Author: tradehandles

The Department for Communities and Local Government has published €˜Housing in England 2005-06€™, which provides key housing data on owner occupation and on the social and private rented sectors. The survey shows that in 2005-06, there were 14.6 million (70 per cent) owner-occupying households, 3.7 million (18 per cent) social renters and 2.5 million (12…

Communities and Local Government has published revised guidance to help the construction industry respond to the challenge of meeting the zero carbon homes target. HM Treasury will shortly lay draft regulations before Parliament setting out definition of a zero carbon home for stamp duty land tax purposes. The Budget 2007 stated: €œthat from 1 October…

Conservatives have committed to scrapping home information packs as part of their housing strategy. Speaking at the Conservative party conference in Blackpool, Shadow Housing Minister, Richard Shapps, said that a Conservative government would: · recast the relationship between target-obsessed central government and bring power back to the people; · incentivise local communities so that they will act…

House prices remained unchanged over September, according to the latest national housing survey from Hometrack, the housing intelligence business. This is the second month in a row that prices have remained unchanged although the year on year rate of growth has now slipped back to 5.0 per cent from a recent high of 6.8 per…

The Chancellor has announced changes to capital gains tax in the pre-budget report. Grant Sutton head of property and construction, Clare Jacob, said, €œThe move to a single rate of capital gains tax at 18 per cent is great news for shareholders in property investment companies who previously were able to reach an effective rate…

The Chancellor has announced the Communities and Local Government budget in the comprehensive spending review which includes support for the building of three million new homes by 2020. Towards this ambition, the settlement delivers: · £6.5 billion investment over three years in new social housing to deliver 45,000 new social homes per year by 2010-11, a…

Estate Education, the UK education and awareness campaign for real estate investment trusts (Estate Education) and property investment, has urged that further action is needed, following the Chancellors comments in the pre-budget report. Estate Education teaches people about everything from planning use classes to property development to informing first time buyers. They offer a wide…

The Chancellor has announced that the unpopular planning gain supplement (PGS) is to be replaced with a statutory planning charge. In his pre-budget report, The Chancellor said that Barker`s review of housing supply proposed the introduction of PGS as a new levy on development to raise additional resources to invest in the infrastructure needed to…

Energy Minister, Malcolm Smith, has given the green light to the largest wind farm in Devon. Speaking to the British Wind Energy Association in Glasgow, he said that he is giving Devon Wind Power the go-ahead for their 66MW Fullabrook Down wind project in north Devon. The decision follows a four-week public inquiry into the…

The total of gross lending in August was £34 billion, little changed from July€™s £34.1 billion and £1 billion higher than in August last year, but the make up of lending has changed significantly since a year ago, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). Both lending for house purchase and remortgage have declined…

New research compiled for Hometrack, the housing intelligence business, reveals that just under a quarter (24.3 per cent) of young working households have little chance of accessing home ownership in their local housing market.  High house prices and rising interest rates are increasingly limiting access to the housing market with some of the worst affected…