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Mothballed office developments will not be viable again until 2011

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:00:00 GMT

The UK office market is likely to reach bottom at the end of this year but mothballed sites probably won't be viable until 2011, it is claimed.

'You can't see people putting spades in the ground again until they can achieve a pre-let. When migh

Mothballed office developments will not be viable again until 2011

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:00:00 GMT

RBS moderate bonus element of Chief Executive's package after public outrage

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) CEO, Stephen Hester, has agreed to moderate his £9.6 million remuneration package, set up in the past fortnight.

Mr Hester will delay taking part of his bonus in RBS shares until 2014, an extension of two year

UK Commercial Property Investment Funds see positive flow for first time since April 2008

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:00:00 GMT

UK Commercial property investment experts have welcomed news that UK property funds saw their first net investment inflows into the sector since April last year.
The figures from the Investment Management Association showed £2 million. of inflo

Prologis sell 5 UK sheds for £64.4 million

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:00:00 GMT

ProLogis European Properties have sold five modern distribution facilities for £64.4 million to affiliates of Harbert European Real Estate Fund II, L.P. and Harbert European Real Estate Fund II (Parallel).

The facilities total 79,69

Land Securities get green light for mixed-use City Forum scheme in Islington with 720 new homes

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Land Securities has received planning permission for a 1.1 million sq ft mixed-use development in Islington.

Islington Council passed the City Forum scheme, submitted jointly with Frogmore and Galliard Homes, which will develop 1.9 ha in the bo

Greene King meet expectations with pre-tax profit down only 15% at £118.5million

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Greene King posted a smaller-than-expected fall in full-year profit and said it had benefited from an upturn in trading in recent weeks, driven by a sharp increase in sales of food.

Greene King, which has around 2,500 pubs in England and Scotla

Max Property in talks to buy the Industrious portfolio out of receivership

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Max Property Group, set up to invest in bargain UK property assets, is in talks to make its first acquisition since floating in May, the Financial Times reported today.

The paper said Max Property has entered talks to buy a £270mill

M&S Q1 sales fall less than expected but pressure on Rose to continue

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Marks & Spencer reported a smaller-than-expected drop in first-quarter underlying sales today and said consumer spending seemed to be stabilising, though it remained cautious on the outlook.

The 125-year-old M&S, which sells clothes, ho

Valad forms joint venture with Bank of Scotland called DUKE

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Sydney-based Valad Property Group said today that the company will contribute the majority of its European and U.K. assets and associated debt to form a joint venture with Bank of Scotland plc, a unit of Lloyds TSB Group Plc.

Valad will contrib

Scottish & Newcastle selling 20 freeholds in £10million disposal

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprises has placed 20 freehold pubs on the market through property agent Fleurets.

The pubs, located across the UK, include nine with a food business and six with letting rooms.

The sites are d

London commercial property deals up in Q2 2009 for the first time in 2 years

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Investment in London commercial property has risen for the first time in two years, raising hopes that the troubled market may be recovering.

Deals worth £1.43billion were completed in central London in the second quarter of 2009, accordi

Will this recession be a "V" or a "W" ?

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Are we seeing the green shoots of a durable recovery, or are we seeing a temporary recovery, induced by the cash governments around the world have pumped into the system, which will when exhausted, allow the system to revert to a recessionary trend?

Treasury gives EMDA £172 million to completely cleanup former Coking Works site in Chesterfield

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
East Midlands Development Agency and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) have announced that work will start on site in August at the former Avenue Coking Works, one of the most contaminated sites in Europe.

The move follows Treasury confirm

Carpetright FY pre-tax profit falls 72% but meets expectations in difficult market

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Britain's biggest carpet retailer Carpetright posted a 72% slump in full-year profit and slashed its dividend, reflecting the impact of recession on sales of discretionary items.

"We remain cautious about short-term prospects but are co

House prices edge up again in June - the third increase in 4 months

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
House prices rose for the second month running in June, leaving them less than 10% down on a year ago, the Nationwide building society said today, in another sign the market may be stabilising.

The mortgage lender said house prices rose 0.9% th

UK commercial property under water by £50 billion say Savills

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The commercial property sector in the UK is reported to be in negative equity of up to £50billion, says Savills.

William Newson, head of valuations at Savills commented that the amount of negative equity was estimated at around 22% of the

Terrace Hill secures major pre-let for Teeside Manhattan Gate office project

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Terrace Hill Group , said today that it has secured a pre-let to the Middlesbrough Primary Care Trust for the entire 38,500 sq ft of its Hudson Quay 2 office building in its Manhattan Gate development project on Teesside.

The tenant will take a

€99 billion bank rescue scheme launched by Bank of Spain as non-performing loans soar

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
On friday the Spanish government announced details of a rescue fund of up to €99 billion (£85 billion), though starting with just €9 billion, Fund for Ordered Bank Restructuring (FROB) to ward off possible systemic risk and help restructur

Tony Pidgeley moves to Chairman at Berkeley Group as trading meets expectations with FY profit of £120million

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Berkeley Group, the property developer and housebuilder, said full-year profit fell 38% in challenging market conditions, but it had bucked the sector by generating cash and avoiding writedowns.

Berkeley also said today co-founder Tony Pi

John Lewis sales point to retail revival

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
John Lewis Partnership, the employee-owned group seen as a barometer of retail spending, said today its 27 department stores recorded their best performance of the first-half so far.

The group said sales at its department stores increased 2.2%

Government drop plan to force homeowner energy conservation dropped again

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
A plan to force homeowners to include eco measures in home improvements has been dropped again at the last minute.

Industry figures have expressed shock at the decision of the new housing minister to drop plans to force homeowners to make energ

Allied Carpets property company heading for administration

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Allied Carpets Properties, a subsidiary of the carpets retailer, has filed notice of intention to appoint an administrator. BDO Stoy Hayward is understood to have been lined up for the role.

Any implications for Allied’s core retailing bu

BoE identify commercial property as the area of greatest concern for the health of UK banks

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
UK Banks look in better shape than six months ago but are still vulnerable to economic shocks, the Bank of England said today as it set out a raft of proposals to toughen up financial regulation.

Banks are finding it slightly easier to raise mo

Lancaster Council throw in the towel on Canal Corridor enquiry

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The public inquiry into the £140 million Canal Corridor scheme in Lancaster has been adjoured suddenly.

The development, which would have included retail, office, cultural and open space, was given the go-ahead by city councillors i

China's ICBC Bank world's most profitable and RBS world's most unprofitable Bank - industry rankings

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
JPMorgan tops a list of the world's strongest banks, while Royal Bank of Scotland suffered the biggest loss of any lender last year, according to new industry rankings published by The Banker magazine- a US publication.

RBS's $59.3 billio

Clintons buy back 196 Birthdays stores from administrators saving 1450 of 2100 jobs

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Clinton Cards said today that it has bought back 196 Birthdays stores from the administrators for £3.5 million.

Clintons had put its Birthdays chain of 332 stores employing 2100 people into administration on 20th. May, saying they c

Irish Banks losses may run to €35billion say IMF

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The International Monetary Fund yesterday estimated bank losses could total €35 billion by the end of next year and called for decisive efforts to repair Ireland's damaged financial sector.

In its annual review of the Ireland's economy, IM

Midlands startup makes maiden purchase

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Evenacre, a Midlands-based property start-up, has made its first acquisition.

The new company, headed by former Maximus MD Paul Jones, has bought Victoria House in Birmingham’s Colmore Row, for a sum of £1.5million.

A bra

City Legacy consortium given go ahead for £245 million Games village by Glasgow Council

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
A consortium called City Legacy has beaten a team led by Charles Price to the £245million prize to build the £245m athletes' village for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The City Legacy consortium, which includes architect R

AIM - listed Hansteen makes £200million cash call for UK commercial property warchest

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Hansteen, the European industrial property specialist, yesterday tapped the market for £194.6million to fund a re-entry into the UK market and take advantage of bargain commercial property investments in the recession.

