Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
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Enterprising concept hopes to promote a return to glory: The developer behind Millennium Mills and the surrounding area of Silvertown Quays in east London, which has stood empty for four decades, is expected to receive planning permission to transform it into an area for businesses and 3,000 homes after several failed attempts to revive the derelict part of the Royal Docks
UK CB leading economic index climbed in January On a MoM basis, the CB leading economic index climbed 0.20% in the UK, in January. In the previous month, the CB leading economic index had registered a revised flat reading.
Residential planning approvals were up 14.5 per cent last year, according to a new report. There were 219,715 units approved last year, compared with 191,822 in 2013, according to a report produced by the Home Builders Federation and Glenigan. In England, some 195,569 units were approved in 2014, up 12.1 per cent annually. Approvals for residential units in Wales increased 48.8 per cent to 9,121 and by 32.4 per cent to 15,025 in Scotland.
UK Rightmove house price index rose in March In March, on a MoM basis, the Rightmove house price index in the UK climbed 1.00%. In the previous month, the Rightmove house price index had registered a rise of 2.10%.
House prices £34K above peak House prices are some £34,000 above their pre-crisis peak, the latest LSL/Acadata House Price Index has revealed. The figures show that the price of a typical home in England & Wales now stands at £273,528, being £34,192 higher than prices seen at the height of the housing boom in February 2008. House prices have now risen by 6.8% on an annual basis, being £17,340 higher than they were in February 2014. However, this is the smallest annual growth rate witnessed for 14 months, suggesting that the housing market is further moderating. This can also be seen when looking at house sales, as so far in 2015, completed sales are 9% lower than over the same period a year ago. Price growth is even more muted when excluding the capital, with the annual rate of price growth standing at just 4.6% in February when excluding London and the South East.
The average asking price for homes in England and Wales climbed 1% in the month to March, registering its smallest gain for the time of the year since 2012. According to a report released by property website Rightmove on Monday, the slowdown in growth was yet another sign that the housing market was cooling down, as British regulators have introduced tougher controls on mortgage lending. Rightmove's House Price Index showed a 5.4% year-on-year increase in asking prices in the period between 8 February and 7 March, down from a 6.6% year-on-year increase in February. Along with the North-East, London was the only region to register monthly falls, as the index dropped 0.4% in March, while the year-on-year change slid from +9.7% to +5.5%, which analysts at Westhouse described as "further evidence of a slowing London market". "A key concern, in our view, going forward is the sheer weight of new build properties currently under construction or going through the planning system in London," they said in a note. Rightmove added the number of investors considering using their pension pots to purchase a buy-to-let property, when rules on how such savings can be used are relaxed in April, was increasing.
If the recent boom in London property prices wasn’t indication enough, the data is now in. London has the greatest number of super-rich residents in the world. To be exact: 4,363 that live in the UK capital own over £20 million ($30 million), taking them into the ranks of the world’s ultra-high net-worth individuals – or the super-rich. With £4.4 trillion ($6.4tn) in their piggy bank, European super-rich still control the most wealth in the world, but the balance is shifting. This year Asia overtook North America as the region with the second largest growth in super-rich, with 1419 more individuals owning £20 million or more. Focussing on population, London is in the lead by far, followed by Tokyo (3575 individuals), Singapore (3227) and New York (3008). The data comes from a study by Knight Frank, the global real estate consultancy, which predicts that with the exception of London, European cities will start to see their numbers of super-rich decline, despite the fact that number of wealthy residents on the continent will continue to grow by around 27 per cent. The same decline is seen in North America, Australasia and the Middle East Despite how it looks, the super-rich are not leaving in droves. Rather the figures are skewed by a massive growth of wealth in Asia. On average, cities across Asia will see a 91 per cent growth in their super rich populations in the next decade. The most rapid growth in wealth will be seen in the likes of Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Mumbai and Delhi. One-fifth of the cities assessed are expected to see greater than 100 per cent growth over the next decade, all of which are in Asia or Africa. It’s a good job so many of London’s residents have cash to spare. Luxury property here is the third most expensive in the world, at 21 square metres for £800,000 ($1 million).
