Investment

Investment Zones are attacking nature!

In order to develop areas across UK the government has planned for investment zones which have caused a great uproar by the wildlife trusts. This proposal by the government includes relaxation of planning rules to allow business development which are said to be "consent driven," however, there are fears of removing environmental protection from certain areas. Comments are being made such as : "These plans sound more like destruction zones than investment zones to us." There are already five West Midlands councils on the investment zone shortlist, with further applications

Property Consulting

New stamp duty rules posed by Kwarteng:

The amount of Stamp duty tax payable on all property transactions was cut on Friday as part of Kwarteng's 'game-changing' growth plan. Buyers currently pay stamp duty after £125,000 of a home’s purchase price but, today, that threshold was doubled. This means buyers no longer pay stamp duty tax on the first £250,000 of a property purchase. The property price at which first-time buyers will pay stamp duty will be increased to £425,000, from £300,000. The steps taken mean that 200,000 people will be taken out of paying stamp duty all together. This is a permanent cut to stam

Investment

Foreign investment grows in Northern England but falls in the rest of UK:

The value of foreign investment has grown by almost 75% in the North of England in the last half decade. However, in the South of England, including London the picture is not the same. Figures even show that the number of FDI projects in the North have now reached approximately 33% and new jobs have risen by almost 20%. The agenda for growth in the South dwindled under the Tory leadership, it is now Truss' job to pick it back up. In London, FDI has fallen by 14% in comparison to the start of the decade. This has been carried out by the 'Northern Powerhouse' whose agenda it

Property Consulting

Speculated stamp duty cut to bring homebuyers up the ladder:

In today's mini budget there is speculation of stamp duty cuts which will save all homebuyers thousands of pounds and get more people onto and up the property ladder. This is parallel with the current goal of boosting economic growth. Under the current system no stamp duty is paid on the first £125,000 of any property purchase. The threshold at which the duty is paid for first-time buyers is £300,000. How much the buyers pay depends on the price and type of property including if it is residential or non-residential or mixed use. The mini-budget is also likely to include a

Investment

Kwarteng to announce plans for low tax investment zones:

The creation of low tax, low regulation investment zones is set to be announced by Kwasi Kwarteng in the "mini budget" today. This is after the unanimous recognition that growth should be supported across the country and targeted action is required to increase the speed for this. In practice planning rules are set to be loosened, in turn land being "released" and development accelerating. There are 38 areas across England to be included in this plan. This is in line with Truss' leadership campaign where she mentioned bringing growth to the forefront when in power. _______

Property Consulting

More houses are being sold despite interest rate hikes:

The interest rates have risen six months in a row and therefore the property transaction prices are rising. There was a 4.4% month-on-month rise from July, and was 9.7% higher than levels seen a year earlier in August last year. The number also represents an elevated position when compared to pre-pandemic levels – transactions in August 2022 were up 2.5% compared to the 111,600 seen in the same month in 2019. According to reports, the prime minister and chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng will announce the measure to stimulate economic growth on Friday as part of the mini-Budget. _

Property Consulting

Boot has one of its “best ever” half years:

The construction and property group, Henry Boot, has reported that with the pre-tax profit being up by almost 70% than the previous half, it has had one of the "best ever" half years. The company has shown a pre-tax profit of £38.8m for the six months to 30 June 2022, up 68 per cent from £23.1m in the same period of 2021. It has had a strong stream of residential land sales and industrial development activity post- COVID. Revenue increased by 11.9 per cent to £144.4m, from £129m the year before, driven by land disposals and property development completions. ______________

Investment

Truss warned corporation tax cuts have not fuelled investment:

Business investment in the UK has fallen to the bottom of the G7 group of wealthy nations, despite the tax cuts. Ministers are preparing for £30bn of giveaways targeted at companies and high income workers. These cuts were put in place to help drive up economic growth towards a target rate of 2.5% a year. However, the IPPR said slashing the headline rate from 30% in 2007 to 19% in 2019, orchestrated by the former chancellor, George Osborne, did not spur higher private investment or faster economic growth. Studies have shown corporation tax cuts used by successive Conservat

Investment

Truss could slash personal taxes in ‘investment zones’ under economic plans

Liz Truss is considering plans to slash personal taxes in addition to business levies in new “investment zones” as she seeks to set the wheels of her economic strategy in motion. The proposed “investment zones”, dubbed “full fat freeports”, were a staple of Ms Truss’s campaign for the Tory leadership. Under her plan, Ms Truss said these areas would benefit from a low-tax burden, reduced planning restrictions and regulations tailored on a case-by-case basis. Ministers are also said to have discussed whether environmental protections could be watered down in these areas to c

Property Consulting

Number of £5million-plus mortgages in UK goes up by two thirds:

 Figures from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) show the number of property sales with mortgage loan values of more than £5m leapt from 169 in 2020 to 279 last year – a 65% increase. It will be no surprise that the vast majority of this megabucks real estate is in and around London. Last year 220 mortgage loans of £5m-plus were secured on properties in Central and Greater London, compared with 49 in the other regions and 10 that were classified by the FCA as “unknown”. Property prices increased by around 10 per cent over the past two years, with the global health pande