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British lenders approved 65,619 mortgages in June, up 1.5% from 64,684 in May, according to data from the Bank of England (BoE), a five-month high. Remortgage approvals fell from 51,669 to 47,895 however, while approvals for house purchases were down 0.2% year-on-year. Howard Archer, chief economic advisor to the EY ITEM Club, said: "There seems little evidence that the cutting of stamp duty for first-time buyers in last November’s Budget has provided a significant boost to housing market activity."
City AM (30/07/2018) The Daily Telegraph (30/07/2018)
A study from accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young has found that Hackney has seen a bigger leap in residents’ disposable income since 1997 than anywhere else in Britain. The amount of money locals have left after mortgages or rent, and taxes, has almost trebled, from £6,448 to £19,261. Hackney house prices have increased more than in any other local authority in the period, with the average cost of a flat in the borough now over £515,000.
Evening Standard (02/08/2018)
Analysis by private bank Coutts shows that that prices in prime central London are falling at a slower pace, with values down 0.3% between April and June compared with a 3% drop in the first quarter. It also found that sales volumes for prime London property increased 16% in Q2.
London First has proposed Londoners should pay extra council tax, and businesses extra business rates, to help cover Crossrail 2 costs.
Financial Times (29/07/2018)
Silvertown, the former industrial hub just south of the Royal Docks, is undergoing something of a renaissance, with a £3.7bn investment programme bringing a business park, shops, restaurants and even a floating village to the area. Development is already well underway, and a one-bedroom apartment at Royal Albert Wharf can be had from as little as £385,000. However, Jon Hall, of developer Mount Anvil, says that prices are rising quickly, with average inflation 1.7 times higher than the surrounding E16 postcode. The company’s Royal Docks West project, a 19-level tower of 105 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom homes, is due to be completed in the autumn; a two-bedroom apartment in the building starts at £590,000.
Evening Standard (23/07/2018)
The Rics quarterly poll of surveyors has indicated that construction growth in the second quarter of 2018 virtually matched that of the previous two quarters in London, despite evidence of constraints in finance and labour. Eleven per cent more chartered surveyors in London and the south east reported that their workloads had risen rather than fallen. Financial constraints, such as the difficulty of obtaining credit, were reported by 80% of national respondents to be the most significant impediment to building activity.
City AM (25/07/2018)