London house prices: West End buyers shrug off stamp duty rise and mansion tax threat as sales rise April 27, 2015 The West End residential market saw no let up in activity over the first quarter of the year, figures show, despite changes to stamp duty and the threat of Labour’s proposed mansion tax. Property advisory firm CBRE said sales transactions jumped by 33 per cent on last year as it agreed sales on £54.7m worth [...]
London property in pictures: A former car showroom has been converted into Mayfair’s “largest” flats April 27, 2015 It's the antithesis of London's latest trend for tiny houses squeezed into gaps between buildings: a block of flats described as London's "largest" apartments – on the site of a former car showroom – has gone on sale in Mayfair. Glebe, the developer behind The Mellier, says its apartments have the largest rooms of any [...]
London Marathon 2015 mapped: The rise of property prices along the route from the Blackheath start to the Mall finishing line April 24, 2015 It's not just a slog for runners around the London Marathon route this weekend. Anyone angling to jump on the London property ladder or looking to climb it faces a steep ascent with plenty of pain, arguably tougher than a 26 mile run around the capital – emotionally and psychologically at least. Runner's eyes won't [...]
London house prices: Kensington and Chelsea is now growing more slowly than Bristol April 24, 2015 London has lost its housing crown: for the first time since 2005, central London price growth is being outpaced by cities across the UK. According to data from HomeTrack, the triple-threat of electoral uncertainty, mansion tax fears and affordability issues have conspired to slow growth in the country’s most-valuable areas. Boroughs such as Chelsea and [...]
London barometer: Home buyers and sellers shrug off General Election uncertainty April 23, 2015 It appears that buyers and sellers are getting bored of political uncertainty and this is reflected in the consistent flow of properties coming to the market. Perhaps this will come as a surprise to many people, but the number of offers being agreed is what we’d usually expect at this time of the year. [...]
London house prices: Could the General Election outcome send the wealthy packing? April 23, 2015 London has a unique property market. Prime and emerging-prime areas of London are driven by people who move to larger and “better” located properties not because they really need to, but because they want to. Nothing soothes a burgeoning ego more than an SW3 postcode. Political rhetoric aimed at plundering this – apparently under-taxed – [...]
Your Move: London rental prices have soared 27pc under David Cameron April 22, 2015 Residential rents in London have far outstripped the rate of inflation under the current government, according to a new report out today. Rent in the capital increased by 27.4 per cent since the last General Election, according to the latest Buy-to-Let index from estate agents Your Move and Reeds Rains. Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) increased [...]
In pictures: Flats at Canary Wharf’s Wood Wharf and Newfoundland neighbourhood open for registration today April 22, 2015 Fed up with your daily commute? Canary Wharf has a solution: it's just put 3,200 homes on sale, around the corner from its office development. Alright, so they're not actually built yet – but good things come to those who wait…. The flats are part of Canary Wharf's first expansion since the beginning of the [...]
London house prices: Havering, Croydon and Bromley are London’s Help to Buy hotspots April 22, 2015 This month is the second anniversary of the launch of Help to Buy, the scheme which allows cash-strapped house buyers to borrow 95 per cent mortgages. The scheme may be one of the government's most controversial policies, but it has also been one of its most popular. In fact, new research suggests that, as of [...]
UK house prices: Babies born today will pay £3.4m for their first home April 21, 2015 If the current generation of first-time buyers thought they had it bad, spare a thought for the children born today, who will have to pay several million pounds for their first home, research has revealed. A study by online estate agent Emoov found that, given house price inflation – which has averaged out at 8.6 [...]