Finance

The UK's rural estates continue to perform from an investment point of view, according to Savills' latest data, thanks mainly to strong showings from the resi and agricultural sectors.

What's the future for England's past? With a funding revolution and a sea-change in how the nation's heritage assets are valued, there's a reformation taking place at English Heritage.

Hugely sought-after throughout prime central London, mews properties make both extremely individual homes and solid bets.

Foreign dosh - around £3bn of it in 2011 according to Jones Lang LaSalle - "underpins" the entire London property market, argues London First, which lobbies on behalf of businesses in London.

Foxtons will start life on the London Stock Exchange with a value of £649m (a cool $1bn), right at the top-end of the expected £550-650m range. Shares in the estate agency were valued at £2.

It's been a rollercoaster of a first day on the stock market for Foxtons (FOXT) shares, as the company offered 60% of its equity to the world. The estate agency's share price rocketed by 19% to 274.

George Osborne has told the Institute of Directors that the property market is not overheating.

"High street challenger bank" Shawbrook has launched a dedicated short-term lending team to take on urgent deals.

Northacre is putting £10m into a special purpose vehicle to develop 1 Palace Street, next-door to Buckingham Palace, and expects to complete on the former DFID offices in January 2014.

The Treasury is launching a new campaign to chase up landlords - including those with holiday lets - who don't pay every penny of tax due on rents they receive. HMRC estimates that up to 1.

After five years of hand-wringing, head-scratching and the odd outburst from Prince Charles, it looks like the infamous Chelsea Barracks site is finally about to begin its prom queen-style transformation.

We can expect "a significant uplift in prices as the economy improves," according to London Central Portfolio, which argues that fears of a housing bubble are very premature.