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16th January 2015
Sarah Sands, writing in the Evening Standard, examines some new trends in housing in the capital. She notes that the configuration of homes is a reflection of society, and that nowadays the aspiration lies in kitchens and bathrooms, while dining rooms and studies have become redundant through informality and technology. She is also impressed with the many ingenious solutions to housing problems devised by Londoners, and believes that the housing market is a trigger for profound social change and much of it for good.
Evening Standard (13/01/15)
16th January 2015
report from PwC and the Urban Land Institute has suggested that Birmingham will overtake London this year as the UK’s most attractive city for property investment, as Asian and American funds buy up more of Britain’s buildings. A shortage of available assets and high price tags on office buildings in London will drive investors to look at Birmingham, the report said. Berlin topped the list of cities in which to buy property in 2015, followed by Dublin, Madrid, Hamburg and Athens.
Source: The Daily Telegraph (14/01/15)
16th January 2015
Figures from the Bank of England show that mortgage rates ended 2014 at their lowest level in 20 years. The average two-year fixed-rate mortgage with a 25% deposit fell from 2.17% in November to 2.08% in December, the lowest since records began in 1995, according to the BoE. The average rate on a two-year variable mortgage dropped from 1.81% in November to 1.63% in December, while five-year fixed rates with a 25% deposit remained at 3.21%, both record lows.
The Times (12/01/15)
9th January 2015
Stamp duty reform saw sales of houses in the wealthier areas of London rise to their highest one-day volume for a decade in December. According to research, more homes changed hands in parts of the capital such as Knightsbridge, Chelsea and Belgravia on the day of the Autumn Statement - when the stamp duty reform was announced - than on any other day in the past ten years. The number of deals struck over the 24 hour period, in which buyers saved an accumulative £9.4m in tax, equated to one in six of all prime property central London sales made over the three month period to the end of December. Research shows that sales of homes worth over £5m stayed steady in 2014’s final quarter, while sales of properties worth less than £1m dropped 40% and those worth between £1m and £2m fell 20%.
9th January 2015
Stamp duty reform and the prospect of a mansion tax have been cited as contributing factors in the price of an upmarket London home falling by more than 4% in the last three months of 2014. According to research, central London homes priced around the £4m mark were hit hardest by George Osborne's stamp duty overhaul, with values falling by 4.2% in the fourth quarter and 1.3% over the full year. Comparatively, prices of properties in the £1m to £2m bracket rose 2.6% over the 12 month period, while growth in top regional markets averaged 3.2%.
9th January 2015
London’s population is expected to hit an all-time high, surpassing its 1939 peak of 8.615m. The milestone could be passed as soon as today, but at the very latest at the beginning of February, says Barney Stringer, director of Quod. “Great cities rise and fall, but few in history have bounced back so strongly from losing more than two million people. London’s growth is so exceptional that it’s time to change our whole perspective on it,” explains Mr Stringer, who calls for a new approach to planning and investment within the city, one which is more ambitious and on a greater scale – such as that seen in “China’s growing megacities”. Population growth is projected to sit at a rate of roughly 100,000, meaning 10m will inhabit the city by 2030.
Evening Standard, Page: 1, 6, 7, 14