Hansteen’s p

Firm demand from tenants keep BTL rents from falling much further say RICS

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Rents dropped across the residential lettings sector but rental expectations suggest the trend is set to moderate, says the RICS Lettings Survey published yesterday.

The net balance of Chartered Surveyors reporting falls rather than rises in re

Fitch say 15% of prime mortgages are now in negative equity

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Prime mortgages amounting to more than £39 billion, or 15% of total loan values in master trust programmes, are now in negative equity, Fitch Ratings said today.

The term "negative equity" means that the value of the house is le

Residential mortgage approvals rise 15.8% in May as market turns

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Mortgage approvals rose 15.8% on a year ago in May, ending months of declines in another sign the housing market is stabilising albeit at very low levels, a survey showed today.

The British Bankers' Association said that approvals for house pur

River Island to build 2 big sheds at Magna Park Milton Keynes

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
River Island, the fashion retailer owned and led by industry veteran Bernard Lewis, has confirmed it will proceed with developing a new national distribution building at the Gazeley Property development at Magna Park, Milton Keynes.

The f

Village Pubs and Shops closing at unprecedented rate as countryside becomes "gentrified"

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
A chronic shortage of affordable rural housing is helping to fuel the closure of hundreds of of country pubs and village shops.

The National Housing Federation (NHF) claims that 650 rural pubs and 400 village shops will be lost over the next 12

CKL revises down it's 2009 home repossession forecast

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Fewer UK homes will be repossessed this year than first thought because of record low interest rates and government measures to help with arrears, the Council of Mortgage Lenders said today. The CML revised down its forecast for repossessions in 200

Tesco announce a further £458million sale of UK property assets.

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Tesco have announced a new sale & leaseback transaction involving £458 million of Tesco’s property assets in the latest phase of its ongoing programme to release value from its UK property portfolio. The degree of financial structuring is

Brixton agrees to discount Segro offer proposal

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Brixton has agreed to accept an offer from Segro that values the industrial property group at £170million, or nearly 40% less than its market capitalisation last Friday.

Segro indicated it would offer 1.75 of its own shares for ever

Realpubs buy 5 Punch pubs in London

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Realpubs, the company led by ex -Whitbread managers Nick Pring and Malcolm Heap, has acquired five freehold London pubs from Punch Taverns in a deal estimated to be worth in the region of £10million.

Realpubs, founded in 2002, now owns th

Further blow for Simon Halabi as default on £1.4billion loan is imminent

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
One the UK’s largest property tycoons, Simon Halabi appears to be in the position of being unable to refinance over £1.4 billion ($2.07 billion) of outstanding loans on his property portfolio this year. He may be a little over a week away from

Care Home sector on the brink as Four Seasons and NHP face sale if debt restructuring fails

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Lenders to Four Seasons Healthcare, the heavily indebted care homes group, are considering a last-ditch plan for a restructuring that would about halve its £1.5billion debt. If there is no agreement, the company will be sold.

Four Seasons

Taylor Wimpey benefit from increased UK housing demand - H1 order book up 73%

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
House builder Taylor Wimpey said it had seen continued stability in the housing market in the past six weeks, and it might increase the number of new sites during the second half. It is currently operating from 337 sites, down from 386 on Jan 1. It is con

British Land in talks to sell stakes in or the whole of Broadgate

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Israeli billionaire Nochi Danker, through his holding company IDB Holding Corp is in early talks to buy a minority stake in the Broadgate office complex in London from British Land for up to £100million , the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange learned

Cable backs King - the banks must be split up

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Vince Cable, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats has echoed Mervyn King’s call for banks that are "too big to fail" to be cut down to size.

Yesterday the Governor of the Bank of England spoke at the annual Mansion House

Westfield in talks to refinance $1.25billion of bank debt

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Westfield Group, the world’s biggest shopping center owner by market value, is in talks with banks to raise about $1.25 billion in a so-called forward start loan, according to a source familiar with the talks. A forward start loan is a facility wher

Wetherspoon get Van de Berg wound up after multi -million award

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
JD Wetherspoon's former property finder, Van de Berg, was yesterday formally wound up by the High Court following a petition brought by the pub operator.

The move comes two months after Wetherspoon triumphed in a multi-million High Court damage

Holidaybreak make £31million cash call to buy former private schools

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Holidaybreak, the specialist travel operator, has become the latest company in the leisure sector to tap shareholders for cash, by launching a £31million rights issue.

Two years ago Holidaybreak paid £100million for PGL to get into

Marstons make rights call to accelerate new build programme and forecast FY profit of over £69 million

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Marston's, the independent brewing and pub retailing company, announced today a fully underwritten 11 for 10 Rights Issue to raise gross proceeds of £176 million, through the issue of 298,865,230 New Shares at 59.0 pence per New Share, a 39.6% disco

London & Scotland leading housing market recovery as gap between asking and selling prices narrows

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The gap between asking and selling prices in the UK residential property market is narrowing according to new research.

Almost 60% of surveyors are now reporting that the difference is declining, says the report published by the Royal Institute

Glasgow Council agrees to fund £83million new building and repairs programme for city homes

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Glasgow City Council’s Executive Committee last week approved an £83million funding package that will see more than 900 new and improved homes across the city.

The boost to the city’s socially rented and affordable housing mar

J Sainsbury posts Q1 results ahead of expectations & plans £445 million cash call for faster growth

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
J Sainsbury plans to raise £445 million by selling shares and convertible bonds to accelerate its expansion, it said today, as it posted first-quarter sales at the top end of expectations.

The 140-year-old firm, which runs over 500

Travelodge to set up £100 million vulture fund to pick up struggling hotels

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Budget hotel chain Travelodge says it has investor backing for a £100 million fund to be called Tamesis Capital to buy property for new hotels, one of its executives said in The Times today.

"We have tested the water and believ

£3.5 billion Barking Riverside scheme gets green light

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Plans have been approved for the first two stages of the £3.5billion Barking Riverside scheme in East London. Barking Riverside, is a joint venture between the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and housebuilder Bellway.

The approval for

Tesco Q1 UK sales up 4.3% and international sales up 20.1% as solid performance continues

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Tesco said today that it has made a solid start to the new financial year as the world's third-largest retailer reported a 4.3% rise in fiscal first-quarter same-store-sales in the U.K.

"We are also keeping a strong focus through the

Whitbread meets expectations with Q1 results

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Whitbread plc today posted a further decline in Q1 comparable sales, driven by a sharp drop in demand at its budget hotel chain, and said the outlook for the rest of the year remained challenging.

The operator of Premier Inn hotels and the Cost

NewRiver Retail finding good response as IPO market declares itself open for business

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Newriver Retail's £250 million London flotation is attracting good investor response, thanks to its distressed assets strategy, fund managers said.

The initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investm

Only 19% of UK commercial properties for sale or to let have an EPC

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The UK commercial property sector is failing to comply with energy regulations says a survey conducted by accreditation body National Energy Services (NES). NES is the trading subsidiary of the National Energy Foundation, a charity set up in 1988 to promo

Majestic Wine post pre-tax profit of £7.4million - down 56%

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Britain's largest wine warehouse chain Majestic Wine today posted an expected 22% fall in full-year profit but said underlying sales had picked-up in its new financial year. "Encouragingly UK like-for-like sales for the 10 weeks ... to June 8 were up

Punch Taverns offer £350 million equity for debt

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Troubled pub group Punch Taverns PLC Monday said it plans to issue shares to raise £350 million and make an offer to buy all of its outstanding convertible bonds. The company said it had decided to finance their repurchase through a share issu

Martin St Quinton loses a coach and a property company in one week.

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Capital City Developments, a London-focused developer part-owned by Martin St Quinton, the technology millionaire and race horse owner, turned Gloucester Rugby Club part-owner and deputy chairman.

Capital City went into administration earlier t

UBS sell Milton Gate for £127million to Evans Randall joint venture with Al Salam Bank for over 10% yield

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Private equity group Evans Randall has teamed up with Bahrain’s Al Salam Bank to buy the seven-storey 200,000 plus square feet Milton Gate office building in the City for £127million.

