Tag Archives: asia
London Mayor secures planning change for the city
The Mayor of London has welcomed the UK Government's decision to reconsider planning proposals that would have potentially seen valuable office space in the city turned into homes. Boris Johnson has been actively lobbying the Government to amend proposals that he believes would have put the capital's key business districts at risk by allowing office space to be converted into homes without developers applying for planning permission for the change of use. Now the Minister for Housing and Planning, Brandon Lewis, has announced that he will amend the original proposals to ensure London is able to maintain a stock of quality office space in existing key areas, and allow the city to continue to attract jobs and growth. Last year the Mayor successfully negotiated for defined areas of central London to be exempt from a Government policy that allowed office space to be converted into homes without developers applying for change of use planning permission. These areas covered the Central Activities Zone which incorporates the City of London, the South Bank, parts of Kensington and Chelsea, the West End, the commercial area north of the Isle of Dogs and London's Enterprise Zones in the Royal Docks, plus the part of the City Fringe in east London which makes up the emerging Tech City opportunity area. However new proposals announced by the Government would have removed these exemptions which Johnson believes potentially threatened London's internationally important business locations. Lewis said that the Government will allow local authorities to bring forward special planning regulations known as Article 4 directions if they wish to continue determining planning applications for the change of use. This will ensure that London's commercial heartlands will be protected from planning changes. ‘I am delighted that Government has put policies in place that will lead to the protection of our thriving business districts. Removing the planning exemption in those areas would have put the future economic growth of this city at risk, but by agreeing to amend their proposals the Government are ensuring we will be able to maintain the full stock of quality office space required for our city to continue to prosper,’ said Johnson. The Mayor is firmly on track to deliver 100,000 affordable homes over his two terms, with more than 94,000 already built. In the last year there were almost 18,000 affordable completions, the most in any year in London since 1991 and the equivalent of a new affordable home built every 30 minutes. Since the Mayor took on 670 hectares of public land in 2012 some 99% has been released for development, in line with the Mayor's 100% target by the end of his term in 2016. Land already released by the Mayor includes east London's Royal Docks, the Beam Park site in Rainham, and the former Cane Hill hospital site in Croydon. The current exemptions will remain in place until May 2019, providing time for these local authorities to make an Article 4 application to remove the rights… Continue reading
Prices continue to fall slightly in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, index data shows
Residential property prices in Dubai have fallen by 9.9% year on year and 0.75% month on month while rental prices are also down, according to the latest index data. A breakdown of the figures from the REIDIN index shows that apartment prices fell 10.4% year on year and are down 0.55% month on month while villa prices fell 8% year on year and 1.45% month on month in August. On the sales front apartment transactions were down for both apartments and villas. Month on month rents fell by 0.76% and 1.4% year on year, the data also shows. Apartment rental prices increased 1% compared with July but are 1.1% below August 2014 while villa rental priced fell 0.6% month on month and are down 2.9% year on year. In neighbouring Abu Dhabi property prices decreased 0.17% month on month and are down 3% year on year. Apartment prices registered a 0.46% decrease in August 2015 and are down 3.7% year on year while villa prices increased by 0.14% month on month but are down 2% compared to the previous year. Rents fell 0.23% month on month but are up 0.5% compared to August 2014. The data shows that for apartment rental prices fell 0.22% month on month and are down 0.8% year on year while villa rental prices fell 0.04% month on month and are up 2.2% year on year. Meanwhile, data from the Dubai Land Department suggests that the market is still attracting international buyers. Foreign investment into the property sector across Dubai increased to Dh53 billion in the first half of 2015. In Abu Dhabi a new decree has been issued to regulate and improve transparency in the emirate's real estate sector, requiring brokers and developers to be licensed and introducing rules to protect buyers of projects that are not yet completed. The rules, due to come into being soon, cover property advertising and marketing and introduce a means for complaints to be submitted and resolved more easily. All real estate developments must be registered with the government along with sales transactions listing the buyer. It means that new developments cannot be promoted or sold until they receive government approval and for unfinished projects, payments by buyers will be held in a separate, ring fenced account, while brokers will not be allowed to represent more than one party in a single transaction. Continue reading
Home lending in UK fell in August but experts say it is a normal seasonal trend
Lending to first time buyers, home movers, home owner remortgage and buy to let borrowers in the UK in August but levels are still higher than a year ago, the latest data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders shows. Bob Pannell, CML chief economist said that this is a normal seasonal trend, with August typically less strong for mortgage completions and the underlying picture is of improvement in lending levels on a year by year basis. ‘Seasonal factors pushed all categories of lending lower in August compared to July. However, the mortgage market continues to see year on year growth, and we expect this to continue over the coming months,’ he added. A breakdown of the figures shows that lending fell by volume and by value for the first time since April this year. However, this was the third consecutive month that lending for house purchase increased year on year by volume and by value. Pannell pointed out that it was the highest house purchase lending activity level for the month of August since August 2007. However, volume levels this month were still only 60% of what they were in August 2007. Overall in August, home owner loans for house purchase accounted for 57% of gross lending, the same as in July, while remortgage activity accounted for 21% compared to 24% in July. Home owner loans as a share of gross lending have increased since the New Year while remortgage activity has edged down. Buy to let lending as a proportion of total gross lending remained at 17%, a consistent level since the beginning of the year, but up from 13% in the same period last year. First time buyers accounted for 44% of total house purchase lending volumes, a much higher proportion than pre-crisis levels of 30% of the number of loans for house purchase and it was the highest monthly first time buyer lending level by volume and by value in the month of August since 2007, but the number of loans was only 78% of the August 2007 levels. The proportion of first time buyer gross household monthly income in August to service capital and interest payments stayed the same month on month at 18.5%, but remained considerably lower than 19.7% in August last year, and much lower than the most recent high of 24.8% in December 2007. This was the highest home mover lending level by volume and by value in the month of August since 2007, although this month's volume levels are still only 51% of the volume levels in August 2007. Home movers spent 18.1% of their monthly gross household income to pay capital and interest repayments, up slightly on last month but down on the same period last year. Like first time buyers, this is still much lower than the most recent peak of 23.8% in December 2007. Remortgage activity dropped month on month in August 17% by volume and 18% by… Continue reading
