Manchester billionaire tables £583m offer for property developer Harworth Property Billionaire-owned Peel Group has tabled a £583m offer for Harworth as the property developer is poised to become the latest firm to exit the London Stock Exchange. The offer of 172.5p per share represents a premium of 20.1 per cent compared to Harworth’s closing share price yesterday and a 36.9 per cent premium above the [...]
‘Grinding it out’: Ibstock swings to loss and cuts dividend amid building slump Property One of the UK’s biggest brickmakers has bemoaned a ‘challenging’ housebuilding market as it slashed its dividend and swung to a loss. Leicestershire-based Ibstock, which is London’s second most shorted stock with a reported short interest of 12.9 per cent, posted a loss of £27m for the first six months of the year, down from [...]
FTSE 100 Segro agrees to £14bn takeover by Prologis Property FTSE 100 property firm Segro has agreed to a £14bn takeover by Prologis, bringing an end to a long tussle between the two real estate giants and striking another blow to the London Stock Exchange. The US-based commercial landowner said on Tuesday that it has reached an agreement with Segro’s board which values the British [...]
Housebuilder shares rally on Iran war peace hopes and help-to-buy revival August 3, 2026 Shares in leading London’s listed housebuilders jumped on Monday as investors bet a potential Iran war peace deal and a mooted new help-to-buy scheme would provide a boon to Britain’s flagging property market. FTSE-100-listed Persimmon jumped more than four per cent to 1,152 while mid-cap Vistry gained six per cent to 310p on Monday. Analysts [...]
Rightmove: Housebuilders face worst conditions since financial crisis July 31, 2026 The boss of property portal Rightmove has warned that UK housebuilders are facing the worst conditions since the 2008 financial crash. Johan Svanstrom, the FTSE 250 firm’s chief executive, said on Friday that new home developments are at “historically low levels due to continued softer build rates”. The property platform said growth in its new [...]
House prices slump as Iran war and interest rates hit demand July 31, 2026 House prices slumped in July after the Iran war and higher interest rates squeezed demand and triggered a slowdown in sales. Annual house price growth slowed to 1.8 last month, down from 2.2 per cent the prior month. Month on month, average house prices remained broadly flat, rising by just £58 to reach £277,542, up [...]
High interest rates and low confidence put construction firms under pressure, Lords warns July 30, 2026 Construction firms have been hit by a barrage of reduced market confidence, high interest rates and rising national insurance costs, builders’ merchant Lords has warned, after it suffered its biggest-ever single-day stock fall. The London-based firm released a challenging market update on Thursday, which saw its shares plunge 20.61 per cent to an all-time low [...]
Foxtons hits out at Renters’ Rights Act as profit halves July 30, 2026 Foxtons’ profit slipped as the London estate agency hits out at the Renters’ Rights Act, blaming the new tenant powers for causing a surge in renters cancelling their tenancies. The London-listed firm said the new law meant a higher number of tenants cancelled their rental agreements in May and June, meaning the estate agency lost [...]
Mortgage approvals inch up yet gains to be ‘retracted’ July 29, 2026 Mortgage approvals rose slightly in June, according to Bank of England data, yet growing fears of a rise in interest rates could set the property market back again. Net mortgage approvals climbed by around three per cent, from 56,565 in May to 58,200 in June. That remained below the six-month average of around 61,400, and [...]
Student housing giant Unite faces £400m loss amid property value slump July 28, 2026 Unite Students has plunged to a more-than £400m loss after being hit by a £500m revaluation of its properties and “extremely challenging” building costs. The UK’s largest student landlord slumped to a £417m pre-tax loss in the six months to June, reversing a £186m profit the year before, as its earnings slipped by two per [...]