The Market
‘Ability to Buy’ better than in 2007, except in London
            It's more affordable to buy a home now than it was in 2007 - unless you're in London - says Hamptons International in a new report that tracks the "Ability to Buy".
        
    Boris and the BPF lobby to keep office-to-resi out of central London
            "More high value residential property in central London could upset  balance," argues Boris Johnson as the Mayor of London, the British Property Federation, Planning Officers Society London and London…        
    UK facing ‘chronic’ lack of purpose built retirement housing
            The UK's policymakers and investors need to wake up to the reality of a rapidly ageing population or face a full-blown retirement housing crisis, Knight Frank has said this morning.
        
    RBKC planning chief to retire
            RBKC's Executive Director for Planning and Borough Development has announced his retirement.
        
    Country market eases to slowest price growth in nearly two years
            The country house market seems to be slowing from a brisk march to a gentle stroll, says Knight Frank, as the rate of price growth trundles to its lowest point in nearly two years.
        
    West London to see slowest price growth in Britain over the next five years
            Average house prices are in for a 30% increase over the next five years, with London (not PCL, mind;        
    ‘Punitive’ Scottish property tax overhaul creates ‘window of opportunity’
            It looks like Scotland will get a new progressive tax regime to replace the existing SDLT structure from April next year, and the changes have created a "six month window of opportunity" at the middle…        
    The return of the buyers’ market?
            Both the £10m+ segment and out-of-prime areas are now vulnerable to price drops, says buying agent Camilla Dell, as the whole London market changes gear in favour buyers in the run up to May.
        
    ‘Return to more sensible prices’ as ‘steam evaporates’ from the UK market
            The pace of property price growth across the UK has regressed 16 months back to June 2013 levels, says the RICS, as demand drops for the third month in a row.
        
    Chinese buyers are ‘increasingly more daring with their real estate investments’
            Chinese buyers are looking to less traditional international property destination as "many housing markets around the world are now considered overvalued," says super-portal Juwai.        
    Grade I house with one of Regent’s Park’s biggest gardens up for sale
            The former home of the late Princess Diana's aunt - a Grade I-listed affair with one of the biggest private gardens in Regent's Park - has just come up for sale sporting an asking price of £11.5m.
        
    The Definitive House Price Index? Consultation opens into merging official indices into one
            The Office of National Statistics is thinking about rolling four different national house price indices - including the Land Registry's and the ONS' own - into "a single definitive House Price Index,"…        
     
            
            
         
            
            
         
            
            
         
            
            
         
            
            
         
            
            
         
            
            
         
            
            
         
            
            
         
            
            
         
            
            
        