The Market
December spurt takes prices up by 8.4% in 2013
House prices across the UK rose by 8.4% last year after a +1.4% December spurt, according to the latest from Knight Frank.
London under-performed the wider country, posting a 7.5% price increase (+0.
“Strongest ever start to a new year” – Rightmove
Average asking prices have shot up by 1% in the "the largest ever January rise in the price of property coming to market," according to Rightmove.
Wimbledon joins basement ban camp
Merton council is the latest London borough to make a move on banning mega-basements, with a spike in dig-down applications in Wimbledon Village driving the clamp-down.
“Utterly nuts” to slam door on foreign investors – BoJo
Mayor of London Boris Johnson has thrown his weight behind the capital's foreign buyers, warning luminaries at last night's Mansion House London Government Dinner that we'd be "utterly nuts" to "slam the…
Average rents rise by 2%, but drop in the South East
Average rents across the country rose by 2% in 2013 in "a year of rebalancing as the economy recovers," according to Countrywide's annual lettings index.
Sales transactions hit six-year high – RICS
There was no sign of the big festive feet-up in the sales market last month; quite the opposite in fact, according to RICS' latest UK-wide poll.
“Significant” changes to listed building consent afoot
There's some pretty major planning changes on the way in 2014 for anyone with an interest in developing or buying listed buildings.
Global strife drives the London property market
If a junta flaps its warheads in China... What happens to London's house prices?
Long-term annual price growth in Prime Central London stands at 9%
The average property price in prime central London breached £1.5m in 2013, hitting £1,543,102 at the end of November after "robust" but "unremarkable" annual growth of 12.
Big annual rise in tenancies but void periods “creeping in” – W.A.Ellis
PCL agency W.A.Ellis has reported a beefy 50% leap in the number of tenancies it agreed last year (compared to 2012), although rents only increased by 2.8% overall (0.4% less than than in 2012).
Property market confidence hits four-year high
Homeowners are, apparently, even more bullish about house prices than most property "experts", forecasting a 7.
Demanding Times: Ten buyers chasing each property for sale – Countrywide
Demand is outstripping supply by a factor of ten, as an average of 9.7 buyers chased each property for sale in November, according to Countrywide.
That's up from 8.