The Market
A Return to Londongrad: Russian buyers are back in prime London
There's been "a clear influx" of Russian buyers to London, following a rather quiet patch, according to prime resi insiders
London’s super-prime buyers viewing ‘everything’ on market before transacting
Average number of viewings before exchange in the £10m+ range hit 41 in first nine months of 2017, up from 30 in 2016...
Government publishes its Draft Tenants’ Fees Bill
Agents who try to charge fees to tenants could be hit with a £5,000 fine and criminal charges, says the draft bill, published today.
Brexit could take 75,000 finance workers out of London, warns the BoE
The financial sector is the bedrock of demand for prime London property... Job moves could have serious implications for the market.
Price cuts jump in prime London
43% more properties in prime London had their asking prices cut in October, compared to the same month last year.
Stamp duty receipts leap 23% as property values climb
18% more SDLT-liable £500k+ resi transactions went through in Q3 2017 compared to the previous year
PCL ‘shows recovery’ as the top-end bounces back
Prime Central London values are coming back up to pre-SDLT reform levels, say LCP and Acadata
Market Snapshot: Marylebone, Fitzrovia & Bloomsbury
Prices achieved, £psf and sales volumes across some of hottest spots in PCL right now...
How to save tax like a duke
Using family trusts to save IHT is not just for the super-rich, but it does help to have had some well-advised ancestors...
SDLT is ‘4x more harmful per pound than income tax and 8x more harmful than VAT’
The UK's property tax system is "strange and inconsistent", according to The Adam Smith Institute.
Asia is now home to more billionaires than the USA
European billionaires are hunkering down; total wealth increased by 5% in 2016, while the number of billionaires in Europe increased by just three to 342.
“63% of property for sale in Mayfair & St James’s has been on the market for over 12 months”
Property micro-markets in SW London enclaves, by contrast, are "reasonably free-flowing"