UBS Triton Fund, the seller, comprehensively

Fall in UK Commercial property capital values further eases in May as yields rise 0.8% say IPD

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The fall in UK commercial property capital values continued to decelerate in monthly depreciation, falling by 1.6% over May, and bringing the total peak-to-trough to -43.7% since June 2007, according to the IPD UK Monthly Index.

Income return w

Government to clarify EU guidelines on competitive tendering welcomed by property industry

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The UK Property Industry has welcomed news that the government will this month publish guidelines on a 2007 EU ruling that caused more than 70 UK schemes to be put on hold.

After a year of lobbying from the British Property Federation, the Offi

Plans for Chelsea Barracks withdrawn in favour of an international competition to find a better solution

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Qatari Diar, the developer behind the redevelopment of Chelsea Barracks, has withdrawn its plans twenty four hours after an upbeat planning committee report.

Yesterday a report from planning officers at Westminster City Council was broadly comp

Barclays find acceptable deal for BGI from Blackrock which will boost Core Tier 1 capital

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
BlackRock said yesterday it will buy Barclays' investment arm BGI for $13.5 billion (£8.16 billion) in a blockbuster deal that will create the world's biggest asset manager.

For BlackRock, a 21-year old company which has relied heavily on

West Bromwich Building Society achieves DIY rescue

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT

West Bromwich Building Society has agreed with holders of the Society’s subordinated debt to exchange the full outstanding principal amount of the Society’s subordinated debt, totalling £182.5 million, for a new instrument which will

UKFI said to be mulling bond issue to raise £5 billion or more

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
UKFI, the company managing the taxpayers stakes in Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group could sell an "exchangeable bond" in the two banks, according to the Daily Telegraph today.

The plan would effectively allow UK F

Home Retail Group report Homebase Q1 sales up 3.8% while Argos sales fell 2.8%

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Home Retail Group plc, the owner of Argos and Homebase, today reported better-than-expected first-quarter same-store sales, as home improvement business Homebase followed rival B&Q in reporting a boost in sales due to the warm spring weather.

London & Stamford plans further cash call

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
London & Stamford Property Ltd. said today that it intends to raise further equity as it looks to take advantage of the value available in the U.K. commercial property market.

The property investor also said it would keep under review

Newriver Retail - another bottom feeder plans a £250million IPO on AIM suggesting the bottom approaches

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
NewRiver Retail Limited has become the latest venture to target distressed commercial property assets and strengthens the argument that the battered UK commercial property market is reaching the bottom.

It aims to raise up to £250million

JLL and CBRE both come to the market for equity capital

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
It must be just coincidence that both CB Richard Ellis and Jones Lang LaSalle have come to the market on the same day with share offers, though albeit slightly different proposals.

CBRE, the world’s largest property services f

Tonsate to invest £120million inside the M25 with emphasis on Central London

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Tonstate, Dr Edward Wojakovski’s controlled commercial property investment group, has finalised its investment strategy for the year 2009 / 2010.

The policy of the Group and its related companies (which includes amongst its holdings the L

London & Stamford pick up 2 new properties at yields of 8.9% and 9.1%

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT

London & Stamford Property has exchanged contracts to buy Raceourse Retail Park at Aintree for £60.928million from Land Securities.

The 291,471 sq ft dominant, part Open A1 retail park is let to thirteen tenants including B&Q,

Buy to Let landlords struggle as in Q1 2009 appointments of Receiver of Rent rise to 2400 - 8x previous year

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Buy-to-let landlords are losing their properties at over three times the rate of other homeowners, research shows.

Council of Mortgage Lenders figures show 1,700 buy-to-let properties were repossessed by lenders in the first three months of thi

Halfords meet expectations with FY profits up 2.4%

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Car maintenance and cycles retailer Halfords today posted an expected 2.4% rise in full-year profit and said it was on track to deliver earnings growth in the current year.

The group, which runs about 460 stores, said profit before tax and o

More confidence in prospects for UK commercial property as yields harden in some sectors

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Recent evidence from commercial property markets suggests the downturn may be nearing an end.

Confidence is returning to the commercial property market, with the UK furthest advanced in the cycle, according to Anne Breen, head of property resea

Junared Property Group goes bust leaving many questions unanswered

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The High Wycombe -based Junared Property Group has fallen into administration. Deloitte was appointed as the administrator of Junared One, Junared Two, Junared Three, Burridge Land and Warnock Estates on 8 June.

Junared Property had been serve

Lloyds to close all 164 C&G branches on the High Street

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Lloyds Banking Group is to close all branches of its Cheltenham & Gloucester mortgage unit and cut some 1,500 jobs, media reported today.

Sky News cited industry sources as saying up to 1,500 jobs could go, while the BBC also reported Lloyd

RICS report further positive signs from the housing market with 10 year high in enquiries

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
House prices in England and Wales fell at their slowest annual pace in 1-1/2 years in the three months to May and completed sales hit a 9-month high in a sign the market may be over the worst, a survey showed today.

The Royal Institution of Cha

Greene King buy 11 Punch pubs for £30.4million

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Greene King plc today used its new-found financial strength to snap up 11 high quality pubs from beleaguered rival Punch Taverns for £30.4 million - below their book value.

The Suffolk-based pub operator said the consideration fo

Orchard Street acquire Bournemouth retail park for £25.5million

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Orchard Street Properties has acquired Mallard Road Retail Park, opposite Castlepoint in Bournemouth for £25.5 million.

CB Richard Ellis’s retail capital markets team acted on behalf of Aviva Investors Property Trust (previously Nor

Cushman & Wakefield report European commercial property investment volume down 74%

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Cushman & Wakefield has presented its European commercial real estate investment update. The highlights are:

    * Trading volumes fall to €11.4bn in quarter one, 74% down on the same period of 2008.
  &nb

DTZ Rockwood goes bust

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Less than a month after selling it's interests in the US firm DTZ Rockwood for a nominal amount, the firm has gone bust. DTZ Rockwood filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on June 1st. DTZ bought its 50% interest in the firm in May 2006 for an initia

Better news from the High Street as JD Sports Fashion report sales improving

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Clothing and footwear retailer JD Sports Fashion said today its sales growth improved in its latest trading period.

The group said its underlying sales increased 1.7% over the 17 weeks to May 30, with growth in its sports fascias of 1.2%

London is first global city where office investment property has reached fair value say DTZ

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The slump in the value of City of London offices has been so severe that it is now the only real estate hub that offers a good deal for international investors.

Elsewhere in the world, no other office market has seen as swift an adjustment in p

Further collapse of Modus empire as Modus Corovest slips under administration

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Salford-based Modus Corovest (Blackpool) Ltd, which owns the freehold of the Houndshill Shopping Centre in Blackpool, has gone into administration, marking the further collapse of the Modus empire.

Mark Firmin and Myles Halley from KPMG Restruc

Bellway report improving market in the south but first-time buyers still stymied by mortgage deposits

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Bellway plc , 4th largest house builder in the UK, said today that it hoped to secure 50% of fiscal 2010 sales before its new financial year starts, but it cautioned that target may be tough because of the traditionally slow summer selling period.

Hammerson delight City by further reducing debt with sale of 75% stake in Bishops Square.

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Hammerson sold a 75% stake in London office landmark Bishops Square, Spitalfields, London E1 to the Oman Investment Fund, an investment arm of the Government of Oman, in a transaction that cut the British property company's net debt by £386

Helical boss sees no immediate upturn for commercial property

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Property veteran Mike Slade, has warned that the commercial property market is unlikely to see a significant improvement within the next two years.

Mr Slade, the boss of property company Helical Bar, is known for his astute judgment of p

Helical Bar report FY loss £71.9million but plans more student accomodation and supermarkets

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Helical Bar is planning new development projects such as student homes and retail sites, betting that current low values and anticipated price recovery over the next two years will bring big profits.

Helical has raised about £500 mi

WH Smith Q3 retail sales down 4%

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
WH Smith plc, the book and magazine retailer, said today that sales at its stores open more than a year have fallen 4% in the first 13 weeks of its second half, but remains confident about its full-year results.

