Housing

At some point a few years ago, after the financial crisis had passed but the economic stats still showed the effects, while wandering down the posh bit of my local high street where all the top-end furniture retailers, Italian delis and estate agents reside, I suddenly got it. I noticed that the ones carrying the White Company, Fenwicks and Russell & Bromley shopping bags were all roughly between 50 and 60. Despite the country apparently being in the doldrums, this well-dressed, insouciant and slightly aimless tribe had money to spend. All the economic indicators were telling us GDP was still pretty flat, unemployment and wages were still struggling, food bank

If you’re planning on buying a second property this year, then help is at hand thanks to Spectator Money. Stamp duty costs, mortgage tax relief changes and the possible impact of Brexit are just a few things to consider when buying a second home, a holiday home or a buy-to-let in 2017. Price versus Value ‘Location, location, location’. This age-old saying still speaks volumes. When searching for a property, you’ll benefit in the long run if you do your homework at the outset. Infrastructural changes have a direct knock-on effect with property prices, as does the weather and local amenities, such as roads, schools and shops. If you can search out areas that

There are few terms in the English language as irritating as ‘eco-village’ – which is really just ‘housing estate’ dressed up to sound more acceptable to Nimbys. Nevertheless, today’s announcement of 14 such ‘garden villages’ should be welcomed. Concentrating new homes in purpose-built new towns, villages and suburbs, where services and infrastructure are built as part of the development, upsets people who live nearby but ultimately it is the least painful way of accommodating the new homes which are so desperately needed. And this time, please, can we please get the bulldozers rolling. For years, George Osborne used to talk about new towns. But while they got stuck in the

If there’s one thing sure to get estate agents’ knickers in a twist, it’s a threat to their income. And so the news that Philip Hammond will use the Autumn Statement to announce a ban on letting fees has sparked a tirade of protestations and a bumper crop of press releases lamenting their lot. But letting agent fees have been a thorn in the side of renters for some time. Young people in particular complain that charges, such as £420 to change the name on a tenancy agreement and £330 to set up a tenancy, hamper their efforts to save for house deposit. But it’s not just the young who

Location, location, location is the estate agent’s mantra when asked to define what makes a property hot – or not. But these days where your house sits on the digital highway can also prove crucial to luring prospective buyers. It’s no secret that the rollout of super-fast broadband and mobile connectivity in the UK has been beset by delays – the goalposts set by successive governments have been moved several times over the years, due to various (buffering?) issues. But does being able to binge at will on the HD version of the latest TV series, or having the ability to do your entire grocery shop on a 300Mbps connection,

‘Prefabs to solve housing crisis,’ screamed the front page of the Sunday Telegraph last weekend. Can the shortage of homes in Britain really be so bad that ministers are floating plans to encourage the first new generation of temporary, pre-packed houses since the great reconstruction drive which followed the second world war? The UK is in the midst of a housing shortage that numerous credible experts now describe as ‘chronic’ and ‘acute’. While it’s widely recognised that we need 250,000 new homes each year to meet population growth and household formation, house-building hasn’t reached that level since the late 1970s. During the Thatcher era, as fewer council houses were built,

Television has a lot to answer for. The terrible reputation of the building trade for one. But not all builders are out to wreck your house, rob you of your life-savings and leave you in need of rescue by Nick ‘DIY SOS’ Knowles, the slightly smug TV-expert builder who goes round making good the mess other builders have left behind. Then again, not all builders are honest, trustworthy and committed to doing a good job. Inviting builders – or any of the associated trades such as plumbers, heating engineers, electricians or carpenters – into your home is a modern minefield, pitted with bitter recriminations and empty bank accounts. Much of

I have no recollection of my first day at school. I was four-years-old so it’s not surprising that I can’t dredge up the memory. I do recall, however, refusing to return to nursery after being scared witless by Father Christmas. Back then (late 1970s), kids were dropped off at a new school and expected to get on with it. Today it’s markedly different. Ahead of my four-year-old niece’s foray into education, she has visited the school at least twice and had a couple of home visits from her teachers. Luxury! But there were still tears this morning, from daughter and mum. And I’ll be fretting all day, desperate to know how

Sitting on the lanai (balcony) sipping a beer, the wind gently rustling through the palm trees and my Hawaiian hosts’ adorable puppy licking my toes: life was sweet. I’d struck gold. I was living the Airbnb dream. David and Doug treated me like one of the family, complete with days out and home-cooked meals. Nothing was too much trouble. When they dropped me off at the airport (no extra charge), we vowed to be friends forever and I cried the whole flight home. I experienced Airbnb exactly the way it was meant to be – living like a local with the locals. But back in the UK it’s a different

How do you spot a good estate agent? No, I’m not about to tell a joke. It’s a serious question. With a baby on the way, the need for a double spare room for visiting first-time grandparents and more space to work from home, I’ve started to wonder how much longer our growing family will fit into our compact three-bedroom semi. We can’t face the hassle of a loft extension and together with the lack of parking we’ll likely sell up in the next year or so. And when we do, we’ll become sellers for the first time. I didn’t pay much attention to the estate agent I used when

Without wishing to add to the hyperbole over Brexit (from both sides), it’s fair to say that Britain is all over the place today. From the temporary suspension of trading in Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays shares and sterling’s continued slide against the dollar, to the slump in the return on government bonds and a profit warning from easyJet, the UK is beginning to digest its decision to leave the European Union. In the morass of doom and gloom was another profit warning, this time from Foxtons. The estate agent said concerns following the vote will depress London property sales and, in the first few minutes of trading, shares in the company dropped 18 per cent.

In Notting Hill Gate, in west London, the division was obvious. On the east side of the street was a row of privately owned Victorian terraced houses painted in pastel colours like different flavoured ice creams. These houses, worth £4 million to £6 million each, were dotted with Remain posters. On the west side was a sad-looking inter-war council block, Nottingwood House, which had dirty bricks and outside staircases and corridors. No posters there. But that is where my fellow campaigners and I headed — down to the basement entrances with their heavy steel gates. We looked up the names on the canvassing sheets and rang the bell of one flat after

Stepping onto the property ladder has become an enormous stretch for first-time buyers. But for those with no access to the generous bank of mum and dad, could shared ownership help? Initially conceived in the 1980s with the aim of helping key workers to access the housing market, the niche housing scheme has the potential to become mainstream as a result of significant new investment. As part of its drive to reverse the decline in home-ownership, the Government has allocated an unprecedented £4.1 billion to enable the construction of 135,000 new homes for shared ownership. The rules have also changed to allow broader eligibility criteria for buyers and  a wider

There was victory for a group of mortgage borrowers last week when Court of Appeal judges ruled West Bromwich Building Society had wrongly upped interest rates for about 6,000 customers. However, despite the legal wrangle being described as a ‘David and Goliath’ type duel, not everyone was pleased for the little people winners. That’s because the borrowers concerned were landlords, a group which is fast becoming one of the most vilified sectors of society. But if the buy-to-let critics could put their prejudices aside for a moment they’d see that a victory for landlords this time is a win for consumers everywhere. The court case came about after a controversial decision