020 7538 0102
26th January 2018
Poplar place to live
A planning decision is due next month on the redevelopment of Chrisp Street Market in Poplar, build as part of the Festival of Britain in 1951. The Poplar Harca housing association has partnered up with Telford Homes to build 650 flats, shops and a cinema. Should permission be granted, it will add to a Poplar pipeline that already includes almost 2,500 apartments, in new buildings and revitalised Brutalist landmarks. Alisa Wharf, a £350m River Lea scheme led by Galliard Homes recently got the go-ahead, and will include 785 new homes in 13 buildings with a central park and a new riverside waterway. The first homes will be finished in 2021. Elsewhere, Aberfeldy Village near East India DLR station offers one-bedroom flats from £399,950, and two-bedroom homes from £459,950, while a three-bedroom house in Bellway’s Lansbury Square can be had from £599,995. Alternatively, refurbished apartments at Ernö Goldfinger’s Balfron Tower and Carradale House are expected to go on the market this spring, while the first of 1,500 new homes on the Robin Hood Gardens estate should be complete next year, with a one-bedroom flat starting at £425,000.
Evening Standard (24/01/2018)
26th January 2018
Danescroft Land has secured a resolution to grant planning for a 491-home build-to-rent scheme next to Bromley-by-Bow tube station. The development comprises two 10-storey buildings, one nine-storey block, and a pair of towers at 17-storeys and 27-storeys respectively; the apartments will benefit from roof-top gardens, terraces with views of the Olympic Park, and an in-house gym. The scheme, based around a central hub dubbed Urban Square, will also include a mixture of workspace, community infrastructure and retail space.
Property Week (25/01/2018)
26th January 2018
The number of homes bought and sold hit its lowest since 2014 last year, according to property transaction figures from HMRC, which show 1.22m property transactions took place in the year to December, down 0.1% from the previous year's 1.23m. In December, HMRC said, the number of homes bought and sold fell 3.9% to 99,100, its lowest since November 2016.
Daily Mail (23/01/2018)
26th January 2018
Philip Hammond's decision to scrap stamp duty for first-time buyers is likely to lead to a sharp rise in house prices, MPs on the Treasury select committee predict. The MPs fear the policy is likely to increase prices for first-time buyers "by as much, if not more, than the amount they will save as a result of the reduction in stamp duty". Their report is also sceptical of the targets of building 300,000 new homes a year, estimating that Mr Hammond would only meet this if he takes more action such as lifting a borrowing cap on councils that restricts the number of homes that local authorities could deliver, while private housebuilders create only around 150,000 homes a year.
The Times (22/01/2018)
26th January 2018
A “radical new approach” to housing policy and a renewed focus on modular construction will be needed, experts warn. The Housing & Finance Institute has urged the government to focus on modern construction methods to drive up the number of newbuilds and boost productivity. “Housing-based infrastructure has been creaking at the current rates of delivery and simply isn’t ready to deliver at nearly double current rates. Much more needs to be done, and soon,” the report said. The think-tank also pushed the government to formally make housing a national infrastructure priority.
City AM (22/01/2018)
26th January 2018
Sadiq Khan’s affordable housing programme is under pressure after figures showed he has started building just 428 homes in the first six months of 2017-18. The full-year target is to start between 12,500 and 16,500 new homes. However a spokesperson for the mayor of London said 1,641 homes had been started under the programme by the end of December 2017, and "City Hall remains on track to start at least 12,500 affordable homes by the end of the financial year.”
City AM (22/01/2018)