In a brief trading statement cov

Morrisons delight market with Q1 sales up 8.2%

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT

William Morrison Supermarkets today beat market expectations with an 8.2% rise in Q1 same-store sales as it continued to gain market share, but said its full-year financial outlook remained unchanged.

Sales at stores open at least a year, ex

Government policy on commercial property energy efficiency set to fail say BPF

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Government policies to reduce carbon emissions from commercial property by 2050 are set to fail, according to some of the country’s biggest property companies, because they are mis-aligned with incentives. They focus on landlords, whilst the tenants

Savills report 18% of property investment loans "under water" and 75% breach LTV covenant

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Most lenders to Britain's investment property market will be unable to shrink troublesome loan books for the foreseeable future, despite much of this debt being under water, property services firm Savills said.

At its annual property financing

Green shoots are emerging but the Germans say we may be worsening the economic crisis.

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT

German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has publicly criticised the Government’s quantitative easing policy, warning that flooding the UK economy with new money could worsen the economic crisis.

The programme actually involves the Treasury s

Pierse Group fails to save UK subsidary from administration.

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The British subsidiary of Irish property development and construction firm Pierse Group has gone into administration and is in the process of being wound up.

Administrators Zolfo Cooper took the decision to liquidate Northwich, Cheshire-based P

F & C Reit get green light to quadruple size of the existing Network 46 distribution hub

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
F&C REIT Asset Management has been given the planning green light to expand Network 46 Distribution Park near Lincoln by 960,000 sq ft.

The expansion will make the park Lincolnshire’s largest distribution facility by increasing it to

Will Brixton become the first UK REIT to fail?

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Drinking in the Last Chance Saloon, Brixton has less than a month to sober up after a heady cocktail of aggressive acquisitions and high borrowings buried it under a £862.2 million debt pile.

Brixton's loan covenants for its bank de

Laura Ashley comparable UK sales grow 6.9% in Q1 boosted by online sales up 41.6%

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Womenswear and furniture retailer Laura Ashley Holdings plc said today that comparable U.K. retail sales rose 6.9% in the 17 weeks to May 30, but it is slowing its store expansion program due to the tough economic conditions.

The company

Kingfisher report Q1 UK sales up 0.9% and profits doubled as B&Q cost cutting pays off.

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Kingfisher PLC today posted a slight fall in first-quarter same-store sales, as a better-than-expected performance at its core U.K. division B&Q helped offset falls in other markets, and said it was cautious about the remainder of the year.

Discount retailers prosper in the downturn - Poundland profits up 47% plans 40% more stores this year

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Discount retailer Poundland posted a 47% rise in annual profit today and said it was adding brands like Maxwell House, Kellogg's, Heinz, Pampers and Mr Muscle to its stable of goods that are all sold for £1.

The firm, which curre

British house prices level out in May as sales pick up but supply remains tight.

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
House prices in England and Wales were unchanged in May, the first time in 20 months that there has been no month-on-month decline, property data company Hometrack said today.

House prices are still down 9.6% on a year ago, but the end of the r

Cluttons and Aitchison Raffety announce mergers with smaller firms

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Some consolidation in the commercial property services sector has taken place this past week with Cluttons merging with Oxford based James Styles & Whitlock, which was established in 1885, and Aitchison Raffety taking over the West Midlands spec

Savills say there will be a shortage of new -build apartments in London

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT

There is no oversupply of new-built apartments in the capital according to Savills, who consider there is likely to be a shortage of new housing in London.
Its latest study found only 916 units were empty and available in the capital in the

Plans for £200million development at Pinewood Studios to be submitted today

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Pinewood Shepperton PLC , a provider of studio and related services to the film and television industries said today that following extensive public consultation, it will be submitting the planning application today to South Bucks District Council for Pro

LSH & RICS urge government to abolish Empty Property Rates as demolitions increase.

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Lambert Smith Hampton and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' Empty Property Rates Survey points to empty rates liability as the biggest single factor in the demolition of industrial buildings at present.

The survey found that the eco

KPMG predict wave of commercial property business failures as they take Modus Ventures into administration

Fri, 29 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Administrators have been called into Brendan Flood's Manchester-based commercial property and development group Modus Ventures.
Modus Ventures owns over 40 companies across the UK , the majority of which are in the retail property development secto

Greene King sells 11 Scottish pubs.

Fri, 29 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Greene King's Scottish brewery Belhaven has put 11 freehold pubs on the market.

Most of the pubs, which range from the Waterline in Greenock in the west of Scotland to the most northern unit, the Crown in Keith, are currently tenanted although

Anglo Irish reveal €4.1billion pre-tax loss as government seeks EU approval for €4billion taxpayer injection

Fri, 29 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Anglo Irish Bank has announced massive pre-tax losses of €4.1billion for the six months to the end of March this year, compared to a profit of €667million in the same period last year.

The bank - which is owned by the Irish taxpayer a

US fears that re-rating of AAA securities will remove TALF safety net hit commercial debt refinancing hopes

Fri, 29 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Fears among credit investors have risen that threatened ratings downgrades of commercial property debt might thwart US government efforts to revive the markets that help fund office blocks, shopping centres and other commercial real estate.

Sta

Wichford considers cash call as swap losses and revaluation decimate balance sheet

Fri, 29 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Wichford plc, the Isle of Man based property investment company which owns 72 UK and 7 European properties let to government bodies, said today that for the first half ended Mar. 31 it's pre-tax loss stood at £75.7 million versus a previous loss of

Brixton selling more of it's portfolio to prop up balance sheet

Fri, 29 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Brixton, the London industrial landlord, which is facing a potential breach in its banking and bond covenants next month when they are next tested has found that the only firm takeover approach has come from Segro. Such a takeover will require aroun

Upmarket Scottish housebuilder Applecross goes bust, provoking fury that banks are hitting small builders

Thu, 28 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Scotland could lose all its small building firms over the next six months, the chairman of collapsed construction company Applecross has warned.

Graham Aggett, whose company fell into the hands of receivers last week, claimed that other small f

Wolseley report Q3 profits down 80% at £72million and cuts 4 UK distribution centres and 270 jobs

Thu, 28 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Wolseley, the building supplies company, said on today that nine-month profits slumped 80%, as most of its markets weakened in March and April.

The company, which recently squeezed shareholders for £1 billion to prop up its debt-lad

Booker FY profits up 30% to £47.2million as sales increase 3.3%

Thu, 28 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Cash and carry company Booker Group PLC today reported a 30% rise in full-year pretax profit, driven by higher sales, and said it will move from the Alternative Investment Market to London's official list in July.

Booker, the UK's largest cash

Commercial property transactions increase to highest level for 6 months

Thu, 28 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Signs of a commercial property revival have been revealed in a report by accountancy BDO Stoy Hayward.

The firm’s Commercial Real Estate Review showed that 9,000 commercial transactions valued above £40,000 were completed in March &

Henderson launch £200million London Office Fund to snap up bargains

Wed, 27 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Henderson Global Investors, has launched the Henderson Central London Office Fund II (“CLOF II”), a seven year absolute return, closed ended fund designed to capitalise on the cyclicality of the central London office market, and the emergence

Student Accomodation market holding up well

Wed, 27 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Buy to let for the student accommodation sector is one section of the UK property investment market that is holding up well in the global downturn, according to new research by Savills.

High demand, low supply growth, rising rents and high occu

Nationwide produce a solid result, albeit down 50% on last year, with profits of £393million for FY 2008

Wed, 27 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Nationwide Building Society reported a 50% drop in its full-year profits and warned on its outlook as impairments rise and competition for retail funds increases.

Britain's largest building society reported an underlying pretax profit of £

East London housebuilder Telford Homes bucks the trend with profits up on last year

Wed, 27 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Telford Homes Plc, a residential developer in East London, announced today its preliminary final results for the year ended Mar. 31, an adjusted pretax profit of £7.3 million, but it will not be paying a dividend to conserve cash.

