Archive

The new Labour government has committed to building 370,000 homes per year, but is it realistic? The housing crisis in the UK...

Mortgaged buyers have continued to drive the property market even in the two years since mortgage rates peaked, research suggests. Property brand...

The new Labour government has pledged to prioritise a ‘brownfield first’ approach to urban planning, as part of its promise to...

A building society is calling for stamp duty reforms to incentivise downsizing. A statement from the Suffolk Building Society says it believes...

Some 74% of developers believe that the government setting targets for councils would be the key to unlocking planning issues faced...

At last! Well, they say small is beautiful and, if you’re in the property sector right now, you’d better believe it! The...

We welcome the thrust of the Deputy Prime Minister’s announcement this week on planning reform.  In particular, we support the return of...

Changes were made to Class MA commercial to residential permitted development rights in February which mean that there has never been...

Mandatory housing targets are back, alongside a pledge to build 1.5 million homes in the next five years. But can Prime...

NOBODY does pomp and ceremony like us Brits and, wow, it was on full display in Westminster last week. Despite the prestige...

We all know what defines a successful community: not just a range of homes to address a range of requirements, but...

Just a week after Labour’s landslide election victory and already their top team is coming under scrutiny and being asked to...

Just a week after Labour’s landslide election victory and already their top team is coming under scrutiny and being asked to...

The Single-Family Rental (SFR) sector is experiencing rapid growth in the UK, presenting a unique opportunity for local lettings and estate...

On balance, a stable new government with a large majority is good news for the sales market. Labour’s costed spending plans,...

New research has revealed the areas where sellers have the best chance of finding a cash buyer. Analysis by My Home Conveyancing...

Building and development plans Recently, Carter Jonas has marketed development sites which have attracted multiple bids, higher offers than had been anticipated...

A political party is pledging that if elected it will make every home in the UK have an EPC rating of...

A new report sheds light on the future of UK town centres, presenting a roadmap for the revitalisation and repurposing of...

Housing minister Jacob Young recently scotched rumours that the property portal proposed in the Renters (Reform) Bill would remove the need...

Local property market performances vary from 12% gains to price reductions of as much as 24% since the pandemic house price...

You don’t have to be a mind-reader to believe there will be a large majority Labour government by the end of...

The average price of a home in Wales fell to £229,263 in the first quarter of 2024, making this the fifth...

There’s been broad support from within the agency and wider property sectors for Labour’s proposal to build on selected parts of...

It’s tempting to think that Michael Gove’s proposed clampdown on Airbnb-style short lets is a uniquely British form of small-mindedness, part...

Propertymark has urged the UK Government to consider other ways of boosting the supply of homes for purchase.  The Government has two...

Connells Group has boosted its affordable housing offering after appoint Roy Hind as a director. Hind has been named affordable housing director...

Housing affordability ratios have fallen back to pre-pandemic levels but remain high, Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows. The latest figures...

Epsom and Ewell, Epping Forest and Dartford have been named as the top London leaver hotspots as buyers continue to move...

Financial crime within the property sector is on the rise and the stats are alarming. According to data from Apex Bridging,...

The Government has given local authorities powers to double the council tax charged on long-term empty homes after 12 months. The time...

As the Budget approaches and the housing crisis intensifies, it is important to consider what the Chancellor could – and should...

Housebuilders have indicated that they would prefer a Labour government is formed after the next General Election. The latest Land Index and...

In the current challenging market, housebuilders are increasingly looking for novel and engaging means of marketing to achieve the necessary supply/demand...

Buyer demand and new sales at the start of 2024 are already ahead of equivalent 2023 levels, Zoopla. Figures from the portal...

Housing policy should focus on making better use of existing stock as well building more homes, a new report claims. A report...

The news in September that Birmingham City Council (‘Europe’s largest local authority’) had been forced to issue a Section 114 notice...

As the world marches relentlessly forward to 2024, the government’s flagship legislation for the private rented sector (PRS) remains in limbo. This...

Landowners seeking to sell their land for development will have to adjust their expectations as the market, the planning system and...

The Government recently consulted upon a revised approach to local plans. Throughout the consultation document, frequent use is made of the...

The Government has published long-awaited reforms to its National Planning Policy Framework, confirming that local housebuilding targets will be advisory rather...

Forget the King’s Speech, Zoopla is hoping for a Christmas Day boost with the launch of its new marketing campaign. The portal...

Propertymark has backed the launch of the Government’s £80m brownfield regeneration scheme. Councils across England can now bid for a share of...

Propertymark has expressed its opposition to Scottish Government plans to increase council tax premiums on second homes. Speaking to the Scottish Parliament’s...

When Chancellor Jeremy Hunt gets to his feet on Wednesday to deliver his Autumn Statement, he should consider offering support to...

Twenty-minute neighbourhoods, 15-minute cities, low traffic neighbourhoods, walkable neighbourhoods: these concepts are suddenly everywhere. They boil down to a simple idea:...

The Government’s First Homes Scheme is set to be the first state-backed initiative to use digital property logbooks. It comes after a...

The process from a Local Plan allocation to a digger on site typically stretches beyond the length of a five-year political...

In recent years, the UK private rented sector has witnessed a significant increase in government regulation aimed at raising standards for...

