The Market
Government orders review of Capital Gains Tax
This CGT review could be "the starting pistol for a tax grab ahead of the Autumn budget later this year", suggest analysts.
SDLT Tips & Traps: On navigating the stamp duty minefield
Rishi's holiday won't make much of a dent in many prime purchasers’ SDLT bills, but it pays to be aware of some of the other lesser-known rules around this complex tax;
A ‘blip’ or ‘a once in a generation event’? Mixed opinions in Garrington’s July property market review
"Opinions are increasingly divided as to whether the property market is enjoying a temporary blip in activity due to the released pent-up demand, or whether what is being witnessed is a ‘once in a generation’…
Demand for development land ‘remains robust’
"Many new [residential development] sites are being soft marketed to test the appetite in the market," reports Savills, "and some have been launched now avoid competition with other sites later in the…
What awaits the resi auction market in a post-Covid world?
Bridging the gap between buyer expectations and seller sentiment will be one of the major challenges in the months to come, writes Richard Adamson...
Is it time to view stamp duty from an economic rather than a political perspective?
If a stamp duty holiday is designed to help kick-start the economy, is that not a tacit acceptance of its flaws as a tax, asks Tom Bill...
Post-lockdown buyer surge prompts agency to reconsider forecasts
More positive noises from the front line as Chestertons reports a 46% jump in new applicants and takes another look at its price predictions for 2020;
NCA ‘reassessing’ use of UWOs
Targeting PEPs and oligarchs has proven ‘much more difficult than expected’
Economists predict ‘a slow recovery in activity, but a relatively benign outcome for house prices’
House prices are likely to fall by 7% as a result of Covid-19, predicts Oxford Economics - but the risks are "heavily skewed" towards much, much bigger price falls of almost 40%...
‘Signs of life’ in Prime London as activity returns & prices hold up
The number of properties going under offer in June was just 5% below last year’s levels, reports LonRes, while achieved prices were only marginally down...
Rishi Sunak’s stamp duty cut is not about helping first-time buyers, but shoring up the whole UK economy
"Property prices are critical to UK prosperity," writes Professor Alexander Tziamalis.
Northacre confident in PCL’s appeal as enquiries soar
The 33-year-old firm developing two of London’s landmark prime resi schemes saw a threefold increase in sales enquiries in H1 2020, and is expecting demand to rise as supply levels shrink