The Market
Government announces ‘exceptional’ HS2 compensation package
After carrying out two major consultations, the government has laid out its package of measures for owner occupiers along the HS2 Phase One route between London and the West Midlands.
Prime Property of the Week: King George III’s Banquet Hall
King George III Suite, Albury Park, Surrey
£6m
As far as reception rooms go, this 42-foot marvel, the actual venue for King George III's Coronation Banquet in 1761, is hard to beat.
More growth for prime country house prices, but the pace is easing
Prime country house prices nudged up again - for the eighth quarter in a row - in 2014's Q4 to deliver the strongest run of price inflation since 2007, with 2014 delivering a +3.4% increase for the year.
Savills in the money after SDLT stampede boosts high-end transaction volumes
A short term increase in trading volumes at the top end, attributed to the recent stamp duty changes, made it a December to remember for Savills.
Savills partners up in Paris
Savills has announced a tie-up with top-end Parisian firm Agence Varenne.
80% of units in four new developments ‘sold to foreign buyers’
In the latest twist in the whole "squeezed out" debate, reports have claimed that 80% of the units in a series of new Thameside developments have been bought up by foreign purchasers.
House price growth slows – ONS
House prices across the UK went by an average of 10% in the year to November 2014, says the ONS, down a touch from October's +10.4% after just a 0.2% increase between October and November.
Foster + Partners’ Shoreditch skyscraper gets off to a flyer
Units at Principal Tower, London's first resi tower to be designed inside and out by Foster + Partners, have been selling like locally-sourced artisan hotcakes.
Pickles cracks down on unauthorised development
Council planning teams across the UK are being tooled up with a £1m war chest to stop unruly developers and homeowners in their tracks.
Pickles on the job
Legal Analysis: Court ruling bad news for landlords on tenancy deposit protection scheme
A ruling handed down right at the end of last year - concerning whether a landlord is subject to penalties for not complying with the Housing Act when it comes to tenancy deposit protection schemes - will affect…
Style icon’s penthouse asks £6.95m
Is this the most fashionable apartment on the market right now?
‘Red Baron’ swoops in to rescue Apethorpe Hall
A 48-bedroom Jacobean mansion, described by Simon Thurley as "by far the most important country house to have been threatened with major loss through decay since the 1950s", has been bought by a French…