Good morning. Squeeze that aeropress and hit the road, as we take you through the morning’s property news.
The RICS is promising an ‘audit-style’ crack-down(£) on its members over potential conflicts of interest. It wants to preempt calls for firms to be split up, as happened with the accountancy big four.
Talking of which, accountancy firm BDO is being sued for alleged negligence(£) over its sale of the One Blackfriars site way back in 2010. Lawyers for the liquidators claim that it failed to get a proper valuation before selling the site to Berkeley Group for £77m. Berkeley valued it at £232m just 18 months later.
Meanwhile, US retail landlords are consolidating. Simon Property is buying Taubman Centres(£) for $3.6bn – a tasty 50% premium to its Friday share price.
Intu has confirmed(£) that it is in talks with Link and Peel…
… The NHS has retained Montagu Evans to manage its £3.6bn property portfolio for the next five years…
… And property funds finally seem to have stemmed the haemorrhaging of cash seen last year. Outflows for January were just £78.1m, a mere fraction of the £328.6m for December.
Home ownership has plunged among 35 to 44-year-olds, with a third renting compared to fewer than one in 10 in 1997.
Good news then that TFL and Grainger are increasing the number of BTR homes at Nine Elms.
Boris Johnson’s dream of a big bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland could take a step closer to reality, after Number 10 said the blueprints were nearly finished(£).
Building work on HS2(£) is also expected to begin within the next few weeks, after the PM gives the thumbs up later today…
…But before that he will announce a £5bn fund for buses and bikes(£). Well, we all know how much he loves a bike.
The Foreign Office could FO to Manchester(£), following in the footsteps of GCHQ.
Port operators are hoping the government’s freeports plans(£) will mean a planning free-for-all…
… As Belfast Harbour signs US insurance giant Aflac for 11,000 sq ft at its City Quays scheme.
Those involved in the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower could face fraud charges, as well as manslaughter, warns the inquiry head.
Meanwhile the boss of a disabled charity has been jailed for five years after pilfering from its pension pot(£) to purchase properties.
Continued discounting after the festive season(£) has helped retail avoid a slump(£) in sales for January. But at 0.4% it won’t change much.
And finally, residents of a leafy market town in south Derbyshire have been told off by the police for failing to report drug-related crime. Apparently the good citizens of Melbourne thought it might drag down house prices(£). Instead they would like attention to be focused on the thriving Georgian marketplace, which is surrounded by bistros, boutiques, art galleries and dealers.