Construction output in the UK fell at the start of the year led by a drop in public housing. Activity in the sector contracted by 2.6% month-on-month in January, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). New work fell by 4.2% while repair and maintenance showed no growth. All types of new work registered declines, with the exception of private industrial work. Also within the new work category, private commercial construction decreased 6.6%, that of infrastructure by 2.7% and housing by another 5%. The factors constraining demand such as weak mortgage lending and high house prices, coupled with those constraining supply such as skill shortages and tight funding conditions, may have limited construction output growth in January 2015, ONS explained. Public housing construction registered the sharpest decline, dropping 18.4%, while private housing construction did so by another 1.3%. The data released by ONS will not lead to any revision to the second estimate of gross domestic product (GDP) published on 26 February. In comparison with the year-ago period construction output was down by 3.1%.
Dropping euro to fuel property buy-up in 2015: Investment in Europe’s property market is expected to jump by as much as 10% this year thanks to low interest rates and the expected ongoing euro devaluation
Mansion tax could come in at £25,000 a year: More than half the homes that would be liable to pay Ed Miliband’s proposed mansion tax would have to stump up almost £25,000 a year, according to a property consultancy.
LONDON, March 12 (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Mark Carney signalled on Thursday he was in no rush to raise interest rates, saying the impact of sterling's rise and low global inflation could last for some time. Carney said the Bank expected to make limited and gradual increases in rates over the next three years as inflation returned to target within two years, even though it fell to 0.3 percent in January. Those comments echoed the message from the Bank's top policymakers in recent months. Carney also said BoE rate-setters should consider the risk that low foreign inflation and sterling's strength might persist. "The bottom line is that there is a risk that the combination of persistently low global inflation and the strength of sterling could weigh on prices here for some time," Carney said in a speech at a manufacturing research centre in Sheffield in northern England. He said the pace and degree of the BoE's rate hikes would be affected by factors such as foreign prices and Britain's exchange rate, as well as domestic cost pressures. British government bond prices rose in response to Carney's comments, before slipping back again. Sterling touched a seven-year high against the euro on Wednesday, although it has suffered heavy losses against the dollar recently. While the BoE would look through one-off shocks -- such as the plunge in global oil prices, "it may be appropriate to take into account persistent external deflationary forces arising from the combination of continued foreign low inflation and the protracted effects of sterling's strength on the prices facing UK consumers if those forces were to intensify," Carney said.
Luxury homes sales to stay low until after general election, says Foxtons as mansion tax weighs heavily on rich buyers minds: Political uncertainty caused by the upcoming election and talk of a mansion tax has scared rich property buyers into delaying buying houses in central London, estate agent Foxtons said.
House prices fall in London but rise across rest of U.K., says RICS: The U.K. housing market divided sharply last month with London the only region where surveyors reported falling prices.
UK house price balance rose surprisingly in February In February, house price balance advanced unexpectedly to 14.00% in the UK, compared to 7.00% in the prior month. Market anticipations were for house price balance to ease to 6.00%.
The BoE might need to raise rates earlier than expected, hinted Martin Weale A key BoE official, Martin Weale, stated that the central bank might need to raise interest rates in the UK sooner than anticipated, amid low oil prices and a robust pace of growth in domestic wages. However, he warned about possibilities of a sharp fall in the Pound going forward, especially considering the country's large balance of payments deficit.
Upside was limited in morning trade on Wednesday after UK industrial production unexpectedly slipped by 0.1% in January, surprisingly analysts who had expected 0.2% growth after a 0.2% decline in December. Analysts at Capital Economics said the figures "provided further disappointing signs that the sector's recovery is struggling to re-gain momentum, after almost grinding to a halt in the fourth quarter".
Fall in gross mortgage lending The latest Mortgage Lenders and Administrators (MLAR) statistics from the Bank of England have revealed that gross mortgage advances fell in Q4 2014, totalling £51.3bn in the quarter, down 8.1% from Q3 and 0.2% lower than Q4 2013. However, a notable finding was the proportion of gross advances at fixed rates, standing at 82.2% in Q4 2014, down from 82.6% in Q3 and marking the first decrease for nine quarters. This suggests that affordability is improving as consumers are becoming increasingly willing to take on variable rate mortgages, a move no doubt fuelled by the drop in loan rates. The report showed that the overall average interest rate on gross advances decreased by 5bps in Q4 to 3.26%, with variable rates falling by the same amount to 2.74%. Significantly, the overall interest rate on total amounts outstanding decreased by 3bps to 3.25% in Q4 2014, the lowest seen since the series began in 2007.
