Bank of England showed a continued growth in lending to real estate 2007-08-18 17:33:00 The total amount outstanding to real estate now stands at £175bn, representing 11.2 per cent of the total outstanding debt in the wider market. As a proportion of total debt, this is the highest real estate has been since records began. Overseas investors are increasingly injecting money into the UK market. During the first six months of the year, overseas purchases totalled £12.5bn, accounting for 45 per cent of all transactions.
Read more:England
UK building activity recovers momemtum 2007-08-15 10:06:00 LONDON - Reuters - The pace of commercial building in Britain rallied in July after hitting a five-month low in June but construction activity continued to lag the average for the first half of 2007, data showed on Tuesday. The report from property services firm Savills Plc (SVS.L: Quote, Profile , Research) showed rising levels of public sector developments boosted the number of commercial property projects undertaken during July despite concerns higher interest rates would stifle demand for commercial real estate.
London House Prices Fell for the First Time in a Year 2007-08-20 18:39:00 Bloomberg - London house prices fell for the first time in a year this month, a sign higher interest rates are cooling Britain's property boom, a Rightmove Plc report showed. The average asking price for a home in the U.K. capital slipped 0.1 percent from July, the first drop since August 2006, to 394,268 pounds ($777,575), Britain's biggest real-estate Web site said in a statement today. The survey measured 150,000 properties listed for sale in the four weeks through Aug. 11.
Read more:First
, First Time
, House
, Prices
Happy family made an Easymove to Saxon Park 2007-08-26 17:40:00 George Wimpey North West then agreed a marketing price for their old property based on two independent valuations by local estate agents. George Wimpey North West and the chosen estate agent then undertook an extensive marketing campaign to sell their old property. The housebuilder even paid the advertising and estate agents fees, helping to reduce the costs of moving. Kate said: “George Wimpey North West sorted everything out for us so we didn’t need to worry about anything. It was a very stress free move, thanks to the Easymover scheme and Yvonne, the sales executive, who helped us with the whole moving process.
Read more:Happy
, Saxon
Brixton says property specialists will beat slowdown 2007-08-24 19:06:00 LONDON (Reuters) - The UK's only pure industrial property
real estate investment trust, Brixton
, said it was confident its specialist status could shield its prospects as the property sector braces for a market correction. "A less certain direct market is good for specialist companies who concentrate more on prime locations and quality product," Brixton chief executive Tim Wheeler said in a conference call on Tuesday.
London Home Buyers Delay on Concern Bonuses Will Fall 2007-08-23 14:29:00 Buyers of London houses and apartments costing about 2 million pounds ($4 million) are delaying purchases on concern the turmoil in credit markets may result in lower bonuses for bankers. Last week's turbulence in the markets in London and the U.S. is creating some serious caution,'' Christopher Bramwell, a director in Savills Plc's London residential department, said in an interview. ``Buyers at this level look more to the financial markets and are less affected by interest rates.''
Read more:Bonuses
, Buyers
, Concern
, Delay
London real estate hit by U.S. credit woes 2007-08-28 23:02:00 LONDON,(UPI) — There are fears London's high-end real estate market will see prices plummet as a result of the U.S. sub-prime mortgage meltdown, the Financial Times said.Tracy Kellett, founder of BDI Home Finders in London told the newspaper some sellers were already lowering prices, while John Young of the Humberts real estate agency said uneasiness had resulted in several deals falling through. During the past two years, prices in London's high-end property market have risen by about 50 percent based largely on a financial services boom, the newspaper said.
Read more:credit
Watson Wyatt boosts real estate 2007-09-02 06:33:00 Investment consultant WatsonWyatt
has made two hires to boost its research into real estate investment managers and hedge fund managers, and added five new graduates to its manager research team. Douglas Crawshaw, who has more than 10 years' investment experience, most recently as a portfolio manager at Morley Fund Management, will join a real estate team of six in the UK, headed by Steven Grahame, which focuses on researching real estate investment managers. Crawshaw is a senior investment consultant and is based in London.
The credit crunch has hit London’s commercial property 2007-08-30 17:44:00 THE CREDIT crunch has hit London’s commercial property
market, stalling sales of landmark City buildings and halting new developments. Lloyd’s of London, the centre of the world’s reinsurance market, the headquarters of Nomura, the Japanese bank, and the high-profile Shard of Glass development have been affected by the recent market turbulence. Private developers seeking to finance large projects or make significant purchases are finding it increasingly difficult to secure backing, despite earlier signs that well-located and let sites would escape the credit
crunch.
