Archive

Thousands of people will be invited to take part in new research to help provide information on why one particularly badly...

It’s tempting to think that Michael Gove’s proposed clampdown on Airbnb-style short lets is a uniquely British form of small-mindedness, part...

Today, I am reflecting on the Chancellor’s surprise Spring budget decision to abolish multiple dwellings relief for Stamp Duty Land Tax...

Last weekend, Levelling Up and Housing Secretary, Michael Gove wrote in the Sunday Times that the nation’s housing crisis was so...

Sir Simon Clarke’s call for Rishi Sunak to be ousted from Downing Street may well express what many of his MP...

Housing policy should focus on making better use of existing stock as well building more homes, a new report claims. A report...

The Government has published long-awaited reforms to its National Planning Policy Framework, confirming that local housebuilding targets will be advisory rather...

There has no doubt been many commenting on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s recent Autumn Statement held a couple of weeks ago. We...

There has no doubt been many commenting on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s recent Autumn Statement held a couple of weeks ago. We...

What a waste. Islington council announced in recent days that it will buy back 310 ex-council houses this winter, to add to...

Talk about a wasted opportunity. The Conservative party conference - just finished, and possibly the last one before a General Election -...

And suddenly it’s autumn. It’s just six weeks before the clocks change, days are getting shorter and - the real sign...

It was a genuine pleasure to read this week about Yorkshire estate agent Ian Bradbury who clocked up 40 years selling...

The long-awaited Renters Reform Bill was finally introduced in Parliament in May, but is it really good news for tenants? Several...

A new survey suggests the overwhelming majority of the public are critical of the government’s apparent housing failures. A study of 1,323...

Housing policy formation must go beyond electoral cycles, academics have warned. A group of Cambridge University alumni has teamed up to urge...

The Labour Party has outlined three ways it will help first-time buyers onto the housing ladder as it ramps up its...

The election of Humza Yousaf as the new leader of the Scottish National Party yesterday was immediately met with concern from...

When it comes to housing policy, the Conservative MPs have given their party a choice between Tweedle Dum and Tweedle DumDum. Rishi...

The Building Societies Association’s regular confidence tracker about the housing market shows rising pessimism over interest rates, the escalating cost of...

High profile conveyancing supremo Rob Hailstone makes many announcements about government and industry housing policy - but he is less keen...

As this is the first Natter back since the Christmas break, I should like to first wish all our readers a...

Mark Hayward has set a new retirement date for the end of this year. Hayward, previously chief executive of Propertymark, was due...

Boris Johnson's sudden and unexpectedly ruthless Cabinet reshuffle, which drew comparisons with Margaret Thatcher's 'purge of the wets' in 1981, ended...

An estate agent says the housing market now has a hidden characteristic - an absence of homes that are friendly for...

For many, the funeral of HRH Prince Philip will be a solemn affair, while for some it will also be a...

A scathing document produced by MPs slams the government for its “deplorable” housing policies which are "invented, abandoned and reinvented" -...

Propertymark, which will from later this year combine both the National Association of Estate Agents and the Association of Residential Letting...

Unsourced stories in a number of newspapers over the weekend - all likely to have come from government off-the-record briefings -...

Annual house price growth increased to 4.1 per cent in January, up slightly from the end of 2019, according to Halifax...

He’s a young and very wealthy up-and-coming MP in his 30s, a Cambridge graduate who also studied in the US and...

After a year dogged by Brexit deadlock, political turmoil, and slow growth, estate agents’ confidence in the property market hit a...

The scores are in….and it looks like house prices are going to rise gently in 2020 according to forecasts from almost...

Yes, believe it or not, we’ve nearly reached the end of a whole decade. And what an eventful decade it’s been. We’ve...

With Brexit still unresolved, the domestic agenda has been pushed from the headlines by the seemingly overwhelming public and political discord...

A Labour proposal to dramatically improve energy efficiency in almost every British home would cost an estimated £60 billion. The upgrades would...

The new Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government is the relatively unknown Robert Jenrick -  but his new housing...

Our own industry’s upheaval over recent years has been no less dramatic than the turmoil at Westminster. The political earthquake has seen...

With somewhere in the region of 1.2 million property sales transactions being completed each year, and 16,500 estate agents actively vying...

Four years ago, as we approached the general election, Andrews Property Group held a roundtable debateon the impact the election might have...