X-Leisure Fund tries last ditch fund raising with 10p rights issue a discount of 72.5%

Tue, 26 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Capital & Regional PLC, the co-investing property asset manager, announced today that the X-Leisure Unit Trust (in which it owns a 19.4% stake and is the property asset manager) has announced its intention to raise around £50 million throu

Marstons H1 profits down 49% to £15.7million but trading now improving

Fri, 22 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Marston's plc today reported a 49% fall in first-half pretax profit following a hefty non-cash charge, but said trading had improved slightly since mid-February.

For the 26 weeks to April 4, Marston's posted pretax profit of £15.7 million

Brixton holding takeover talks in the last chance saloon

Fri, 22 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Brixton plc , the London industrial real estate investment trust, said today it was in talks with a small number of parties that could lead to possible offers for the company.

It cautioned that discussions were at a very early st

Hawtin reveal £18 million loss and breaches LTV covenants

Thu, 21 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Cardiff-based Hawtin revealed an annual pre-tax loss for 2008 of £17.8 million and warned that there is no sign of recovery in the market this year, despite being upbeat on its acquisition of industrial space at Nantgarw and the Holywell Group

CML say too early to call housing market recovery as mortgage lending in April dropped further 9% from March

Thu, 21 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Gross mortgage lending declined to an estimated £10.4billion in April, down 9% from £11.4billion in March and 60% down from £26.1billion in April 2008, according to the latest lending figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

British Land worry market with 64% fall in NAV causing a FY loss of £3.92billion

Thu, 21 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
British Land posted £3.2 billion of markdowns in property values on today, triggering new worries for banks yet to defuse risks on their huge exposure to the battered real estate market.

The company, which owns most of the Broadgate

Clinton Cards gives up Birthdays to administration

Thu, 21 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Clinton Cards plc, the greeting cards retailer, has placed its loss-making Birthdays subsidiary into administration as it doesn't expect it to make a profit in the near future, the company said today.

In a statement, Clinton Cards said it can n

M&B H1 profits down 48% as CEO resigns after telling market of £69million swap rate loss

Thu, 21 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Mitchells & Butlers plc Chief Executive Tim Clarke resigned today, after the U.K. pub operator lost £69 million on an interest rate swap.

The operator of 2,000 pubs, which is being squeezed by a slump in consumer spending, said

Spencer Michael's get-rich-quick property empire wound up

Thu, 21 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
It's the end of the road for Spencer Michael, the sham property guru who once declared "I love capitalism".

He also boasted of making "10 million bucks" in 19 months, but the 43-year-old Londoner is now a bankrupt and his gr

Grainger slump to H1 loss of £143million but confident of meeting covenant test

Wed, 20 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Grainger Plc , the UK's largest listed residential landlord, today reported a first-half loss before tax of £143 million on falling property values and early debt conversion costs.

Grainger, which owns about £2.3 billion in as

Shaftesbury post £160million loss and NAV down 39% yet announce £149million cash call

Wed, 20 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Shaftesbury PLC said today that it has fully underwritten rights issue to raise net proceeds of £149.1 million, through the issue of up to 90,329,134 new ordinary shares.,despite announcing as pre tax loss of almost £160 million and a NA

BTL lender Paragon Mortgages profits down 40% but lending down 98% as boss calls for state aid

Tue, 19 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT

In it's H1 2009 interim management statement Paragon Mortgages, one of the few remaining Buy to Let lenders, revealed that profits fell 40% to £15.9million pre-tax. However, the group raised its interim dividend from 1p to 1.1p, payable on July 3

Marks & Spencer FY profits down 40% as expected to £604million forces cut in dividend of 33%

Tue, 19 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Marks & Spencer Group plc today cut its dividend by a third to preserve its balance sheet after it reported a slump in annual profit and same-store sales and said it remained cautious about its outlook.

The U.K. retailer said trading in the

Regus plc sales up 16% to £387million as globalisation continues

Tue, 19 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Global provider of offices and workspace solutions, Regus plc, today said it's confident in its outlook despite the tough market conditions, which continue to adversely impact its income.

The company warned that the trading environment is putti

Great Portland make expected cash call for £166million

Tue, 19 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Central London landlord Great Portland Estates plc as expected, today launched a rights issue to raise £166 million after posting a 43.5% fall in full-year adjusted net assets per share.

The company proposed an underwritten 8 for 11

Fall in UK Commercial property capital values eases in April as rental values continue to plummet

Mon, 18 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
UK commercial property rental values have been trending downwards for 14 consecutive months on a rolling three-month basis, according to April’s IPD UK Monthly Index, ending April 2009 at -3.21% – the lowest rental value equivalent figure sinc

Big Yellow report £71million FY loss and issue 11.6million new shares to fund 7 new developments

Mon, 18 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Self storage company Big Yellow Group PLC   said today it is seeking to raise cash to pay for new developments in London, as it reported a a full-year loss following steep writedowns on the value of its properties.

Big Yellow said it

Great Portland Estates to make £150million cash call to raise war chest despite 43% fall in NAV last year

Mon, 18 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Great Portland Estates, the London office developer, will this week launch a surprise rights issue to raise about £150million just to fund acquisitions in a deal advised by JPMorgan Cazenove and Credit Suisse.

Chief executive Toby

Another property veteran forms a vulture fund for commercial property and London residential property

Mon, 18 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Paul Orchard-Lisle, the former chairman of Slough Estates and senior partner at Healey & Baker (now Cushman & Wakefield), is the latest property veteran to launch new opportunity funds.

Mr Orchard-Lisle's move means that £700mill

West Bromwich Building Society denies press claims that it is being forced to merge

Mon, 18 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The West Bromwich Building Society last night hit back at suggestions that fears about its balance sheet had led the Financial Services Authority to hold talks with a larger rival about rescuing it via a merger.

The building society, the countr

House repossessions rise in Q1

Fri, 15 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Nearly 13,000 Britons lost their homes to repossession in the first three months of this year as the recession deepened, but there are tentative signs things could get better as the year wears on.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders said on Friday

Derwent London make progress despite market conditions by minimising voids

Fri, 15 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
In its interim management statement for the six months to 31 March Derwent London said its ‘strong balance sheet, low vacancy rate, affordable passing rents, and diverse tenant base, gives us confidence that we are well placed to take advantage of t

2008 De Montfort Commercial Property lending survey shows bank margins doubled and LTV's fell 10%

Fri, 15 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The latest De Montfort University survey into commercial property bank lending shows the level of loans in breach of covenants and in default has accelerated sharply, but they remain a low proportion of overall debt.

Most banks talk of tu

Kier Group trading well despite subdued housing and development markets

Thu, 14 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Kier Group plc, the construction and support services company, said today in it's Interim Management statement that it is on track to deliver underlying results in line with expectations this year.

The construction businesses are performing wel

End of mass market Buy To Let as small landlords to be squeezed out - Report says

Thu, 14 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The recession will likely signal the end for many of Britain’s smaller buy-to-let landlords, and poses a grim threat to city-centre new build properties, warn experts at The University of Nottingham.

New research suggests that while the b

Barratt pleases City with expectation to keep within loan covenants as sales pick up

Wed, 13 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Barratt Developments plc in its Interim Management Statement covering the 19 week period from 1 January 2009 to 10 May 2009 said visitor levels per site for the 19 week period were down 6% compared to the prior year comparable period. However, since 1

A&J Mucklow directors & Management take at least 10% pay cut in anticipation of a tough year to come

Wed, 13 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
A&J Mucklow Group plc, the Midlands based Real Estate Investment Trust, issued its Interim Management Statement today, covering the period from 1 January 2009 to 30 April 2009.

Executive directors and management have collectively volunteere

Greggs the baker report sales up 2% and growing

Wed, 13 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Bakery firm Greggs said today that like-for-like sales growth picked up in March and April boosted by hot cross bun sales over Easter amid signs of greater stability in customer numbers at its shops.

The company, which sells sandwiches, savouri

Land Securities disappoint with a FY fall of 66.4% in NAV and a £4.77 billion loss.

