Many buyers are scared of negotiating with agents – claim
A leading bank says as many as one in three buyers pay too much for a property because they are afraid of negotiating with the seller’s agent. Barclays’ mortgage division says 30 per cent of…
New tax and billions more for cladding – but is it enough?
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has announced “an exceptional intervention” promising that leaseholders in high-rise buildings above 18 metres will bear no costs for making them safe. This will involve new £3.5 billion public spending in…
Foreign investors may be banned from some waterfront properties
The high-end housing market on Jersey has been rocked by a plan from the island’s government which may ban foreign investors from buying some waterfront homes. The island is a magnet for high net worth buyers,…
40% price fall and 54% price rise – Prime London snakes and ladders
An international property and residency consultancy claims the sold prices of homes in some prime London locations have collapsed by up to 40 per cent during the pandemic. Meanwhile other prime London postcodes have seen sold prices…
Failed Sales fear as Stamp Duty Holiday cliff edge approaches
A large majority of estate agents fear a surge in ‘failed sales’ as the stamp duty holiday cliff edge gets ever-closer. The latest National Association of Estate Agents Propertymark market snapshot comes with a warning from chief…
Top portal is latest to urge stamp duty holiday extension
Zoopla’s latest figures suggest 70,000 transactions are likely to miss the stamp duty holiday deadline of March 31. And the portal says: “The case is growing for a short, month long extension to help buyers who…
Not coping with Covid? Shock figures about agents’ mental health
A new working group on mental health in the agency industry is being set up following a poll revealing 62 per cent of individual agents reporting problems. The charity Agents Together – set up last year…
Soaring distressed property firms are ‘just tip of large iceberg’
Despite the booming housing market the whole property sector – a key indicator of the economy’s performance – has seen 11,000 additional businesses enter significant distress in the past three months. In total there are…
Stamp Duty Holiday: Did market need it? Have buyers really benefitted?
A leading analyst is questioning whether buyers have benefitted from the stamp duty holiday because demand has purshed up prices far beyond the savings possible. Anthony Codling – the former Jefferies analyst who now leads PropTech…
RICS in dramatic U-turn after newspaper allegations
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors last night announced a dramatic U-turn in the controversy over a report by an independent accountancy firm.For weeks the institution has been the subject of allegations, chiefly in the…