Archive

If you want to hear of a tale for our industry’s times - featuring housing shortages, planning disputes, rampant  inflation and...

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

Britain is in the midst of a senior living housing crisis – according to CBRE, an undersupply of 614,000 mid-market senior...

The majority of the British public believe the Government is responsible for fixing the country’s housing shortage but few believe that...

Introduced to Parliament in May, the Renters (Reform) Bill seeks to improve the private rental sector for both tenants and landlords....

I'll start with a confession. I am not an estate agent - I'm a marketer. But since I joined the industry...

In simple terms, as you are probably aware, ‘lenders’ are the organisations who loan you something, in this case money to...

Happy New Year, to you all. Now that we’re all back in harness and Christmas feels like a long-distant memory, I...

Is it really just a year ago that we were nervously wondering whether yet another Christmas would be Covid-affected? Little did we...

The government is being urged to close the "revolving doors" of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to...

Late last week, Leeds Building Society announced that it would no longer lend on second homes to concentrate on first-time buyers...

Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently announced that he is considering extending Margaret Thatcher’s Right-to-Buy scheme, that gives council tenants the chance to...

A shift is occurring in the rental market across the UK. The Government is planning to reform the sector with increased...

The hot topic of rent controls has remerged in recent weeks, with passionate voices on both sides of the argument speaking...

Few political policies have such a ring of the past as rent controls - they were last seen in this country...

At first sight it’s a tough ask to defend holiday homes when there’s evidence that many who want to buy can’t,...

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

An estate agency is being criticised for marketing properties as second homes in an area reportedly suffering a housing shortage. Local media...

Property tax rises and falling house prices look as if they are on the way according to the small print accompanying...

We all know what the problem is, but what’s the solution? The problem is that landlords, thinking they offer a valuable service...

The extraordinary past week of anger over portals’ fees plus early-warning statements like that from Foxtons indicate the anxiety in the...

There’s something of a conspiracy of silence over the problem of short lets. That is a stark claim but many siren voices...

It’s bizarre but true (apparently). London’s golf courses could provide the land for homes that could house a million people. An interesting...

It’s been quite a week for news so you might have missed this story - there is yet another boost for...

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

Strutt & Parker says the housing crisis - in the shape of too few homes and their stubbornly high prices -...

Rather like doctors, estate agents are present at critical points in our lives – moving in together, bidding farewell to a...

Perhaps it’s been our pre-occupation with Brexit, or on the other hand maybe we’re bored with politics, but this year’s Budget...

It’s now almost a month since the government introduced new rules on Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO), as part of its...

Any day now we’ll hear the date for the Autumn Budget: it may be delayed to wait for a Brexit deal...

There’s little doubt that downsizing is less of a factor in the housing market than it used to be - so...

With the weather scheduled to get a little cooler this weekend, fund-raising is clearly still a hot topic in the industry...

Amid the headline-grabbing political manoeuvring over Brexit, a policy proposal which could have serious ramifications for private landlords, and those who...

The pace of change is extraordinary. As we reach the middle of one conversation, rumblings of the next already begin. I think...

100 years ago, 90% of the UK population rented a home. Today, that figure has flipped, and over two thirds are...

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

Chris Philp, a Conservative MP and Parliamentary Private Secretary to Chancellor Phillip Hammond, says 50 per cent of new homes in...

New Zealand’s new Labour prime minister elect has banned non-resident foreigners from buying existing homes anywhere in the country in a...

It has been revealed that the beleaguered government of Theresa May is to hold a summit at 10 Downing Street tomorrow...

Like many of Labour’s recent policy proposals, its call for rent controls leaves more questions than answers.  There has been widespread criticism...

It was only a couple of weeks ago that I was writing about the Google City, in Toronto, and now the...

The housing industry has responded with shock, joy, and jitters, after Theresa May’s snap general election went catastrophically wrong, leaving her...

Theresa May’s call for a snap general election on June 8 took many by surprise. But estate agents have been broadly...

We’re almost nine months on from the EU Referendum and yet the issue remains the big divide across the nation: an...