Wed, 13 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Land Securities plc , the UK's biggest property company, today warned that vacancy rates are continuing to rise and rental values are weakening after it posted a 66.4% fall in full-year net asset value (NAV).

Chief Executive Francis

J Sainsbury delight the market with 11% rise in FY profits to £543million

Wed, 13 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
J Sainsbury plc today posted an 11% rise in annual profit as the U.K. supermarket chain attracted price-conscious shoppers with its vast range of own-label products, and said it is well positioned to continue its good progress.

Sainsbury, the n

New property star is born - Max Property finds overwhelming support.

Wed, 13 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Max Property Group, a newly-formed Jersey-incorporated closed-ended property investment company, says it intends to float on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange and the Channel Islands Stock Exchange (CIX) next week aft

Croydon scraps Park Place development agreement with Minerva

Tue, 12 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The London Borough of Croydon has scrapped a development agreement with developer Minerva for the Park Place retail scheme.

The council has given ten-days notice of the termination after the developer failed to bring forward a scheme in line wi

RICS report most buyer interest for a decade

Tue, 12 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Sales in April improved further, while the net balance of surveyors reporting a rise in new buyer enquires climbed to the highest figure for almost a decade, according to the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) UK housing market survey.

Galliford Try to meet forecasts as housing shows signs of revival

Tue, 12 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Construction and housebuilding group Galliford Try in it's interims today said it expects fiscal-year results to meet management's expectations given resilient trading from its building and infrastructure services for public and regulated sectors.

Intercontinental Hotels report Q1 profits down 44% as hospitality industry struggles worldwide

Tue, 12 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT

InterContinental Hotels Group, the world's biggest hotelier, met forecasts with a 44% drop in Q1 profit to $69 million on sales down 24% to $342 million and said today it was outperforming rivals in a tough market.

The operator of InterConti

Enterprise Inns report H1 profits down 10% per pub which underwhelms the City

Tue, 12 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Enterprise Inns' interim first half results, announced today show Ebitda of £225 million, which on a per pub basis is down 10% with net income per pub down 8%.

Enterprise are carrying struggling tenants to the tune of £1.4million pe

British Land sale of 50% stake in Broadgate falls through

Mon, 11 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
MGPA, the Macquarie Group-backed Australian fund, is understood to have abandoned plans to purchase Broadgate, the City office scheme owned by British Land, according to the Independant on Sunday..

The paper said British Land was looking

Travis Perkins raises £300 million in cash call as sales in 2009 fall 14.4%

Mon, 11 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Travis Perkins PLC , the builders' merchant and home improvement retailers, said today it's business had continued the slowdown seen throughout 2008, as LFL sales were down 14.4% and that revenue in the first 4 months ended April 30th was down by 13

Land Securities get green light at Selborne House Victoria

Fri, 08 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Land Securities has received planning approval from Westminster Council for its Selborne House development on Victoria Street, London.

The current Selborne House, an outdated 1960's office building, is located at the junction of Victoria Street

KW Linfoot insolvency to be investigated as creditors suspect foul play

Fri, 08 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Peel Holdings has called in insolvency expert and partner at Begbies Traynor, Paul Stanley to investigate the collpase of Yorkshire property group KW Linfoot.

Manchester-based Peel, which is already on the record about its "ser

Shepherd Neame buy 13 Punch pubs for £14.86 million cash

Fri, 08 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Shepherd Neame, the Faversham-based brewer, announced today that it has agreed to buy 13 freehold pubs and associated pub-specific assets from Punch Taverns for £14.86 million in cash. The transaction is expected to complete on May 26.

RBS report a Q1 loss of £857 million though total income was up 26% as impairments hit.

Fri, 08 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc said today it has posted a net loss in the first quarter and said both 2009 and 2010 will be tough years for the bank.

In the first quarter, the bank swung to a net loss of £857 million, after a profit of

Taylor Wimpey raise £510million with new share placing and offer.

Fri, 08 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Taylor Wimpey plc announced today a fully underwritten share placing and open offer of 2,131,132,548 new ordinary shares at 25 pence each to raise net proceeds of £510 million.

TW will use the proceeds to reduce debt and will pass on a fi

CBRE report commercial property down a further 2.1% in April as market signals bottoming out

Thu, 07 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
UK commercial property values fell a further 2.1% in April, taking the market's total drop since its June 2007 peak to 42.7%, the latest CB Richard Ellis Monthly Index showed today.

The weakening in capital value eased from March's fall o

Lloyds shocks City with profit warning as bad HBOS commercial property loans take their toll

Thu, 07 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Lloyds Banking Group shocked the City with an interim statement today. The bank says it has continued to increase its estimated market share of net new mortgage lending in Q1, while it warned of a 50% increase in bad corporate debts and that it's particip

Barclays Q1 profit up 15% on last year to £1.37billion

Thu, 07 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Barclays said its first quarter profit rose 15% from a year ago as strong growth at its investment bank arm made up for a big jump in bad debts.

Trading in April had been "generally consistent with the overall trend for February and March

Hiranandani wins fight with Laxey over Hirco

Thu, 07 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Niranjan Hiranandani, chairman of Hirco Plc, yesterday emerged winner in his long-drawn fight with Laxey Partners, the activist shareholder in the company which had been campaigning to remove the board of directors, including Hiranandani.

Laxey

Commerzbank to shed Eurohypo to qualify for aid

Thu, 07 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Commerzbank is to divest its Eurohypo property finance subsidiary as part of a deal with European competition authorities to compensate for state aid, the Financial Times reported today.

The European Commission is set to approve the aid today w

Savills see no upturn yet for commercial property

Wed, 06 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Savills said today in it's AGM statement, that the market for commercial property across Europe, Asia and the U.S. remained weak so far this year, as a lack of capital forced buyers to remain on the sidelines.

"During the period to d

UK commercial property loans threaten Deutsche Postbank recovery

Wed, 06 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Deutsche Postbank said it had stabilised its capital position but warned that it was still not free of the effects of the financial crisis after it fell to another quarter of pre-tax losses.

Marc Hess, chief financial officer of Germany’s

Next beat Q1 expectations as group sales rise 1.2%

Wed, 06 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Next plc., the fashion retailer with more thn 480 stores in the UK and Ireland, today reported better-than-expected first-quarter sales and upgraded its internal profit forecast by £15 million, but said it expects a weaker second quarter.

Resilient JD Wetherspoon Q3 sales up 4.7%

Wed, 06 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT

J.D. Wetherspoon PLC said today that third-quarter sales increased 4.7%, helped by strong cost control, and it remains "slightly more positive" for the company's prospects in the current financial year.

In the six weeks to Ma

BTL yields continue to rise in Q1 2009

Wed, 06 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The most recent Paragon Mortgages’ Private Rented Sector Trends report shows that buy-to-let landlords experienced strengthening yields in the first quarter of 2009.

The quarterly survey tracks developments in the UK’s buy-to-

Frogmore Real Estate buy residential retirement park operator Britannia Parks for £17million

Tue, 05 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Frogmore Real Estate Partners has made its first acquisition in a new venture with The Britannia Parks Group, with the purchase of one of the foremost retirement home companies of its type, Britannia Parks, for approximately £17million. The portfoli

Half of top 20 US banks need a total of $150 billion extra capital to ride property's continued fall

Tue, 05 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
About 10 of the 19 largest U.S. banks being stress tested will be instructed by regulators to raise more capital, according to a source familiar with official talks.

The banks have been negotiating with their regulators about the depth of their

Around the world commercial property values and sales are falling and finance defaults rising

Tue, 05 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Global sales of investment grade commercial property plunged 73% to $47 billion in the first quarter from a year ago, or just one-sixth of the level two years ago, according to real estate research firm Real Capital Analytics.

A total of 1,014

London & Stamford scoop a bargain in Leeds

Fri, 01 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
No.1 Whitehall Riverside in Leeds has been sold to AIM-listed London & Stamford Property for £37.62 million, by New Star Asset Management.

