Good morning.
Mortgage borrowing(£) hit a record £11.3bn(£) in March on the back of a surging residential property market. It is the highest figure since the Bank of England started keeping tabs in 1993.
This has fuelled rising resi prices, with prime property in the countryside(£) climbing 15.8%, buoyed by an ‘exodus’ of city folk says Knight Frank.
Not a bit of it, says Zoopla. The exodus is in reverse(£), with deals in Kensington & Chelsea, for instance, rising by 80% in the middle of April.
Less good news for affordable housing, as four of the UK’s largest housing associations(£) say fire safety costs will cut affordable homes by 40%.
And the City of London is not looking to “tilt the balance” away from offices, according to an irate letter(£) from the Corporation’s policy and planning chairs.
Landsec and Capital & Regional bucked a flat FTSE to inch above rivals yesterday.
London First has promoted John Dickie as chief executive following the departure of Jasmine Whitbread.
Robert Whitton’s modular regeneration company Impact Capital Group has hired Lone Star advisor Mark Anderson as its chief operating officer.
And developers have got the nod to demolish Wells House, a 1980s block in Bromley, BR1, and build a 123,000 sq ft office block in its place.
Boris Johnson kept his most senior civil servant in the dark about plans to use a charity to pay for his flat refurbishment(£).
Meanwhile Liverpool(£) is facing its most unpredictable election in a decade as property scandals lead to apathy.
And the environment secretary(£) has no plan to meet his department’s carbon emissions targets.
The Times (£) looks at how payment delays is crippling the construction industry.
While The FT (£) says that the government can’t duck the £6bn rent crisis and needs to deal with “the difficult 10%”.
Surely an amicable solution can be achieved? Just look at how Bill and Melinda Gates(£) are divvying up their vast property empire(£).
And finally, be careful when improving your property. Even the smallest changes can have big repercussions. In Belgium a farmer has been ordered to replace a rock(£) he moved or face potential charges of treason. The unwitting landowner simply wanted to make it easier for his tractor to access his fields, so he moved a marker stone approximately seven and a half feet. Unfortunately this stone happened to mark the national border laid down in 1820 and, by moving it, he had essentially invaded France. Zut alors!
