A YMCA England report has found that 72 per cent of those questioned believe that extra help could prevent the breakdown of family units and stop young people from leaving home. The survey of 50 parents of homeless or formerly homeless teenagers also revealed that 42 per cent ofRead More →
Quelle surprise – the sale of a luxurious belle époque villa on the French Riviera, valued at £440 million, has fallen through after its buyer, Russia’s richest man Mikhail Prokhorov, saw his fortune slump by a third. He had already paid a deposit of around £39 million. Read More →
The Government’s stamp-duty holiday on properties sold for less than £175,000 has not helped nearly as many homeowners as first predicted. Figures obtained by property website zoopla.co.uk show that in the first 12 months of the holiday until 1 September, buyers saved just £173m compared withRead More →
The deputy governor of the Bank of England admitted it did not understand the severity of the economic problems before the financial crisis. Sir John Gieve told the BBC that the bank knew ‘crazy borrowing’ was taking place and house prices were rising unsustainably, but the bank thought theRead More →
Research from Homeless Link has shown an increasing number of people sleeping rough on the streets of London are coming from central or eastern Europe. The proportion of those from the eight accession countries sleeping rough has increased from 18 per cent in December 2014 to 25 per centRead More →
Millions of older people could be spared traumatic hospital stays and costly long term care if they were given more help to live independently in their own homes, according to the National Housing Federation. The Federation warned older people were often denied the support they needed to continue toRead More →
Several of Britain’s biggest lenders are however, tightening their criteria on buy-to-let mortgages, depriving many investors of the chance to take advantage of falling prices and low interest rates. Just 27 out of 97 lenders are offering buy-to-let mortgages according to a survey by one analyst, with the bestRead More →
Papers including the Mail interpret comments by Mervyn King yesterday as a signal that the property boom may be over – though the Bank of England governor also said inflation is set to fall. But leading buy-to-let lender Bradford and Bingley sees no signs of a slowdown thanksRead More →
Bargain-hunters returned to the house building sector yesterday after a leading broker anticipated healthy gains for investors over the next year. Citigroup laid the foundations for a recovery after turning buyer of Redrow, up 8½p to 131p, Barratt Developments, 6½p higher at 116p and Taylor Wimpey,Read More →
The UK’s leading arms length management organisations (ALMOs) are meeting to discuss the most effective way of progressing towards the 2012 deadline for all homes to meet the decent homes standard. ALMOs are said to be under increasing pressure from the government to become more innovative in establishing bestRead More →