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17th July 2015
The Council of Mortgage Lenders has revealed that mortgage lending hit a seven-year high in June. The CML said that the increase may be due to people returning to the housing market after shaking off uncertainty around May’s general election. Gross mortgage lending soared by 29% in June compared to May, climbing to an estimated £20.5bn - the highest level since July 2008. It was also 15% higher compared to the same time last year, when £17.8bn of lending was undertaken, the CML said.
Daily Mail (17/07/2015)
17th July 2015
UK property prices continued to rise in the year to May up 5.7% compared to 5.5% in the year to April, according to figures from the ONS. Northern Ireland saw the highest growth with prices rising 10.5% followed by 5.8% in England, 2.9% in Scotland and 2.5% in Wales. Price growth in the capital slowed to 4.7% in the year, lagging the UK average for the second month in a row. The average cost of a home in the UK now stands at £274,000.
Financial Times (14/07/2015)
10th July 2015
Canary Wharf is changing from a workplace to a living district. An ambitious building programme is being launched, with thousands of new homes, most of which will be ready in 2018 to 2020. The 10 Park Drive development launched this week, the first residential scheme within the estate boundaries. This is the initial phase of a 23-acre, 3,200-home neighbourhood called Wood Wharf. Hundreds queued to register for the chance to purchase one of the 345 properties spread across two towers of 42 storeys and 13 storeys, even though the first phase is not expected to be complete until 2019. Joe Selby, a junior director of property consultants CBRE, is confident that Canary Wharf and east London are attracting buyers who do not want to commute. “The next 30 years will be just as exciting,” he adds.
Evening Standard (08/07/2015) East London Advertiser (09/07/2015)
10th July 2015
Greenwich Council has granted planning permission to developer Essential Living for Creekside Wharf, a two-tower family-focused development with 249 homes just 5 minutes away from Cutty Sark DLR. Greenwich DLR and station are also both within easy reach, offering journey times to Canary Wharf of just ten minutes. A quarter of the homes in the buildings, which will feature family-friendly amenities such as buggy storage, extra acoustic insulation, internal and external play spaces, gave been earmarked as affordable housing.
The Wharf (09/07/2015)
10th July 2015
Prices at the top-end of London's housing market fell 0.9% in the quarter to the end of June for the first time since 2009, according to research published in the Financial Times. Anthony Payne of data provider LonRes, said London's luxury housing market had been "growing far too quickly", and called the slowdown “good news”. The figures also show that the slowdown has affected deal volumes with the number of transactions of London's luxury properties falling by nearly a quarter year-on-year.
Financial Times (04/07/2015)
10th July 2015
The latest figures from Nationwide indicate that first-time buyers in London are now having to find more than nine times the average salary to buy a home.However, separate figures from Nationwide suggest that low interest rates mean the proportion of first-time buyers’ income going on mortgage payments is below previous peaks.
The Mail on Sunday (05/07/2015)