London Rightmove House Prices Fall Most Since 2004 2007-09-24 17:56:00 London house prices fell the most since 2004 this month after five interest rate increases in a year and turmoil in financial markets sapped buyers' confidence, according to a Rightmove Plc report. The average asking price for a home in the U.K. capital declined 2.5 percent from August to 384,439 pounds ($774,000), according to Britain's biggest real-estate Web site. The reading is taken from a survey conducted from Aug. 12 to Sept. 8. For the U.K. as a whole, prices fell 2.6 percent, Rightmove said. Growth in London property values is faltering after the collapse of the U.S. subprime mortgage market triggered losses in securities linked to the loans and spurred banks to raise lending rates. The turmoil is piling pressure on consumers, already finding it costlier to pay loans after the Bank of England raised its key rate to a six-year high in July.
Read more:House
, House Prices
, Prices
UK's MWB postpones hotels sale, blames market 2007-09-20 05:42:00 MWB appointed Bank of America to sell the property assets of both hotel groups in July after it was forced to scrap a $3.6 billion initial public offering of Vector Hospitality, a separate vehicle it created with partners in a bid to float the UK's first dedicated hotel real estate investment trust (REIT). The failure to float Vector in June was also attributed to poor market sentiment following a rapid downturn in confidence in the outlook for European property stocks.
UK real estate market faces 10 bln stg loss of value 2007-09-14 17:01:00 LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Property agent CB Richard Ellis is to wipe up to 10 bln stg off the value of the UK's commercial property market when it carries out its quarterly valuations at the end of this month, the Sunday Telegraph reported. The world's biggest property agent, which values nearly half the investment-grade commercial real estate in the UK, has told select clients it is to mark down their property by up to 10 pct as a result of a downturn in the market, the report said.
Read more:faces
UK First time buyers turn to Overseas Property 2007-09-09 21:15:00 Beth Collingz, PLC International Marketing Director for Pacific Concord Properties Inc's Lancaster Brand of Apart-Hotels or Condotels in the Philippines said a recent study published by UK National Savings & Investments found 84 per cent of 18 to 30-year-olds believe buying property abroad is a more viable option thanbuying in Britain. Young people buying abroad and renting in Britain are and will continue to be a growing phenomenon. They generally look at spending less than £200,000. This comes on the back of recent reports by Barclays Bank that revealed the number of Britons keen to buy property abroad has doubled to 18,000 in a year.
Read more:First
Land Securities Rattles U.K. REITs 2007-09-06 21:35:00 LONDON - After a volatile session, shares of Britain's biggest real estate investment trust, Land Securities
, closed unchanged Wednesday as investors struggled to make sense of the rumors that the company plans to split in two in the face of difficulties in the commercial property sector. Other British property stocks were not so lucky.
London is fast becoming a second home to rich Indians 2007-09-03 18:24:00 It is no longer a metaphor but literally true - more and more Indians
are buying homes in the British capital. Last year 60 per cent of the £5 million-plus properties sold in Central London were bought by foreigners. While many of these were Russians and Americans, Indians were giving them a run for their money too. "My phone is ringing off the hook with Indians eager to buy property in London," said Jaideep Singh, head of the India desk at Knight Frank, real estate agents that specialise in properties in Central London.
The 10 ways estate agents rip off their customers 2007-09-28 16:10:00 A disillusioned former estate agent has blown the whistle on underhand tricks of the trade. Pav Sheen says he was so outraged by what went on behind the scenes that he wants to warn others before they buy or sell their properties. During his time as an estate agent in London Mr Sheen says he saw several dubious tactics, including colleagues undervaluing properties to sell them to each other at a lower price.
Read more:customers
London's Real Property Draws Saudi Interest 2007-10-12 16:17:00 Fifty Saudi
investors have already bought 132 plots in the project, he added.The marketing of the project in the Kingdom is expected to be completed in a short period.The real estate investment in London will also be profitable because of the tax breaks and other features offered by the British government, he further said.
Read more:Interest
AMB Property Acquires Industrial Development Project In UK 2007-10-06 17:48:00 AMB East London Distribution Park is a 320,000 square foot two-building development project located adjacent to a major highway that connects Central London to the M25, London's Orbital. Guy Jaquier, AMB's president, Europe & Asia, said, "Our expansion to the United Kingdom further establishes AMB as a major provider of industrial distribution space in strategic markets integral to global trade. AMB has entered the UK with a high-quality development property designed to provide our customers with superior functionality and modern specifications in the high-demand Greater London area."
Read more:Development
, Industrial
, Project
New Star launches property hedge fund with $50 mln 2007-10-02 10:49:00 LONDON, Oct 1 (Reuters) - British fund firm New Star Asset Management said on Monday it had equity commitments of $50 million and that it wanted to raise up to $400 million for its new real estate hedge fund. The New Star Real Estate Hedge Fund Limited, announced in July and launched on Monday, will be managed by Robin White -- formerly of Rock Capital -- and will invest mainly in European listed property
securities such as real estate investment trusts REITs).