New Star lost £22.38million on the 130,000 sq ft property, which has tenants

Taylor Wimpey reveal £1.84billion loss but shares surge on news of refinancing agreement

Fri, 01 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Shares in housebuilder Taylor Wimpey rose 9% yesterday on news it had completed its refinancing, despite simultaneously reporting a disastrous £1.84billion loss for 2008.

The loss, hugely exacerbated by £1.9billion in write-downs of

Temporary shops will become a phenomenon to re-energise flagging retail experience

Fri, 01 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Temporary shops, once the preserve of fireworks retailers have gone upmarket, temporary big brand outlets are sneaking up on European streets, filling vacancies opened by the credit crunch and building a buzz that's relatively cheap.

One exampl

CBI and GVA Grimley survey shows 52% of companies have surplus property they plan to cut

Fri, 01 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Over half of all British companies are saddled with more property than they need, and many plan to pare surplus space in the coming months as recession threatens to cut their workforce even further, a survey showed today.
The report by the Confe

Rugby Estates swing to FY loss of £15.8million as Directors take pay cut

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Property and asset management group Rugby Estates plc said today it swung to a fiscal-year pretax loss of £15.8 million due to falling property valuations, and will focus on its asset management division, which has resulted in a reduction of h

CB Richard Ellis Q1 results disappoint as credit crunch hits revenue a further 28%

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., which has recently been named in the Fortune 500 list of the largest US-based companies for the second straight year – the only commercial real estate services firm in the list, has swung to a Q1 loss due to a 28%&

Boris to decide fate of P&O £1billion Waterloo scheme after Lambeth give green light

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Lambeth Council has said it is minded to grant planning consent for a £1billion scheme at London’s Waterloo station.

On Tuesday night its planning committee approved plans by P&O Estates and Morgan Stanley Real Estate to r

Hammerson report continued market weakness in Q1

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Real-estate investment trust Hammerson PLC   said today that conditions remained challenging during Q1, with weaker occupier demand for both offices and retail, but that it continues to generate a robust income stream.

Chairman John N

William Hill Q1 performance up 6.5% thanks to online gambling

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
William Hill, the betting operator with 2300 UK and Ireland betting shops, said today it made good progress during the 17 weeks ended Apr. 28, with net revenue up 6.5% against a strong comparator period in 2008.

It said overall performance duri

Aviva Investors to sell off £800 million worth of properties from it's commercial property portfolio

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Aviva Investors, the fund manager, is to sell £800million of commercial property from its with-profits funds after the decline in value of other investments caused an overweight to commercial property.

The company needs to realign allocat

Segro report cautious first quarter

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Segro report in their Q1 interim statement that, they continue to receive a reasonable number of enquiries for new space, but the overall quantity and quality of such enquiries has reduced in Q1 09 and the time taken to convert enquiries to new letting

Birmingham Council threaten compulsory purchase for Broad Street Tower site

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Birmingham City Council has threatened to issue a Compulsory Purchase Order on land earmarked for the 40-storey Broad Street Tower.

Plans for the scheme include a hotel, up to 190 apartments, car parking, restaurants and cafes.

But t

Fullers buy 7th Punch Pub

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Punch has sold another jewel from it's London crown to Fullers.

This 7th sale is the Round House in Garrick Street, London on which a cash sale has been agreed at £3.3million which is £100,000 less than book value. In it's last fin

Santander report Q1 profits down 5% but Abbey has performed strongly with profits up over 25%

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Abbey has reported today that it's Q1 profit before tax from continuing operations and trading profit before tax are up over 25% to £372million versus Q1 2008. Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley have both contributed pos

Carpetright H2 report UK & Ireland sales down 12%

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Carpet and floor coverings retailer Carpetright today said group sales over the last 25 weeks decreased 6.7% year-on-year as house moves remain at low levels, and said its margins have been hit by the euro's appreciation against the pound.

I

Brixton Q1 results indicate little change from course that is heading on to rocks

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Brixton said in it's Q1 interim statement today that 160,000 sq ft of space was let in the first quarter of 2009 generating £1.5 million of annualised new rental income.

The group added that this represents a slower rate of lettings compa

Whitbread beat expectations with 9.3% increase in FY 2008 profits to £230 million

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Whitbread PLC today posted a 9.3% rise in full-year profit despite a slowdown in its fourth quarter, but warned that trading at its budget hotels had softened further in the new year.

The operator of Premier Inn hotels and the Costa Coffee chai

Knight Frank equity partner quits to row his own boat

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The man who established the north of England offices of estate agency Knight Frank has quit.

Julian D'Arcy, an equity partner with the firm, says his decision to leave after 15 years and pursue other property interests reflects his belief that

JJB landlords accept CVA proposals

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Shares in JJB Sports jumped this lunchtime by 5.75pence after the firms creditors agreed a rescue plan to ease the rent burden and get access to more funds.

JJB said its creditors, many of whom are the landlords of its network of stores, backe

Mortgages approvals do not support house market revival claims

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The number of mortgages approved for house purchase fell by a quarter year-on-year in March, the British Bankers' Association said today, casting doubt on a sustained pick-up in home sales.

The number of mortgages approved slipped to 26,097 las

Liberty expected to announce £500million rights issue this week

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The weekend press contained several reports that Liberty International is intending to raise up to £500 million through a placing that is expected to come as early as this week, as it seeks to bolster its ailing balance sheet.

UK Coal property operations have neutral effect in pretax FY loss of £15.7million

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
UK Coal today reported an operating profit before exceptional items of £1.8 million, compared to £72.1 million in 2007, a loss before (and after) tax of £15.7 million, compared to a profit before tax of £69.0 million the year befor

Signals from the High Street unclear as John Lewis report weekly sales down 11.6%

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
John Lewis, the employee-owned group seen as a barometer of retail spending, reported a plunge in weekly sales at its department stores today, hit by warm weather and the timing of Easter.

The group said sales fell 11.6% on the same week last y

Capital & Regional report pre-tax loss of £516million for FY2008 and NAV down 73%

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Capital & Regional, the co-investing asset manager, has reported a pre-tax loss of £516 million for the year ending December 2008 and will pass it's final dividend to shareholders, to retain cash, as it struggles to restructure it's financing to

Failures continue in US commercial property and banking

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
General Growth Properties (GGP), America’s second-largest mall owner, shut it's doors because it could not refinance it's short term debt. Many other property owners are in negative equity or have insufficient positive equity to meet ban

St Modwen get green light for £75million Queens Market Newham redevelopment

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
St Modwen has got the green light for the £75 million redevelopment of Queens Market in East London from Newham Council after five years of consultation.

The scheme includes a new Market Hall, including 164 market stalls, as well as more

Barclays to lend additional £11billion to UK households and businesses

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Barclays announced today its intention to increase lending to its UK customers and clients in 2009 by £11billion, an increase of 6% on UK loan balances at the end of 2008. Loan balances in the UK increased to record levels in 2008, up 12% on the

Debenhams announce H1 profits up 11% to £104.2 million

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Debt laden department stores group Debenhams posted an 11% rise in first-half profit and said that, while it remained cautious about the trading outlook, the second half had started well.

The country's second-biggest department stores cha

Persimmon still cautious but Q1 sales ahead of budget despite margin pressure

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Ahead of it's AGM today, Persimmon, Britain's biggest housebuilder by market value, announced in an interim statement, that sales volumes for the first sixteen weeks of the year have continued to be ahead of expectations. Pricing and margins however

Greene King announce 3 for 5 rights to raise warchest and pay down debt

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Greene King today announced a fully underwritten 3 for 5 rights issue to raise £207.5 million, through the issue of 80,749,647 New Shares. The Rights Issue has been fully underwritten by Deutsche Bank AG.

The purpose is to make sele

Little help for UK commercial property in the Budget, but wider help for the construction of new efficient property

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT

The Chancellor failed to give the commercial property industry the break it was asking for on empty property rates relief in his Budget today. He said that the changes announced in the pre-budget report – a one year holiday for properties with a

LSL remain cautious about short term outlook for UK housing market

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
LSL, the estate agency group which owns the Your Move and Reeds Rains chains, said today that it has been trading "slightly better" than expectations.

