Docklands News

PLP Architecture has produced a new set of plans for the Westferry Printworks site, featuring more than 1,300 new homes and a new secondary school. The latest proposal, the third since the original 722-home scheme was granted planning permission seven years ago, would deliver a five-storey secondary school and 1,358 homes on the 5ha site south of Canary Wharf. The tallest element of PLP’s latest plans for the site is 31 storeys, with the height of several other residential blocks has been increased to deliver additional density. A planning application for the latest incarnation of the proposals has yet to be submitted.

Building (12/10/2023)  

Barratt London has launched The Skyline Collection at its 26-storey Bermondsey Heights development. Designed by award-winning architects dMFK, it comprises 26 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments, offering enhanced specifications, a balcony or winter garden and spectacular views of some of London’s most iconic landmarks, including Canary Wharf and The Shard. The kitchens feature Silestone worktops, sleek cabinetry and integrated appliances. Each of the two- and three-bedroom apartments benefits from the addition of a contemporary en suite bathroom or shower room, with beautifully tiled walls and floors. Each home also has access to a residents’ roof terrace and communal podium gardens. For added convenience, a residents’ concierge service will help relieve the stresses of a fast-paced city lifestyle. Prices at The Skyline Collection start from £499,000 for a one-bedroom apartment. 

Realty+ (11/10/2023)  

Halifax has announced that UK house prices were 4.7% lower in September than a year earlier, the biggest year-on-year drop since 2009. The average price of a typical UK home fell to £278,601, down from £292,197 in the same month last year. Britain's biggest mortgage lender said house prices fell 0.4% month-on-month in September, the sixth fall in a row, though this was less than the 1.8% drop in prices in August. The data also found that house prices in every region had fallen in the past year, with the average price in London dropping 4.8%, to £525,678.

BBC News (06/10/2023)   Evening Standard (06/10/2023)   Financial Times (06/10/2023)   The Daily Telegraph (06/10/2023)  

Mortgage brokers and property experts have told i that housebuilders are having to "admit defeat" and offer large incentives or big price cuts to sell new homes. Property industry sources say higher mortgage rates and the absence of schemes that reduce upfront costs for buyers - such as Help to Buy loans - are causing more developers to struggle to get the money they want for new homes. Justin Moy, a mortgage broker at EHF Mortgages, said he recently had a client who had viewed a property valued by the developer at £425,000 and haggled the price down to £350,000. "The negotiation was over a six-month period. The properties were not selling, and the price had to be reduced accordingly," he said. 

I (06/10/2023)  

Average standard variable mortgage rates (SVR) have reached a record high of 8.18% in October, according to Moneyfacts. In comparison, the average two-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.47% and the average five-year fix was 5.97% at the start of October. According to Moneyfacts, a borrower paying back a £200,000 mortgage over 25 years would have made a typical monthly repayment of around £1,100 back in December 2021, when the average SVR was 4.40%, while at 8.18%, that monthly payment could now have jumped to around £1,567. 

The Independent (10/10/2023)