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18th September 2015
Wealthy overseas shoppers are splashing out £18bn in London every year. The leading luxury goods and property buyers in the capital are from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and China, according to estate agent Rokstone and consultancy Global Blue. Residential property sales in central London to Saudi purchasers rose 18% on last year, with up to £20m paid for homes. Becky Fatemi, managing director of Rokstone, said: "The same people buying handbags and jewellery are purchasing apartments and houses."
Evening Standard (15/09/2015)
18th September 2015
A row of four garages in south-east London is reported to have been sold for almost £140,000, more than three times the guide price. The Evening Standard claims that bidding on the garages in Sydenham started at £40,000 before the auction closed at £136,500 and that the sale price would be enough to buy a four-bedroom semi-detached house in Swansea, or a three-bed in Greater Manchester.
Evening Standard (15/09/2015)
18th September 2015
A study by London First and Savills has indicated that due to low housing density in central London compared to other European cities, some 1.4m more homes could be built in the capital. Baroness Jo Valentine, chief executive of London First, said: "The business community believes housing costs are a major threat to the capital's international competitiveness. We need London's planning policies to give strategic support to building at a higher density, while being clear that the density of a particular development must be appropriate for its location."
Evening Standard (16/09/2015)
18th September 2015
The UK housing market is experiencing a serious supply shortage, with London facing the most dramatic crisis in the country, according to the latest Property Supply Index from HouseSimple. New property listings fell 6.6% across the UK last month, while the number of homes put up for sale in the capital dropped 24.8%. “Across the country there are thousands of frustrated buyers, with finance in place, ready to purchase, but the property supply reservoir has dried up,” said Alex Gosling, chief executive of HouseSimple.
City AM (16/09/2015)
18th September 2015
New London Architecture has collected 100 ideas from architects to solve the country's housing shortage by increasing the density of housing without harming the quality of resident's lives. The suggested solutions include floating homes on London's canals and rivers, building flats on top of hospitals, building over roads and railway lines and using empty space between and above existing buildings. Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, and officials will consider 10 of the ideas.Lord Kerslake, chairman of the London Housing Commission, said: "The scale of the challenge is so big that we genuinely need some fresh thinking."
Evening Standard (16/09/2015)
18th September 2015
Plans for the £1.2bn redevelopment of Ten Broadway, formerly the Metropolitan Police's HQ at New Scotland Yard, reveal that of the proposed 246 apartments only 10 will be classed as affordable housing. Westminster Labour councillor Paul Dimoldenberg said: "I would hope that even Westminster council will throw the proposals out and tell the new owners to come back with more affordable housing. They should be ashamed."
Evening Standard (16/09/2015)