Campaigning groups like Generation Rent and Shelter like to think they are simultaneously edgy and radical; likewise some think tanks believe...

The topic of introducing rent controls in London crops up time and time again in our industry. But it’s been hitting...

The vast majority of people want homes built as standard for all age groups - a contrary view to those in...

Alongside hundreds of agents and suppliers, I recently attended the Guild of Property Professionals’ annual conference. As ever, it was a great...

The agency industry has reacted in a broadly downbeat way at the relatively few housing-related proposals that were announced in yesterday’s...

Theresa May has appointed a controversial former Shelter executive as her new housing policy adviser working in Whitehall. Toby Lloyd was until...

One day, I’ll sit down to write for Estate Agent Today and I won’t express my dismay at the lack of...

It’s probably unwise to write too much about politics these days. The most fanciful predictions turn out to be less wild...

What a year it’s been! Back in 2016 we had Brexit, a new prime minister, Donald Trump’s election, and so when...

Here we are again: another much anticipated Budget has been and gone and, yet, still nothing much has changed! Yes, of course,...

A large part of the DCLG’s Call for Evidence on the home buying and selling process focuses on the role of...

And so concludes another party conference season.  We’ve followed the great and the good (both terms are debatable) around Torbay, Bournemouth,...

It appears activity in the housing market in 2017 will be around 15% down on 2016. The number of housing transactions...

I’ve written before about the impact of headlines on the property industry. Interest rate speculation.   Market booms and busts. Demand...

Being a leading world-class city comes at a price – they are the most expensive for occupiers and the most lucrative...

For those of us working within the property sector, we’re in the very midst of what, for generations, has been one...

First time buyers have finances stretched beyond their means, buy to let is attracting fewer investors because of taxes, and affordability...

“Housing policy should be in independent hands.” That was the conclusion of a panel debate that Andrews held, not recently, but two...

The UK Independence Party’s housing policy for the General Election hinges around a huge expansion in modular factory-built housing - but...

Not only did Theresa May stun everyone with her decision to call a ‘snap election’ but with the campaign now underway...

I wrote last month about how the Government, in introducing a 3% stamp duty surcharge on second homes, had scored an...

Estate agents have been broadly supportive of the decision by Prime Minister Theresa May to push for a snap General Election...

A substantial new research body is to be launched this summer with a remit of looking at six overlapping aspects of...

Wales is the latest part of the UK to formally scrap the policy which was once the flagship of Margaret Thatcher’s...

Former Conservative minister Michael Portillo has made an outspoken attack on his former party over its switch of housing policy emphasis from...

Looking ahead to the Spring Budget this week, the Chancellor Philip Hammond will be obliged to face up to the implications...

Over 168,000 new homes were completed in the year to March 2016, according to data released by the government, over 15,500...

Just a couple of weeks ago, we waited with anticipation to see what the new Chancellor, Philip Hammond, would say in...

There has been widespread scepticism from many within the industry that the government will miss its latest house building targets, despite...

Speculation was rife over the weekend that the government would today announce major changes to housing policy - possibly shifting the...

With the number of new homes being built across the UK still significantly below the level needed to meet demand, housebuilders...

The government’s housing policy, while helpful outside London, has had a negative effect on the capital according to one of the...

The Tory Reform Group has launched a public call for evidence seeking “innovative policy proposals to address the two-fold challenge of...

Details have come out of what Theresa May thinks about the current housing market, as she approaches taking over as Prime...

The news that Theresa May will be installed as Prime Minister tomorrow has immediately stabilished the share prices of estate agents...

Tomorrow, June 8, is the closing date for submissions to the Labour Party’s latest consultation on housing policy: it is seeking...

So this weekend some of us will see our first snow of the season. Harsh weather, Christmas adverts and winter generally...

The new shadow housing minister says Labour will build 100,000 new council houses and housing association homes a year with more...

The government says it will publish an action plan this week to explain how it is going to implement some of...

Now that the General Election results have been counted and verified, and now that a new parliament has been sworn in,...

This week RICS reported a further drop in the number of people putting their homes up for sale; new instructions fell...

The chief executive of Andrews estate agency chain says housing policy should be decided not directly by politicians but by an...

It is to the credit of our political parties - and our own industry’s lobbying - that so many housing-related matters...