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

A chronic shortage of affordable housing is forcing councils to spend more than £2m a day on temporary accommodation for homeless...

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

Housing minister Gavin Barwell has told the NAEA conference that there is no quick fix for the country’s housing shortage -...

Grant Shapps, housing minister between 2010 and 2012, has said the measures in the current government’s White Paper are not bold...

Instant gratification is nothing new. It’s been around for millennia. It’s an in-built survival instinct for humans – that want, that...

The East of England, which takes in areas from Hertfordshire to Norfolk, has recorded the biggest hike in property prices over...

Sawyer & Co., an agency operating sales and lettings in Brighton and Hove, is the latest firm to be chosen to...

The government’s blizzard of New Year announcements about new homes has received a distinctly frosty welcome from many within the property...

The Halifax says house prices across the UK will rise between 1.0 and 4.0 per cent in the next 12 months...

Following a strong start to 2016, particularly in the lower to middle range of the UK housing market, that lasted up...

It may still be too early to start compiling a Christmas wish list, but it is the right time to provide...

A university claims house builders are securing “soaring profits” despite the worsening housing shortage across the country.  Research by Sheffield Hallam's Centre...

The over-65s could help ease the housing shortage by downsizing and ultimately lead to an extra 4.2 million homes on the...

It is a tedious fact, but the housing market is underpinned by economic fundamentals. This won’t be a surprise.  However, at a...

Some of this week’s headlines - ‘Firms must list foreign workers’ and ‘NHS to no longer rely on foreign doctors’ -...

A 24-unit block of apartments designed by the company behind the Yo! Sushi chain has been given consent to be constructed...

The government has signalled that it is going to publish a housing White Paper later this year with “significant measures” to...

The government's most publicised measure of housebuilding excludes around a fifth of all new build completions each year, according to a...

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

The huge rush to acquire buy-to-let property in the first quarter of the year ahead of the stamp duty change deadline...

The National Association of Estate Agents says a huge shortage of bricks and the possible consequences of Brexit are two reasons...

The morning after the EU referendum, and Westminster, Britain, Europe and the world were left in shock at the news that...

Older readers may recall a terrific movie called Network where a character, disillusioned by life, shouts from a window: “I’m as...

Property prices were at the forefront of the EU debate in the run-up to the referendum, with the now former Chancellor...

Sheffield in South Yorkshire, which was once one of the leading industrial cities in Britain and is still recognised for its...

I’m indebted to one of the most enthusiastic estate agents I’ve had the pleasure of meeting for suggesting the subject of...

The sense of gathering momentum for the Leave campaign ahead of the upcoming EU referendum is causing high levels of uncertainty...

Property has long been a safe investment. Before the downturn in 2008, sellers were able to gain a healthy capital return.  Post-economic...

As we all know, Peter Redfern is critical to the future of the British housing market and.... What? Wait? You don’t know...

In January readers of Estate Agent Today and Letting Agent Today were given the opportunity to give their views on proposed...

I make no apologies for returning to Build To Rent, the institutional investment in building and managing blocks of flats to...

The Town and Country Planning Association has plunged itself into the debate over Britain’s housing, saying that younger people unable to...

More downsizing could release almost three million homes into the market according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Its latest policy...

John Healey - a former housing minister from when Tony Blair was prime minister - has taken the housing post under...

Housing minister has Brandon Lewis has thrown his weight behind the right of foreign investors to purchase buy to let properties,...

Statistics have been published to suggest that much of Britain’s housing crisis is down to a shortage of skilled labour and...

Estate and letting agents and other figures in the property industry have been making their last-minute calls on Chancellor George Osborne...

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

One million people will need to be recruited by 2020 if the housebuilding industry is to build the number of homes...

With some agents squabbling about whether there has been or will be a post-election bounce, Rightmove has come down firmly insisting...

There has been much debate in recent years about Britain’s desperate need for more housing stock. Demand has been outstripping supply...

I write this article on the day of the General Election so you’ll forgive the political analogies. In particular, how any...

With another hung parliament looking increasingly likely, the so-called ‘challenger parties’ look set to have a major say in who forms...