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24th July 2015
New research shows that despite rising property costs, average rental prices in the City and Docklands have stalled over the past three years. Following a rise in short-term tenancies, the report warns of the impact of the Government relaxing anti-subletting rules, indicating that it could make it easy for tenants to re-rent properties for a profit.
24th July 2015
Tower Hamlets Council has rejected a planning permission by British Land to build a 320,000 square foot office, residential and retail floor space as part of the Norton Folgate scheme. Local campaigners have raised concerns over the development of the Shoreditch Estate, worried about the demolition of historic buildings and the impact the site would have on local prices.
17th July 2015
Homes worth a total of £140m in Canary Wharf’s latest residential tower block sold out in less than five hours despite the fact that it hasn’t been built yet. Maine Tower’s 230 apartments, which ranged in asking price from £350,000 to £1.25m, and will be completed in 2019, sold out in a single morning a fortnight ago, according to Galliard Homes, the builder behind the east London development. Galliard said that 50% of the flats were bought by domestic buyers - including some first-time buyers - and 50% were from overseas. Crossrail is due to start running in 2019 and experts believe the new railway line is driving a major uplift in house prices in areas through which the service will run and attracting new levels of interest in east London. Earlier this year JLL forecast a 44% rise in house prices in Canary Wharf and a 54% hike in Whitechapel. Stephen Conway, the chief executive of Galliard Homes, said that the international buyers that have invested in Maine Tower were dominated by Greek, French and Italian buyers looking to sink their money into London property.
The Sunday Telegraph (12/07/2015)
17th July 2015
Registrations are now being accepted for Berkeley’s South Quay Plaza, a 68-storey residential tower just under a mile away from Maine Tower. A smaller 36-storey building will stand alongside it, with a third block currently awaiting planning permission. Designed by Foster + Partners, the development includes 1.6 acres of open space, as well the provision of land for a second footbridge linking South Quay to Canary Wharf; it will also have an extensive range of retail, restaurant and leisure facilities.
The Wharf (16/07/2015)
17th July 2015
Boris Johnson has announced the launch of the London Land Commission tasked with highlighting surplus publicly owned land by the end of the year to help solve London's housing crisis. The launch marks the first co-ordinated effort between City Hall, government and boroughs to free up surplus public land. Mr Johnson said: "The Commission's work will be vital in co-ordinating the efforts of a whole raft of public bodies to achieve this important goal, helping to cut through the red tape that has kept valuable land tied up for too long." Meanwhile Tory mayoral candidate Ivan Massow called for the development of "small pockets" of the green belt to boost house-building with developers making a contribution towards enhancing the surrounding green belt for Londoners to use.
Evening Standard (14/07/2015)
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)