The Market
Asking rents reach a record high across the country, but dip in London as supply balloons
Asking rents outside London have climbed by 3.4% in the last year, while the capital has seen a dip of 0.6% as rental stock piles up.
An unwieldy system with many anomalies: The case for simplifying SDLT
The rules around stamp duty are unduly complex, writes Elizabeth Small - and complexity inevitably brings a degree of uncertainty, which benefits neither the taxpayer nor the taxman...
Buyers’ desire for a better work-life balance is driving ‘increased urgency’ in the prime property market
Three-quarters of house-hunters registered with Savills say that Covid-19 has led them to "reconsider their work-life balance".
Stamp Duty holiday drives surge of interest in commuter belt properties
Rightmove has reported a dramatic increase in househunting activity at higher price brackets since the announcement of the SDLT holiday up to £500k.
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’