London's Most Expensive Flats 2007-10-17 05:37:00 There's no denying that London is Europe's real estate capital of eye-watering cost.And rightly so. Though America's property market is being shaken by the current lending crisis, London's so-called super-prime property arena, made up primarily of high-end, high-cost flats, is skyrocketing.From wealthy bankers in London's financial district to old-money aristocrats, the range of buyers reaches far and wide. But a growing international clientele, in particular, is helping drive up prices. They're attracted by London's favorable tax system (foreign residents are taxed only on their overseas earnings), fashionable schools and good living. Of the 19 billionaires living in London, only 11 are British citizens.
Read more:Flats
BT pension scheme to sell UK real estate investments 2007-10-21 07:22:00 A spokesman for Hermes Pensions Management Ltd said stakes in 10 real estate funds would be divested in order to part-finance around 700 million pounds for an international real estate investment programme."Hermes commenced an overseas investment programme at the end of last year in anticipation of relative outperformance of international real estate markets compared to the UK market," the spokesman said.
Tiffany & Co. Sells London Real Estate 2007-10-27 15:54:00 Enjoying a strong real estate market, Tiffany
& Co. has sold the building housing its flagship store in London for £73 million ($149 million) and has simultaneously entered into a 15-year lease with two 10-year renewal options.Tiffany had acquired the building at 25 Old Bond Street and an adjoining building at 15 Albermarle Street in 2002 for $43 million (U.S. dollar equivalent at the acquisition date). The acquisition was made in order to combine the buildings, renovate and reconfigure the interior retail selling space.That work was completed in 2006, allowing the company to complete this sale and leaseback as planned.This transaction results in a deferred, pretax gain of approximately $73 million, which will be amortized in selling, general and administrative expenses over a 15-year period, and is not expected to have a significant effect on future earnings. The company plans to use the proceeds from the sale for general corporate purposes.
Read more:Estate
, Real Estate
U.K. Home Prices, Loans Fall, Signaling Cooling Boom 2007-11-01 12:19:00 U.K. house prices fell for the first time in two years in October, and mortgage approvals dropped to a 26-month low, signs the country's decade-long housing boom is coming to an end.The average cost of a home in England and Wales dropped 0.1 percent to 176,100 pounds ($361,462) from September, research group Hometrack Ltd. said today. Central London led the declines. Separately, the Bank of England said banks granted 102,000 loans for house purchase in September, the fewest since July 2005.
Read more:Cooling
, Home Prices
, Loans
, Prices
London Luxury-Home Prices Increased at Slower Pace in October 2007-11-05 01:37:00 Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Luxury
-home prices in London rose last month at the slowest pace since July 2005 as the prospect of job cuts and smaller bonuses deterred investment bankers and other buyers, Knight Frank LLC said.The average price of houses and apartments costing at least 2.5 million pounds ($5.2 million) increased 0.3 percent in October
from the previous month, according to an index compiled by the London-based property broker. Prices
gained about 34 percent from a year earlier.
Read more:Home Prices
THE $150M CASTLE 2007-11-10 13:53:00 A billionaire buyer has signed a letter of intent to pay $150 million for a massive triplex apartment at the Upper East Side condo tower The Mark, sources close to the deal told The Post.The prospective purchaser, sources say, is real-estate magnate Leonard Blavatnik, who is worth $7.2 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
Credit crunch hits top end of housing market 2007-11-15 02:24:00 LONDON (Reuters) - Ongoing turmoil in financial markets has started hitting the top end of Britain's housing market
, according to estate agents, exacerbating worries of a sharp slowdown in the wider property market.House prices in Britain have more than doubled in the last five years and the London market has led the way as a booming financial services sector has encouraged bankers to shell out huge sums for properties in the capital's most desirable areas as well as invest in buy-to-let homes across the country.
U.K. Home Prices Fall; Sellers Told to Ask for Less 2007-11-20 01:55:00 Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. home values dropped this month in every part of the country except London and sellers shouldn't hesitate to reduce prices further because a more protracted slowdown is on the way, Rightmove Plc said.The average asking price dropped 0.7 percent to 239,986 pounds ($491,000) from October, Britain's most-used property Web site said in a statement today. From a year earlier, the cost of a home rose 7.9 percent, the least in 17 months. Rightmove conducted its survey from Oct. 7 to Nov. 10.
Read more:Home Prices
, Prices
, Sellers
Big Yellow agrees 150m partnership 2007-11-26 12:46:00 LONDON (SHARECAST) - Self storage firm Big Yellow
has agreed a 150m partnership
with funds managed by Pramerica Real Estate Investors to develop up to 25 stores in the Midlands, the North of England and Scotland.Big Yellow and Pramerica are investing up to 25m and 50m respectively. The partnership will have a four-year exclusivity period on the defined territory.
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