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8th September 2017
August house prices were up 1.1% on July, according to the Halifax, suggesting that the housing market is bouncing back from the Brexit vote. The annual increase was estimated to be 2.6%, while prices had risen by 0.1% in the past three months compared with the previous quarter. The average house price hit £222,293 in August, up from £219,293 in July. Activity was 10% higher than during the same period last year, with 104,760 homes sold between June and July. Halifax managing director Russell Galley noted that “buoyancy may be returning” to the housing market.
The Times (07/09/2017)
8th September 2017
Architects must reclaim leadership of housebuilding after decades of being sidelined through complex contracts such as the one used for Grenfell Tower, the profession's new leader has warned. Ben Derbyshire, president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, said that without reform, the continued use of "design and build" contracts threatens the robustness of buildings and risks more defects. "This is not a precious issue about aesthetic quality, it is about environmental performance, care and attention to detail,” Mr Derbyshire said.
The Guardian (04/09/2017)
1st September 2017
The Standard identifies Shadwell as one of the few places left in London to have escaped gentrification, despite being in a prime location – making it a great candidate for brave buyers looking for a relative bargain. Although it shares an E1 postcode with Shoreditch and Spitalfields, and sits next to Wapping, the average price per square foot is £500-£550, which compares extremely favourably to the £1,000 per square foot commonly found in its neighbour to the south west. Although its post-war apartments lack the cachet of Wapping’s converted warehouses, it represents great value in lying just one DLR stop away from Bank and three from Canary Wharf - and is thought likely to attract the same prices as surrounding districts within five years.
Evening Standard (30/08/2017)
1st September 2017
New research shows that Londoners looking to make the step up from a two-bedroom flat to a three-bedroom house face paying an extra £320,000. A typical London flat with two bedrooms costs just over £500,000, while a typical three-bedroom house costs almost £820,000. In Westminster the gap is £1.85m, with the typical two-bed flat costing £1.15m while a three-bedroom house is £3m. In Newham, the average two-bed apartment costs £360,000, with a three-bed house costing 25% more, at £450,000.
Evening Standard (30/08/2017)
1st September 2017
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has been accused of making fake claims about the purchase of a plot of land for affordable homes. City Hall had said the decision to snap up an industrial estate in Waltham Forest on which to develop new housing was “one of his first actions as Mayor” but it has been revealed that his predecessor Boris Johnson signed the £12m order. A spokesperson for Mr Khan insisted: “The previous Mayor had prepared a business case to acquire the site, but under him discussions had stalled and the deadline for buying the site was missed”.
Evening Standard (25/08/2017)
1st September 2017
House price growth slowed to 2.1% year-on-year in August, from 2.9% in July, amid fears Brexit-fuelled inflation is placing pressure on household spending, data from Nationwide reveals. Property values fell for the first time since May, down 0.1% month-on-month to an average of £210,495, compared to growth of 0.2% in July when the typical price hit £211,671. The number of mortgages approved for house purchases fell to a nine-month low of £65,000 in June. However, property prices are still predicted to rise by 2% in 2017.
The Daily Telegraph (29/08/2017)