letting fees – it’s time we introduced compulsory regulation into the lettings sector December 2, 2016 Invent a snappy name, rent a shop and build a website – and, hey presto, you are now set up as a lettings agent. And until the Chancellor’s move to ban fees in the Autumn Statement, you could charge whatever you liked to tenants to handle the renting of a property. Unlike many of our [...]
New Builds: 600 new homes are set to be built on a site the size of three football pitches in south London December 2, 2016 The Quarry, Bexley A quarrying site that hasn’t been used in 40 years is set to be home to 600 new properties. The first new homes – 80 per cent of which will be modern family houses hoping to attract upsizers – will go on sale in the new year. There will also be a [...]
Berkeley Group’s shares leap after announcing in-line performance and solid cash foundations December 2, 2016 Shares in property firm Berkeley Group jumped over four per cent in trading this morning after revealing an "outstanding" balance sheet. The figures Half year revenue to the end of October leapt from £1.1bn to £1.4bn, with gross profit jumping from £391m to £504m. Profit before tax was £393m, up from £293m last year. The coffers at [...]
Generation Rent: London is home to nearly a fifth of the UK’s rental accommodation December 2, 2016 London is now home to almost a fifth of the rental properties in the UK, but it accounts for nearly half of the total value of these households. There are 1,048,000 houses in the private rented sector in London, almost a fifth of the 5.3m in Britain as a whole. But the value of this [...]
CBRE completes property fund merger creating new £1.47bn fund December 1, 2016 The CBRE UK Property Fund (UKPF) is merging with the Electricity Supply Pension Scheme (ESPS) UK property portfolio to create a new £1.47bn fund. The new fund, which has been authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, will be operated as a Property Authorised Investment Fund (PAIF). Read more: Canada is getting taller [...]