Good morning. Fill yer boots with these property stories from the national press and EG.
As many as 200,000 ‘mortgage prisoners’ could get compensation(£), after lawyers started a legal action against two nationalised banks.
Meanwhile the ‘Boris Bounce’ has flopped(£). Markets had briefly been optimistic(£) in the wake of the Tory landslide, which added £50bn to listed companies’ values and saw the pound climb against the dollar. But all that has been reversed by the PM reigniting hard Brexit fears(£). Now what was it Boris said about business(£) again?
But there are still hopes of a ‘Boris Boom’ for building in the north, prompting stockbroker Peel Hunt to tip property stocks and housebuilders…
…But maybe not Persimmon just yet, after its independent review(£) gave the housebuilder a mauling, saying its corporate culture made its homes ‘potentially unsafe'(£).
In Berkshire a cartel of estate agents has been fined £600,000 for price-fixing.
Private equity investor Marathon Asset Management has sold a portfolio of 17 UK hotels to a Thai investor for £450m.
Goldman Sachs is planning a ‘Blackstone-like’ group(£) to boost its investing division.
While in Scotland, Golf Place in St Andrews(£) has been named the country’s dearest street.
And, after a year of acquisition in 2018 and a ‘year of digestion’ in 2019, what does 2020 bring for Brookfield? Hopefully not indigestion.
And finally, anyone who has ever struggled to compare different companies’ versions of operating profit are in for a treat! The international board that sets the rules on these things has decreed that there shalt be a new Standard Definition(£). But don’t worry, you’ll still be able to use all those other versions you’ve created to make yourselves look good…
