Category Archives: property

Read about the Marching Morons of the Residential Property Market

How does the unemployment rate affect interest rates and mortgages?

Posted on by

Well-done Mr. Carney for doing a volte-face and unhooking the commitment, made not six months ago, to link the unemployment rate to higher interest rates.  Clearly the economy is reviving much faster than anticipated (about two years or so ahead of time) and, as such, this give the flexibility to buy time.

Frankly, when Mark Carney made his predictions it appeared that he was following the American economic model since, hitherto, no one had linked unemployment and interest rates before in the UK.  The Bank of England (BOE) has always been pre-occupied with inflation. Continue reading →

Chancellor Has Imposed CGT On Foreign Individuals Buying In UK

Posted on by

The much-predicted imposition of Capital Gains Tax on foreign individuals buying in the UK has just been announced by the Chancellor in his latest Autumn Statement.  Ordinarily this tax could make sense. However, it is the third tax imposed on the property sector when you add the Stamp Duty and Maintenance Tax changes of the Budget of 2012 where the rate was increased by 300% from 5-15% for corporate bodies and an annual Maintenance Tax of up to £150,000 also applied. Continue reading →

Boris and his desire to build more new homes in the Capital

Posted on by

Halleluiah and good on you Boris for your championing the cause of new homes in London.  We build 5% of the homes we need in the Capital and the supply is being strangled by politically inept planning councils and lenders who are being thoroughly over cautious and risk averse and are conspiring to limit new house building.

The aim of building 42,000 new homes per year for the next ten years is ambitious but if you don’t set a benchmark you will never improve on your performance. Continue reading →