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Around 17 November last year something started happening here at THFC (The Housing Finance Corporation) …..the phone started ringing again! That was CSR (Comprehensive Spending Review) + four weeks, and Housing Associations were coming out of the bunker.
Continue reading Rental market flexibility and how much to pay for it.
London has become an increasingly international city over recent decades. It is one of the most expensive capitals in the world to live. But affordability, diversity and choice of tenure in housing lie at the heart of whether we can sustain London as the thriving mixed community that we know today. The danger is that the cost of owned housing drives ordinary working people and communities further and further from the urban boundaries of London itself, changing the character of the capital and making it a less sustainable working and living environment.
There is current increasing interest in the application of the Department for Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC) Feed in Tariff (FIT) scheme to tackle fuel poverty in Housing Associations. THFC is currently investigating whether it can put together a wholesale funding package for such schemes. In the meantime we have been funding a number of regeneration projects using long term EIB funds which incorporate energy saving features in both construction and design. We visited one of the very best of these, Mariners Quay, in Newport Old Town Docks last week, being developed by Seren Housing. This large scale Eco Grade 5 scheme has just been awarded a Zero Carbon Award. Read on and be impressed!
Having just completed another nightmare charging transaction with a lender (not THFC) demanding more and more information, borrower confirmations and third party sign offs before accepting properties into charge I have been compelled to write to express my personal opinion on this topic.
Continue reading Lenders Put Loan Security under the Microscope
If you are hellbent on expansion, read on. If not, then it might be safer to stay in the bunker with your helmet on…
The phrase of the moment is credit crunch. But what does it really mean when you are in the middle of trying to put together a property deal? Simply, all parties have more hoops to jump through in order to get to the deal done. Despite what the papers say, doing deals is still possible!
Continue reading The credit crunch bunch – saving property deals!
As a child of the 60s I hope readers will understand the temptation for the analogy between Apollo 13 and the current state of the UK economy.
Continue reading UK Economy: when will it be time to re-start the engines?
by Piers Williamson
Presumably Caroline Flint and her Cabinet colleagues (Hazel Blears also got caught yesterday, but her notes were deemed less news-worthy by Fleet Street) are now aware of the technological wonders of modern high-resolution photography!
by Piers Williamson
Two volume house-builders, Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon delivered defensive statements at their recent AGMs. Persimmon in their 24 April statement commented “over the last three weeks the unprecedented tightening in the mortgage market has caused a further deterioration of the housing market leading to lower sales volumes and increased cancellation rates”. They went on to say that “against the current backdrop we have postponed the commencement of scheduled new sites until the mortgage market improves”. Their share price dropped 6% on the news.
by John Allan
The overwhelming belief in the private sector is that RSLs cannot develop private residential schemes successfully. However, in my view, this is a misplaced belief born as a result of a total misconception of the RSL world!
by Piers Williamson
You are unlikely to have missed the barrage of headlines over Bank and building societies falling over themselves to turn ‘cold-turkey’ over mortgage lending for first time buyers in the last few days.
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