020 7538 0102
2nd January 2015
Home ownership levels in Britain are about to fall behind France for the first time after a decade-long surge in buy-to-let lending that has pushed more people into the rental sector. Figures from Europe's official statistics bureau showed that the proportion of owner-occupied homes in France almost caught up with the UK in 2013 and was on track to overtake Britain last year for the first time since Eurostat started compiling the data in 1995. Kate Barker, a former Bank of England rate-setter, says the transformation of Britain's housing market was due to tougher mortgage standards making it harder for people to borrow. "That has meant there has been a rise in buy-to-let," she said, as landlords tend to have larger deposits or other properties from which to draw funds. Meanwhile, a study from the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association has warned that: "If current trends in tenure continue, two decades from now for the first time since the early 1970s the majority of Britons will rent their home”.
Source: The Times (02/01/15)
2nd January 2015
The annual pace of house price growth is now at its slowest for a year, according to the Nationwide. It said that house price inflation fell to 7.2% in December on an annual basis, down from 8.5% in November. Nationwide’s chief economist Robert Gardner said that “The pace of annual house price growth continued to soften as 2014 drew to a close”. St Albans in Hertfordshire saw prices grow 24% to £494,777 in the three months to December, the nation’s strongest performance, while Reading and Belfast also did well over the period – with prices up 19% and 17% respectively. London continued to perform strongly, with prices up 17.8% to £406,730.
Source: The Times (31/12/14)
2nd January 2015
London’s Conservative party leader Andrew Boff has said that the amount spent on the Olympic Games legacy is the financial scandal of the century, just weeks after George Osborne committed £140m to help to create Olympicopolis, a mixed-use scheme including residential units, retail outlets and arts venues. The conversion of the Olympic Park stadium into West Ham’s football ground is likely to cost at least £200m, it is noted, and the club has only contributed £15m. "I think they are going to get the venues to work but not without an enormous additional input of private and public money. They never thought it through. Legacy was written in every single paragraph before the Games but nobody bloody well thought about it”, said Mr Boff.
Source: The Times (31/12/14)
2nd January 2015
The Financial Times takes a look at how London property developers are building micro-houses and hostels for young professionals who are unable to afford to rent more than a room in shared accommodation, let alone their own property. The Collectiveis currently housing 350 tenants across 20 refurbished buildings, and plans to build a tower in Stratford spanning 29-storeys. The average property offered by The Collective measures 15-20 sq m, and is priced between £190 to £250 including bills and council tax.
Source: Financial Times (29/12/14)
19th December 2014
The Evening Standard's Chris Blackhurst meets Sir Stuart Lipton at Silvertown, one of the last great former industrial sites in London, and where Sir Stuart will develop his latest project. Silvertown will cost at least £1.5bn to build and take up to ten years to complete. The 7m sq ft project aims to build 3,000 new homes and create more than 21,000 jobs. Sir Stuart says he has linked up with Rupert Clarke, the former chief of fund manager Hermes, and Peter Rogers, brother of Lord Rogers, to form Lipton Rogers: “Rupert manages the money, Peter is the builder, I’m the developer — we’re a proper team”, he says.
Source: The Independent (13/12/14) Evening Standard (12/12/14)
19th December 2014
A planning application has been put by Nelsons Head LLP to Tower Hamlets Council for a new residential eight-storey block at Manilla Street on the Isle of Dogs, on the site of historic pub The North – which closed earlier this year. The pub would be replaced, leaving high quality homes on each of the top seven floors. A previous application was made for the site, which didn’t include plans for a pub; the proposal was subsequently rejected for not including provisions for a new hostelry.
Source: The Wharf (18/12/14)