Category Archives: Property

House asking prices hit record levels across Great Britain

Posted on by

Rightmove data shows largest June increase since 2015 but economists suggest Covid boom may be fading

House asking prices have hit record levels across every region of Great Britain, according to latest figures, although some experts have questioned whether the pandemic boom is finally starting to wane.

The price of properties coming to market rose by 0.8% month on month in June to a third consecutive record of £336,073, according to data from Rightmove, a property listings website.

Continue reading...

‘Real thuggery’: Cornwall boats vandalised amid ‘incomer’ tensions

Posted on by

Some blame new residents and second-home owners not keen on sight and sounds of ‘local’ vessels

The spot could hardly be more idyllic. A Cornish creek fringed by apple trees where boats bob at high tide and dogs and children frolic in the mud at low.

But there is trouble in the parish of Feock after a string of acts of vandalism aimed at those bobbing boats led to a wave of anger, fear and suspicion.

Continue reading...

Revealed: the huge British property empire of Sheikh Mohammed

Posted on by

Holdings of more than 40,000 hectares in London, Scotland and Newmarket make Dubai ruler one of UK’s biggest landowners

The controversial ruler of Dubai has acquired a land and property empire in Britain that appears to exceed 40,000 hectares (100,000 acres), making him one of the country’s largest landowners, according to a Guardian analysis.

The huge property portfolio apparently owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum and his close family ranges from mansions, stables and training gallops across Newmarket, to white stucco houses in some of London’s most exclusive addresses and extensive moorland including the 25,000-hectare Inverinate estate in the Scottish Highlands.

Continue reading...

Penthouses and poor doors: how Europe’s ‘biggest regeneration project’ fell flat

Posted on by

Few places have seen such turbocharged luxury development as Nine Elms on the London riverside. So why are prices tumbling, investors melting away and promises turning to dust?

Every morning, when Nadeem Iqbal wakes up and walks into his living room, he has a view of a miraculous world first. A crisp oblong of crystal clear water now hangs in the air between two apartment buildings opposite his balcony, a liquid blue block suspended against the sky with the gravity-defying quality of a Magritte painting.

This is the Sky Pool, the latest addition to the luxury residential enclave of Embassy Gardens in Nine Elms, south-west London – one absurdist step beyond the private cinema, indoor pool, gym and rooftop lounge bar. It was dismissed as a “crackers” PR stunt when the plan was unveiled by Irish developer Ballymore in 2015, a fantastical aquarium of captive high net worth individuals for the rest of us to gawp at from far below. Surely it would never materialise. But last week the scaffolding was taken down to reveal a bright blue rectangle hovering against the leaden January skies, 10 storeys up in the air – just outside the 30-metre bomb blast seclusion zone around the new neighbouring US embassy.

Continue reading...

The Wodge: can London’s tallest new skyscraper survive the Covid era?

Posted on by

Nicknamed The Wodge because of its girth, the capital’s tallest ever office has just muscled onto the skyline. But in the age of coronavirus, who wants to jostle for 60 lifts with 12,000 others?

With the City of London deserted once more, its streets only populated by the occasional Deliveroo driver or tumbleweed-seeking photographer, it seems a strange time to be completing the largest office building the capital has ever seen, not least because the very future of the workplace is now in question.

But, rising far above the Cheesegrater and the Walkie-Talkie, dwarfing the now fun-sized Gherkin and boasting the floor area of almost all three combined, 22 Bishopsgate stands as the mother of all office towers. It is the City’s menacing final boss, a glacial hulk that fills its plot to the very edges and rises directly up until it hits the flight path of passing jets. The building muscles into every panorama of London, its broad girth dominating the centre of the skyline and congealing the Square Mile’s distinctive individual silhouettes into one great, grey lump.

Continue reading...

Richest 1% have almost a quarter of UK wealth, study claims

Posted on by

Official figures have missed £800bn of private assets, says thinktank, amid calls for wealth tax to fund Covid recovery

Almost a quarter of all household wealth in the UK is held by the richest 1% of the population, according to alarming new research that reveals a historic underestimation of inequality in the country.

The study found that the top 1% had almost £800bn more wealth than suggested by official statistics, meaning that inequality has been far higher than previously thought. Researchers said the extra billions was a conservative estimate and could well be more.

Continue reading...

Crammed with my wife and adult kids into a tiny one-bed flat, I realised I loved my home

Posted on by

In March, our house was a cold, rubble-strewn building site. As supply chains broke down, it became clear we wouldn’t be moving back any time soon


My wife is a goal-oriented person. When she learns, it is deliberate. For her, lockdown presented an opportunity, so she began learning Danish. I didn’t. I am deeply lazy: as I sit here writing, I am staring at an empty packet of Wotsits that has been sitting by my laptop for three hours; the bin is 6ft away. The notion of actively learning something seemed a bit needless. Why waste all that time when I could be doing nothing?

I did learn something, though. I learned that I love my home, which came as a surprise. I guess there is nothing quite like being trapped outside your house, as we were, to make you appreciate it rather more.

Continue reading...

Super-rich buying up ‘Downton Abbey estates’ to escape pandemic

Posted on by

Sales of £15m-plus English country homes breaking records as wealthy families ‘recalibrate their priorities’

The world’s super-rich are seeking to escape from coronavirus lockdowns in cities by buying multimillion-pound English country estates to create Downton Abbey lifestyles, complete with butlers, cooks, housekeepers and armies of gardeners.

Estate agents are reporting a surge in sales of vast country estates and former castle properties, which until Covid-19 struck had become increasingly hard to shift as the richest of the rich instead opted to live in luxurious skyscraper penthouses, on tropical islands or superyachts.

Continue reading...

