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A study from accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young has found that Hackney has seen a bigger leap in residents’ disposable income since 1997 than anywhere else in Britain. The amount of money locals have left after mortgages or rent, and taxes, has almost trebled, from £6,448 to £19,261. Hackney house prices have increased more than in any other local authority in the period, with the average cost of a flat in the borough now over £515,000.
Evening Standard (02/08/2018)
Analysis by private bank Coutts shows that that prices in prime central London are falling at a slower pace, with values down 0.3% between April and June compared with a 3% drop in the first quarter. It also found that sales volumes for prime London property increased 16% in Q2.
London First has proposed Londoners should pay extra council tax, and businesses extra business rates, to help cover Crossrail 2 costs.
Financial Times (29/07/2018)
Silvertown, the former industrial hub just south of the Royal Docks, is undergoing something of a renaissance, with a £3.7bn investment programme bringing a business park, shops, restaurants and even a floating village to the area. Development is already well underway, and a one-bedroom apartment at Royal Albert Wharf can be had from as little as £385,000. However, Jon Hall, of developer Mount Anvil, says that prices are rising quickly, with average inflation 1.7 times higher than the surrounding E16 postcode. The company’s Royal Docks West project, a 19-level tower of 105 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom homes, is due to be completed in the autumn; a two-bedroom apartment in the building starts at £590,000.
Evening Standard (23/07/2018)
The Rics quarterly poll of surveyors has indicated that construction growth in the second quarter of 2018 virtually matched that of the previous two quarters in London, despite evidence of constraints in finance and labour. Eleven per cent more chartered surveyors in London and the south east reported that their workloads had risen rather than fallen. Financial constraints, such as the difficulty of obtaining credit, were reported by 80% of national respondents to be the most significant impediment to building activity.
City AM (25/07/2018)
The number of residential property transactions dropped 3% between May and June to 96,370, according to data from HMRC, as the UK's stagnant property market shows little sign of picking up. House sales completions were 5.7% lower in June, compared with the same month last year. Kevin Roberts, director, Legal & General Mortgage Club, said: “Barriers to moving, such as stamp duty and the high price of property in our urban areas, means that for many the maxim remains ‘improve, not move’, as they seek to renovate or develop their homes, rather than move up the housing ladder.”
City AM (24/07/2018) Daily Mail (24/07/2018)