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20th October 2017
The Land Registry's official house price index has revealed UK house prices edged up 0.5% on the month in August, climbing to £225,956. On an annual basis, price growth accelerated to 5%, with the average property becoming £11,000 more expensive than in August last year. The North West was the strongest performing region, with prices rising 6.5% year-on-year, while London was the worst performing region, with prices rising just 2.6% on the year - and falling 1% between July and August. The only other regions to show falls were Scotland (down 0.7% month on month) and Wales, where prices dropped 0.1%.
The Daily Telegraph (17/10/2017)
The Standard looks at Deptford, a Zone 2 hotspot enjoying fresh attention from young professionals looking for affordable homes in a destination with good access to the Isle of Dogs, the City, and onto to Central London. Typical of the area’s new developments is Anthology Deptford Foundry on Arklow Road. Based on the site of a former metal foundry amidst landscaped communal gardens, the development offers 276 one, two and three-bedroom homes, each featuring balconies or terraces with views of the London skyline. The Foundry is less than a 10-minute walk to Deptford and New Cross stations for a six-minute connection to London Bridge, or 13 minutes to Cannon Street; Overground services from New Cross connect with the Jubilee Line at Canada Water for Canary Wharf commuters.
Evening Standard (19/10/2017)
20th October 2017
A Notting Hill mansion is set to go on the market this month but owners of the £17m-valued home will not accept cash, insisting that buyers will have to use the Bitcoin digital currency. Lev Loginov, co-founder of property investor London Wall, which bought the property in 2013, hopes to pioneer Bitcoin deals in Britain. Pointing to the appeal of the cryptocurrency, he voices a belief that it is “really going to change how real estate transactions are conducted.” The Standard notes that while other sellers have said they are willing to accept Bitcoin, this is the first where it is the only payment method the seller will deal in.
Evening Standard (13/10/2017
20th October 2017
First-time buyers are increasingly choosing long mortgage terms of up to 35 years in order to be able to afford a property. Mortgage broker London & Country said the proportion of new buyers taking out mortgages of 31-35 years has doubled to 22% in 10 years, while the proportion taking out mortgages of 21-25 years has fallen from 59% to 39%.
The Sunday Times (15/10/2017)
13th October 2017
Tower Hamlets Council’s strategic development committee has rejected Make Architects’ revised plans for a residential tower block at 225 Marsh Wall on the Isle of Dogs, even though a report from the authority’s planning officers recommended it be given the go-ahead. The skyscraper, designed on behalf of Cubitt Property Holdings, would have stood 46 storeys tall, 20m lower than the originally-intended 55 floors, housing 332 apartments, with 25% set aside as affordable housing. It also proposed 810 sq m of community or office floorspace, and 79 sq m of flexible retail, restaurant and community facilities. The scheme was rejected, however, on the grounds of excessive scale and height; with a density of 3,354 habitable rooms per hectare, it was well above the London Plan’s maximum of 1,100 per hectare.
Architects’ Journal (11/10/2017)
13th October 2017
Developer London Square has launched a 95-apartment scheme at Quebec Way in Rotherhithe, a 10-minute walk from Canada Water’s Jubilee Line station. The development is part of a new community forming around Rotherhithe, with 3,500 new homes planned , along with offices, shops, cafés, restaurants, and a three-and-a-half acre park; the building encloses a landscaped courtyard, and sports a tasteful design of lattice-effect external brickwork with recessed balconies and roof terraces. Prices for the one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments start at £525,000.
Evening Standard (09/10/2017)