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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.
7th August 2015
Nearly half of all stamp duty revenue raised in England and Wales is generated through property sales in London, according to data showing the impact of last year’s reforms. Research by Knight Frank has shown London accounted for 13% of all property transactions in England and Wales in the first three months of this year, yet contributed 46.9% of total stamp duty revenues. Prior to the introduction of stamp duty reforms in the Autumn Statement, London sales accounted for 43% of total revenues. At the same time, the data show that homes valued at £1m or more contributed 34% of all stamp duty receipts, compared to 26% a year previously.
7th August 2015
Knight Frank's latest quarterly index of luxury property shows that prices of prime London homes edged up by 2% in the last year.This places it 21st for price growth in a list of 35 cities monitored by Knight Frank.Vancouver, Miami and Sydney were the top performers with prime prices increasing by 15%, 14% and 13% respectively in the year to June. Knight Frank said the index has risen for 22 consecutive quarters, but the pace of growth almost halved in the last year with annual growth falling from 5.2% to 2.5%.
Daily Mail