FOXTONS: LONDON HOUSING MARKET TO REMAIN 'SUBDUED' The London estate agent expects the city's property market to "remain subdued", as concerns about the global economy and upcoming General Election hold people back from buying. Sales volumes at Foxtons slowed sharply in the second half of last year. Its full-year pre-tax profit growth of 8.2pc to £42.1m paled in comparison to the 57pc jump in profits it posted a year earlier.
Galliford Try has reached financial close on a £160m contract with the Education Funding Agency over the Priority School building programme batch for North East England and with Flintshire Council for the Holywell learning campus in North Wales.
Slump in home loans expected to be temporary: Agents and brokers are expecting a pick up in mortgage lending this year after a sluggish end to 2014
Digital economy transforms U.K. workforce: The transformation of the workforce is rapidly expanding beyond London as the U.K. embraces the digital economy, with about 1.8 million people — 6% of workers — now employed in a type of job that did not even exist in 1990.
Mansion tax could hit affordable housing: A mansion tax would lead to developers in London building fewer affordable homes, according to the Deputy Mayor of London.
LONDON, March 10 (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said on Tuesday it would be "extremely foolish" to use more monetary stimulus to fight a temporary plunge in British inflation caused by declining oil prices. Carney said British consumer price inflation would likely fall to around zero in the coming months and stay there for much of the rest of the year, having already hit its lowest level on record in January at 0.3 percent. "The thing that would be extremely foolish would be to try to lean against this oil price fall today," Carney told a panel of lawmakers in Britain's parliament. "(That's) because the impact of that extra stimulus .... would happen well after the oil price fall had moved through the economy and we would just add unnecessary volatility." While the BoE has said it expects its next move on monetary policy will be to raise interest rates, it has also said it might cut them further below their record low of 0.5 percent if very low inflation becomes self-reinforcing. The BoE is mandated by the government to keep inflation at 2 percent, a target some economists have questioned. Carney said that in theory, the inflation target could be changed in response to a prolonged supply shock -- such as one caused by big technological advances -- that would be positive for productivity. "But that is a sober adjustment that's made by parliament, the government over time, through public debate, as opposed to a reaction to temporary deviations in inflation," he added. Carney reiterated his view that Britain's housing market presented one of the biggest risks to financial stability. He also said he hadn't yet seen signs that lending standards had worsened for buy-to-let property investors, following the government's decision to allow pensioners free rein to reinvest their retirement funds from April. (Writing by Andy Bruce, reporting by London Bureau; editing by William Schomberg/Ruth Pitchford)
The UK's economic recovery may be "bypassing the retail sector," according to a report from the British Retail Consortium and accountants KPMG. Like-for-like sales fell 0.1% between December and February, according to their report. Food sales dropped 1.6% while non-food goods rose 1.2% in the same period. In a separate study, Kantar Worldpanel found that the cost of groceries has declined by 1.6%, which is the fastest rate on record. Grocery prices have fallen due to an ongoing price war among the UK's biggest supermarkets. This has led to a fall in like-for-like food sales. Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrison's and the Co-operative have all seen their shares of the market decline, says Kantar. Waitrose, Aldi and Lidl have increased their market shares.
The UK's Lloyds Banking Group is selling one of the country's most popular property price trackers, the Halifax House Price Index to global financial data provider Markit. Lloyds acquired the tracker when it was forced to buy out HBoS after the UK's banking crisis. The index has been published monthly since 1983 and is widely viewed as a reliable gauge of house price performance in Britain. No value was disclosed for the deal between Lloyds and Markit. As part of the transaction, Markit will acquire the index and all associated intellectual property. Halifax will continue publishing data under Markit, who will also become the index administrator. The index name and methodology will remain unchanged when the transaction completes, which is expected later this year. Markit said it will calculate and administer the Halifax House Price Index in compliance with the Iosco Principles for Financial Benchmarks, while Lloyds will be the submitter to the Halifax House Price Index in compliance with the same principles.