Battling The Headwinds • The housing market has come through the past year in rather better shape than might have been expected in the wake of both the turmoil in financial markets and the subsequent sharp contraction in the economy. Nevertheless, significant challenges relating both to the macro environment and property market dynamics remain. • [...]

Some 35 per cent of wealthy investors are hoping to increase their property portfolio over the next two years, a new report shows. In comparison, 17 per cent plan to decrease their property allocation, according to research from Barclays Wealth and the Economist Intelligence Unit. Richard Bowser, editor of Property Investor News, advises that high [...]

Alan Ward says: “The government is out of touch with the private rented sector.” His comments come in response to calls from the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) for the government to strengthen the help it provides for landlords. ARLA is hoping that the chancellor of the exchequer will pledge to introduce new measures [...]

A coalition of letting agents’ and landlords’ associations has welcomed a call by several backbench Labour MPs to extend the stamp duty holiday on properties worth less than £175,000. An Early Day Motion has been put forward on the issue by Lindsay Hoyle and has been backed by MPs including Jeremy Corbyn, Jon Cruddas and [...]

Published: 04-Dec-2009 Letting agents and landlords have been given encouraging news by Rics, which has announced it believes rents will rise in the new year. Its forecast is based on the fact that the third quarter of 2009 saw a drop in the number of rental properties coming into the market for the first time [...]