Revealed: Sheikh Khalifa’s £5bn London property empire

Posted on by

Documents reveal UAE president owns multibillion-pound property portfolio spanning London’s most expensive neighbourhoods

The row of 1960s-built houses with untidy gardens on a quiet cul-de-sac near Richmond upon Thames appears to have little in common with Ecuador’s red-brick embassy in Knightsbridge, where Julian Assange spent seven years in hiding, just across the road from Harrods.

Continue reading...

House for sale in London, good location, overlooks park, a bargain at £185m

Posted on by

Developer seeks to cash out of investment in John Nash-designed terrace with views of Regent’s Park

Developers have stuck an asking price of £185m on a house overlooking Regent’s Park in central London in what would be the UK’s second most-expensive home purchase.

The property firm Zenprop is targeting foreign billionaires as potential buyers of 1-18 York Terrace East as it seeks to cash out of a 2016 investment.

Continue reading...

Children of former Azeri security chief acquired luxury UK properties

Posted on by

Investigation into hacked bank files reveals £100m business empire owned by family of former Azerbaijan minister Eldar Mahmudov

 A string of luxury properties, including a £17m home near Harrods, were acquired by the children of Azerbaijan’s former security chief, an investigation has revealed.

Eldar Mahmudov was dismissed as national security minister by a presidential order in 2015. No official explanation was given for his removal.

Continue reading...

Thousands of UK students caught in rent trap by private landlords

Posted on by

While campuses are shut by Covid-19, students are still being forced to pay for unused accommodation

Notttingham Trent University students Eleanora Brown and her boyfriend Nizar Ruiz are in lockdown at home in Norwich, with no prospect of returning to campus any time soon. The teaching buildings are closed and the university has released all of its tenants from paying rent this term. Yet their hall of residence, run by Collegiate, a private developer, is demanding £1,700 from each of its residents to cover the summer term.

While students at most university-owned accommodation do not have to pay rent for the third term, Brown and Ruiz are among thousands of students trapped in expensive contracts with private hall operators.

Continue reading...

Perfect shelves and unblocked drains: 10 easy DIY tasks to transform your house quickly

Posted on by

From hanging pictures to resealing the bath, now is the time to tackle the jobs you have been ignoring – many of them much simpler than you think

While you have been stuck at home staring at the four walls and everything inside them, you may have noticed that some of what you see is broken. Small problems that may not have bothered you when you spent all day at work – a wonky curtain, a creaky door – suddenly demand your attention. But how do you fix things without professional help, armed only with limited tools and even more limited competence? We asked the experts for advice on the 10 simplest DIY tasks you can tackle right now.

Continue reading...

Peterborough prepares for byelection that could elect first Brexit party MP

Posted on by

A decade ago it was the UK’s fastest growing city, but hit by cuts and buy-to-let, support for Nigel Farage’s party is high

On Thursday, voters in Peterborough will take part in one of the most intriguing parliamentary byelections in recent memory. The constituency saw a knife-edge duel between Labour and the Conservatives at the 2017 general election and at last month’s European poll, 38% of voters in the city backed the Brexit party. A first seat in the House of Commons for Nigel Farage’s party is a distinct possibility. If that happens, it will send tremors through middle England, of which Peterborough is typical in many ways, not just geographically.

Economically, Peterborough performs averagely amid struggles with productivity. Wages are stagnant and it has been reshaped by migration, with foreigners arriving to work in the surrounding farmlands and distribution depots, contributing to a decade as the UK’s fastest growing city between 2001 and 2011.

Continue reading...

Why London’s not such a capital place to live | Letter

Posted on by
Figures that appear to show Londoners are significantly better off than people in other parts of Britain don’t tell the whole story, says Maggie Kemmner

The article (Big regional gaps revealed in disposable incomes across UK, 23 May) is very misleading. It makes no allowances for the increased housing costs most Londoners face.

In February 2019, Londoners spent the biggest proportion of their income on rent as compared to other areas of the UK; more than one third of a household’s income. The average monthly rental was £1,599 as compared to a £940 UK average. Over a year, this amounts to £7,908 extra housing costs: which pretty much wipes out the “extra money” that Londoners have to spend post-tax as compared to the UK average. This data is from statistica.com.

Continue reading...

Half of England is owned by less than 1% of the population

Posted on by

Research by author reveals corporations and aristocrats are the biggest landowners

Half of England is owned by less than 1% of its population, according to new data shared with the Guardian that seeks to penetrate the secrecy that has traditionally surrounded land ownership.

The findings, described as “astonishingly unequal”, suggest that about 25,000 landowners – typically members of the aristocracy and corporations – have control of half of the country.

Continue reading...

Report calls for reform of ‘unhealthy’ land ownership in Scotland

Posted on by

Commission set up by Scottish government recommends new powers to split monopolies

Scottish land ownership rules must be radically reformed to reverse the concentration of the countryside in the hands of a small number of ultra-wealthy individuals and public bodies, a major review has warned.

The study by the Scottish Land Commission, a government quango, says that in extreme cases where landowners abuse their power they could face compulsory purchase or community buyouts.

Continue reading...

Can selling its homes for the price of an espresso save this Sicilian town?

Posted on by
Buyers flocked to Sambuca last week when it put empty houses on sale at €1 each in a bid to reverse decline. We joined the queue…

Darkness falls on the small town of Sambuca di Sicilia, where the council offices on Corso Umberto have been closed for more than three hours. And yet the phones keep ringing, hour after hour.

“They’re calling from Sydney, London, New York,” says the exhausted deputy mayor, Giuseppe Cacioppo. A week after the town announced it was putting up abandoned homes for sale at a euro each, he has fielded requests for information from all over the globe. By Wednesday last week the council had received more than 300 calls and 94,000 emails. Many prospective buyers, not wanting to miss out, grabbed the first available flight to Palermo.

Continue reading...