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14th August 2015
According to Crossrail's land and property director, Ian Lindsay, the east-west rail line, due to be completed in 2018, is set to add £5.5bn to house values. Regeneration is going ahead along with the construction of a new transport system, with 3.3m sq ft of residential, office and retail space planned above Crossrail stations. A total of 57,000 new homes will be built along the route, while councils are upgrading town centres and investors are buying up property. Figures from CBRE suggest that since Crossrail was approved in 2008, the value of homes around the stations along its route has grown by 20% more than underlying capital appreciation in London and the South-East.
Evening Standard, Homes & Property (12/08/2015)
14th August 2015
A new study from Savills shows that the price of an average starter home in London has risen £28,000 in a year. Top price growth areas include Hammersmith & Fulham, Lambeth, Barnet and Ealing with all four boroughs experiencing starter home prices rising 20% in the past year — more than double the London average.
Evening Standard, Homes & Property (12/08/2015)
7th August 2015
New research from CBRE suggests London house buyers are shifting their focus to the outer boroughs, where average annual growth is running at 11.3% versus 5.7% in central London. Sales of homes worth over £1.5m in London and the Southeast have dropped by 17% over the year, partly under the influence of pre-election fears about a mansion tax. House price growth in the Southwest was highly variable, while growth was more muted in the Midlands, with 1% in poorer areas and 4% in hot spots. In Scotland meanwhile, house prices rose 13% in the first three months of 2015. CBRE said it was too early to draw firm conclusions about the impact of Scotland’s Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, which came into force in April 2015, but initial evidence suggested the savings it brought in at the lower end of the market had boosted transactions..
7th August 2015
Southwark Council has warned Pearson and Nikkei, the new owner of the FT, that the newspaper’s landmark building on the Thames must not be redeveloped for luxury flats. Pearson’s decision not to sell the building along with the newspaper has sparked speculation that it intends to cash in by selling separately to a property developer, but Southwark said it would oppose any such move. Nikkei has agreed a tenancy on commercial terms at the current building, but it is said to be looking for more modern accommodation to continue its transition to digital publishing.
7th August 2015
The Times' Martina Lees reports that stricter rules governing buy-to-let mean that it is more important now to pick the right place to invest. She suggests that potential investors in London should follow the developers and look to the suburbs rather than the city centre. In the year to June, the number of new homes started in outer London rose almost 60%; in the centre, it fell 43%, according to JLL. Robert Weaver, who sources homes for the crowdfunding investment platform Property Partner, advises to buy near Crossrail stations. With advice from JLL and Rightmove, Ms Lees lists the top 10 buy-to-let areas in and around London. They are: Whitechapel, Woolwich, West Drayton, Slough, Lewisham, Romford, Iver, Hanwell, Thamesmead and Plumstead.
7th August 2015
According to CBRE, investors have spent £1.8bn on land for property development in central London in the second quarter, up 118% year-on-year and the highest level since 2007. CBRE found that nearly three-quarters of buyers were backed by overseas money. The figures include land for both residential and commercial use. Alastair Perks, CBRE's senior director of central London development, said the market for land on which to construct new buildings "is accelerating at a rate of knots." Mr Perks added that a rising demand from commercial tenants and a shortage of new office space was also driving demand for land: "The leasing market continues to strengthen and, with supply of office space remaining historically low, these factors are creating good opportunities for speculative development," he said.