The Market

John Whittaker explains why the future will be tougher thanks to higher interest rates, or higher inflation, or both…

Latest quarterly stats from HMRC signal 'significant' activity at the top-end - and reveal the impact of the recently-introduced overseas buyer surcharge...

“It’s been an extraordinary period for the whole market in PCL,” says David Mumby, head of Prime Central London lettings at Knight Frank.

Only three local authority areas in England and Wales saw the total value of their housing stock fall during the pandemic period, and they're all in the capital: Westminster (-10.1%), Lambeth (-2.

“We are not on the verge of the sort of dramatic double-digit bounce-back in prices,” says Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank.

"We expect interest rates will need to rise modestly to return inflation to our 2% target," confirmed the MPC today.

Lawyer Annabel Dean shares some practical tips for those looking to compete in this most challenging of markets…

Before the pandemic, only around one in 20 Chinese and Hong Kong home-buyers used to look for a home in England's Home Counties; now it's nearer one in five, according to a new study.

Top-end rental properties in Mayfair are going for as much as a third above the asking price, reports Wetherell, as Chinese students and socialites boost demand.

81% of UK vendors expect to sell within three months, according to the portal's latest sentiment survey.

"We can say with confidence that the London rental market decline is now firmly behind us," declares the boss of estate agency Benham & Reeves.