Like most parts of the UK, the one I live in has a bit of a beef about parking. More precisely,...

A recent poll of 11,000 private renters by SpareRooom reveals that 81% spend more than 30% of their take-home pay on...

MPs have cast doubt on the Government’s ability to achieve its target of 300,000 new homes per year by the mid-2020s...

Two all-party groups of MPs and Peers have called on the government to act to turn empty buildings into good quality,...

Property data in the UK is mined from a labyrinth of sources such as local authorities, various government departments and private...

Labour says it will reform how land is valued under Compulsory Purchase Order powers in a bid to increase house building...

Homebuyers in Bolton are waiting as long as 21 weeks for local authority searches new research shows. Analysis by upfront information pack...

An artificial intelligence-powered property due diligence platform that is popular in the commercial market has raised £7.5m to help expand into...

A year-long pilot of using upfront material Information by conveyancer Thomas Legal and search provider Conveyancing Data Services, a part of...

It has been another busy week in the property sector.  In his latest column, property commentator Jonathan Rolande, provides his take on...

In simple terms, as you are probably aware, ‘lenders’ are the organisations who loan you something, in this case money to...

As a property market expert, I have been closely monitoring the challenges faced by the housing market, particularly the issue of...

A coalition of businesses from across the property industry have united to call on the Government to do more to speed-up...

Landlords are exiting the market in droves. According to an accountancy firm who analysed HMRC data, 70,000 buy-to-let landlords left the sector...

The property market is broken, Housing Secretary Michael Gove acknowledged yesterday. Despite the Conservative Party being in power since 2010, Gove insisted...

Recent tragic deaths of women walking home alone, notably Sarah Everard, have highlighted the need to address gender inequality in the...

In November, research conducted by The Housing Forum's Futures Network unearthed concern with the potential to meet the requirements set out...

As is generally the case, we didn’t start out with solutions, we started with questions…. two, actually. The first was, ‘Why does...

The important issue of hard-to-sell inherited properties has been raised in Parliament. Labour MP Zarah Sultana issued a written question asking what...

It seems as if optimism is out of fashion right now: just look at the headlines to see what I mean....

Homeowners who purchased a property over the past 20 years and sold in 2022 typically made a gross profit of more...

A plethora of property professionals are ending the year with new jobs. If you want your jobs or appointments news to feature...

The property industry often gets a bad rep, despite all the work that agents and others in the sector do for...

Given their leading role in the recent upfront information revolution, interest in the work of the National Trading Standards Estate &...

The current period of national solidarity over the death of Queen Elizabeth II has embraced the world of property as it...

MPs have criticised the lack of detail in the government’s flagship Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill when it comes to housebuilding...

With green issues on the agenda more than ever, homeowners wanting to learn more about making their homes more eco-friendly have...

Despite the cost-of-living crisis causing many to tighten their belts and the beginnings of a slowdown of the property market, the...

The current challenges facing the conveyancing sector have put the industry in the spotlight. Here, property expert Colum Smith, Chief Vision...

More than a third of councils across England lack adequate plans to provide suitable housing for the ageing population, research claims. New...

More than 100,000 property transactions have benefitted from access to digitised local land charges (LLCs) data. Conveyancing software provider Search Acumen has...

Accessibility to charging facilities is becoming an increasingly important factor for home buyers in affluent neighbourhoods where electric vehicle adoption is...

Housing Secretary Michael Gove and minister Stuart Andrew are set to be grilled by MPs on their property market plans today. The...

Rural areas are dominating the boost in property supply. Agents have reported an improvement in sales stock in recent weeks. Analysis by Knight...

Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently announced that he is considering extending Margaret Thatcher’s Right-to-Buy scheme, that gives council tenants the chance to...

The government last night revealed more details on its flagship Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill including letting local authorities double council...

The Queen’s Speech has unveiled proposed overhauls on planning, consumer and economic crime laws that could all have an effect on...

Estate agents and conveyancers have agreed on better working relationships at the first collaborative event between the two professions. There has been...

Propertymark says only a national retrofitting programme  can make UK homes more energy efficient - and it says a new government...

A government aim to improve the home buying process by making Local Land Charge search results instantly available is well underway,...

Propertymark is urging restraint on the part of the Welsh Government as it moves to tackle what it sees as the...

A rural body in Wales has hit out at the Welsh Government’s proposals for draconian new taxes on second homes.  Earlier this...

The Welsh Government has announced an increase to the maximum level of council tax premiums for second homes, as well as...

Property searches are not showing up some new road schemes because they are classified by local councils as planning consent for...

Timothy Douglas, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Propertymark, analyses the impact that the lack of available data is having on...

In this guest feature, James Dilgul, Head of Marketing at Fixflo, the market-leading repairs and maintenance management software provider, looks at how...

RICS has appointed Lord Michael Bichard to lead a wide-ranging independent review into the governance and purpose of the institution. The review...

The government should reset planning policy and scrap proposals for thousands of new homes in high-risk flood areas. The think-tank Localis, in...

We’ve probably all learned to be a little less cynical about politicians in recent weeks, given the tragic events. We perhaps...

The total value of homes in Britain has risen 20 per cent - that’s £1.6 trillion – in the past five...

Some two thirds of agents and other property professionals who have worked alone have suffered an incident endangering their safety, according to...