Comings & Goings
Snippets of property industry news: Spicerhaart appoints HR director; The Charters Group hires new chief financial officer; Bloor unveils new marketing manger
Marc da Silva
Financial advisory giant pulls all UK property investment amid economic turbulence
The company says it is concerned about the availability of credit and, therefore, an imminent drop in property prices.
Greater protections for homebuyers come into force today
New Code of Practice and an independent Ombudsman for consumers launches today.
Estate agency offers to sell homes for free
The estate agency will not charge any commission throughout October.
Ex-Tory minister calls on Liz Truss to hold a general election
A general election would almost certainly add to uncertainty weighing on housing market confidence.
Buyer demand cools ‘under the significant weight of economic difficulty’
Homebuyer demand levels have weakened as economic pressures and the increased cost of borrowing cause many people to re-evaluate their home buying aspirations.
Propertymark urges government to increase size of low carbon heating grants
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme application process is so complex property agents and their landlords do not think it is worth applying to, according to Propertymark.
‘The decade long house price growth party is over’ as buyer demand falls
UK property price growth flatlined last month with a stronger slowdown expected in the coming months.
Simplify data hack compromised personal data, investigation reveals
Exposed files contained information including bank accounts, contact details, date of birth, health and medical records, as well as tax and national insurance number.
Dexters appoints former Sainsbury’s chief Justin King as chairman
Dexters has drafted in grocery industry heavyweight Justin King to provide support and guidance to the business.
New zero-fee estate agency franchise network launches
Agents signing up to gLocalAgent will be able to set their own fees and keep up to 70% of their commission.
It ‘feels almost inevitable’ that property prices will fall
A 10% drop in average home prices ‘would take us back to where we were last summer’, says Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank.
Mortgage data shows ‘how robust’ the market was before government meddling
Mortgage approvals have continued to climb skyward in recent months.
‘Red hot rental market’ shows no signs of cooling down
September saw the highest average rental costs ever recorded by the Goodlord Rental Index.
Prime London rental growth hits all-time high
Against an increasingly difficult economic backdrop, prime London rental growth has reached new highs.
Dacres unveils ‘sustainability path’ to offset over 100 tons of CO2
Dacres is planting native trees to offset the more than 100 tons of CO2 that the independent audit found the company produced each year across its 21 Yorkshire offices.
Property sales collapse after banks pull mortgage offers – as market chaos continues
Economist Yanis Varoufakis said BoE had no alternative but to push interest rates to 6% to “stabilise the money markets” but added that it would “break like a toy the housing market”.
Purplebricks returns to ‘commisery’ as share price plunges 17% in a week
Purplebricks, which yesterday announced plans to reboot its controversial ‘commisery’ campaign urging vendors not to instruct commission-based estate agents, has seen its share price slump.
South coast estate agency completes fourth acquisition in 12 months
This acquisition further demonstrates the estate agency’s commitment to strengthening the firm’s market share throughout the local area.
Tributes to well-known estate agent – a director who even tried to buy the Humber Bridge
The former agent has died in hospital after a short illness.