Docklands News

A revised home information pack-inspired form, providing more upfront property information for prospective buyers to speed up the conveyancing process, has been unveiled by a stakeholder group helping the government. Unique property reference numbers and smart home system information have been added to the Buyer's and Seller's Property Information form (BASPI), designed by the Home Buyers and Sellers Group. The form now includes requirements such as the unique property reference number, shared ownership information, leasehold details, spray foam insulation, smart home systems information and whether the property has a digital logbook – which will have to be transferred on completion – and where it is held.

Law Society Gazette (31/03/2022)  

Canary Wharf Group has laid out plans to build one of the largest commercial labs in Europe, as the landlord moves to set up a life sciences cluster in east London. The Group and Kadans Science Partner have announced a joint venture to develop the 750,000 square foot life-science focussed hub, understood to be in the range of hundreds-of-millions of pounds. “We are creating a world class building that will provide state of the art laboratory, office and innovation space for some of the most exciting and fast-growing businesses in the health and life sciences sector,” Canary Wharf Group CEO Shobi Khan said. 

City AM (30/03/2022)   Financial Times (30/03/2022)  

A planning inspector has rejected TateHindle’s "overbearing" design for a 25-storey residential tower in Canary Wharf. The plans involved the demolition of Muriel Crescent, an eight-storey commercial building on Canary Wharf’s waterside, which would have been replaced by 151 flats. Tower Hamlets Council refused the plans last summer, arguing that the new homes would not have a ‘satisfactory internal living environment’, the tower would be "overbearing" and that other issues relating to energy, microclimate and waste management were "inadequate" or not considered. The developer, Meadow Partners, appealed the decision but planning inspector Christa Masters backed Tower Hamlets’ original decision. She commented: "The space would fail to provide a satisfactory living environment for potential future occupiers. With the exception of the first floor, the outdoor amenity space would fail to be a high quality and useable feature for future residents".

Architects' Journal (22/03/2022)  

The London property market is overvalued by as much as 50%, analysts have warned, prompting fears of an impending correction. S&P Global, part of Standard & Poor's, used long-term average prices of properties and compared them with income data for its calculations. Alastair Bigley, a researcher for the agency, warned that prices were likely to fall. “A combination of low rates, the stamp duty holiday and excess savings amid the pandemic have driven property prices higher, particularly in London and the South East where overvaluation relative to income over the long-term is as much as 50%,” he said. “We expect a greater correction in property prices in an overvalued market.” Outside the capital, S&P estimated that property was overvalued by 20%. Mr Bigley said that house price rises were “a consistent trend” across the pandemic, which was not initially noticed due to the disruption to the international economy. 

The Daily Telegraph (21/03/2022)  

UK house prices hit an average of £274,000 in January – an increase of £24,000 compared to the year before. Average house prices increased 9.6% over the year to January, a dip from 10% in December 2021, according to the latest official statistics. London saw the lowest annual growth at 2.2%, the Office for National Statistics house price index revealed.  “We are continuing to see strong annual growth in house prices across the UK, with the biggest rises seen in Wales, while London continues to be relatively sluggish", said ONS house prices statistician Ceri Lewis. “UK rental prices also continue to rise at a rapid pace, with their highest annual growth in over five years".

The Daily Telegraph (23/03/2022)   The Times (23/03/2022)  

Alexandra Goss in the Times looks at the property market, highlighting Nationwide data showing that annual house price growth rose to 12.6% last month and the average price has gone above £260,000 for the first time. Propertymark figures show 39% of properties sold for above the asking price in February, while analysis by Savills suggests the number of sales agreed in the first two weeks of March was 20% above pre-pandemic levels while the number of properties coming to market was 8% below. However, Capital Economics’ Andrew Wishart expects interest rates to hit 2% next year, warning that the average rate on new mortgages is set to double from a low of 1.5% in November 2021 to almost 3% in 2023. This, he suggests, is likely to cause demand and price growth to “slow to a crawl.” Gráinne Gilmore, head of research at Zoopla, forecasts average price growth of between 2% and 4% by the end of the year, with fewer transactions. 

The Times (18/03/2022)