Roger Matthews, chairman of the York-based group, which also operates financial ser

Taylor Wimpey takes informal soundings from investors about £350million rights issue.

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Taylor Wimpey has begun talks with its largest investors about the possibility of a rights issue, now that it's banks have signed off it's refinancing.

Although discussions are at an early stage, City sources have confirmed the housebuilder&rsq

St Modwen sign up with Taunton Council to develop a £270million mixed use town centre plan

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
St Modwen Properties Plc said today it signed a partnership agreement with Taunton Deane Borough Council to develop a £270 million regeneration of Firepool a 6.7ha brownfield town centre regeneration scheme in Taunton, Somerset.

The

Darling expected to announce £1billion stimulus to housing market in the Budget

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Chancellor Alistair Darling is expected to spend an extra £1 billion to support the construction industry in Wednesday's Budget, a government sources said.

The new money will include a fund to restart development at stalled construction s

Tesco beat expectations with 10% increase in profit to £3.128billion for year to February on sales up 15%

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Tesco, now the world's No.3 retailer, showed its resilience to the economic downturn, posting a 10% rise in underlying annual profit to £3.128 billion, a British retail record.

The supermarket group, which employs 440,000 people in

Homeowners Mortgage Support scheme finally launched

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT

A long-awaited taxpayer-backed scheme to help recession-hit families avoid having their homes repossessed will come into force today, on the eve of the Budget. As a result some hard-pressed homeowners will be able to reduce monthly mortgage payments fo

Telford Homes gets further bank support

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Telford Homes, the London residential property developer, said today it had concluded talks with all of its banks to renew loans and extend all banking facilities with amended covenants.

Telford also said it had agreed for a £57 mil

Banks selling assets to strengthen balance sheets and reduce government dependence

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Two European banks today stepped up efforts to reduce their reliance on state funding, but Bank of America showed that the sector's troubles continue by reporting a big increase in bad loans.

Switzerland's UBS AG agreed to sell its Brazilian bu

Citigroup quarterly results show upward blip as increasing consumer defaults signal more bad news to come

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Citigroup reported better-than-expected results as an accounting benefit for distressed companies, cost-cutting and improved trading results helped offset losses from consumer lending and credit cards.

The third-largest U.S. bank, first b

Birmingham office sale expected to raise £110 million

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
King Sturge are to sell three prime Birmingham office buildings to help the owners repay debt and reinvest in the estate.

The Brindleyplace Limited Partnership (TBLP), which is made up of developer Argent, itself owned by the BT pension f

Second dip phase as commercial property rents falling are now driving capital values further down

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Capital depreciation in UK commercial property ended the first quarter at a pace consistent with declines seen in the first two months of 2009, at -3.1% in March, according to the IPD UK Monthly Index.
The compounded capital movement over the fir

Moody's downgrades Building Societies and former societies on fears of further house price falls

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Moody’s has downgraded the credit ratings of Alliance & Leicester (A&L) and leading mortgage lender, Abbey.

The firm has reassessed the Santander-owned banks, plus a number of UK building societies, on the basis that the UK proper

Shaid Luqman to be jailed again for failing to comply with court orders

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Businessman Shaid Luqman is to be jailed again, on the orders of a High Court judge presiding over a case brought by KPMG, administrator of his collapsed property finance company Lexi Holdings.

Luqman, a Manchester entrepreneur, has been senten

Marstons strike the right note with the City

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Marston's, the brewer of Pedigree and owner of pubs, reported that demand for cask ales and "value for money" food offers have helped it report a sales turnaround for the past eight weeks today.

The company's managed pubs divisi

Persimmon board make further sacrifices as payroll is cut following bonus cull

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Boardroom pay at Persimmon more than halved last year as a result of the housing slump, though the 23% recovery in it's share price may raise a cheer.

The housebuilder, which announced in February that no director would receive a bonus for 2008

Eatonfield get green light for £200million regeneration scheme at Moss Bay Cumbria

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Eatonfield Developments, part of the AIM listed Eatonfield Group, has received the green light to redevelop a steelworks site at Workington, in Cumbria, and has started work to clear the site.

Eatonfield purchased the 87 acre former Corus Rail

Government announces 11 sites for next generation nuclear stations including 2 debutants near Sellafield

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Two sites in Cumbria never previously used for nuclear power generation are included a list of eleven potential locations for new reactors in England and Wales.

The two sites, located at Braystones and Kirsanton in Cumbria, are near the existin

Hammerson gets green light for £100million Southampton WestQuay scheme

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Hammerson's plans for a £100million extension to Southampton’s WestQuay shopping centre, including what could become the city’s tallest building, were approved by councillors this morning.

Six of the seven councillors voting o

HSBC looking to repeat it's property sale and leaseback trick.

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
HSBC is reported to be considering a further sale of its Canary Wharf headquarters, although relocation is unlikely as the bank is expected to raise cash from the site through the same type of sale-and-lease back arrangement that it made a £200milli

BRC seek permanent rates reduction to help retailers survive

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT

The BRC say the way to prevent ‘high streets becoming ghost towns' is to remove burdens and help retailers survive in them, continuing to provide jobs and services.

Reacting to an announcement by Communities Secretary Hazel Blears toda

British Land looking to raise £1.25 billion selling a half stake in Broadgate office

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
British Land is in talks to sell half of its £2.5billion Broadgate office estate in the City of London to private equity investors as part of efforts to raise cash and rebalance its property portfolio.

It is understood that Australian fun

Quantitative easing accelerated as Bank tries to undo effects of Governor King's recent remarks

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee decision to leave interest rates on hold at 0.5% and reaffirmation of its commitment to spend £75billion on bonds caused gilt prices to rally as traders dismissed previous fears that the Bank's commitment towards

Canary Wharf take advantage of depressed bond markets to buy back debt at 70% discount.

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Canary Wharf Group, the operator and developer of the London financial hub, has cut its long-term debt by buying back £120million of mortgage bonds at an average 70% discount, in a move that demonstrates the lack of liquidity in the debt marke

Berlin set to nationalise Hypo Real Estate with €1.39 per share offer to shareholders

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The German government offered €1.39 (£1.25) per share today to take over Hypo Real Estate, the stricken Munich-based property lender it plans to seize control of and restructure.

The offer represents a 15.8% premium over HRE's closin

John Lewis week on week sales down 6.7% again led by electricals

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
John Lewis, the employee-owned group seen as a barometer of retail spending, said weekly sales at its department stores fell 6.7% from the same week last year, hit by the timing of Easter.

The group said today that sales at its 27 department st

Opus land let 2 Birmingham former office buildings to Whitbread for Premier Inns

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Opus Land, which owns two adjoining eight-storey buildings in Waterloo Street Birmingham, originally intended to refurbish them for commercial use. But the property market downturn made the Warwickshire-based company rethink its plans and in a “late

Grainger meet covenant tests

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Grainger plc, the UK's largest quoted residential property owner, today provided an update to the market in advance of its interim results announcement for the half year to 31 March 2009, which will be issued on 20 May 2009.

For the six month

JD Wetherspoon win £5.5million case against their former commercial property agents

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Commercial property agents face uncomfortable scrutiny following yesterday's High Court victory by pub group JD Wetherspoon over its former property advisor Van de Berg.

After a three-year-long legal battle, and in a judgment running to 1

CBRE monthly UK Commercial Property index still heading south

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The CB Richard Ellis Monthly Index of UK commercial property for March 2009 shows that retail is still leading the way down with a total return in the month of a further -2.6%, so that the index which on retail stood at 219.6 a year ago is now 161,

Colliers CRE back in equilibrium after £4.9million loss and 150 jobs gone thanks to bank support

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Colliers CRE, the AIM-listed commercial property consultants, announced a loss of £4.9million for the year to 31 December 2008 following a drop in turnover of 34% to £78million. Post tax the loss was £10million and this has been financed

Tchenguiz's Globe pub chain defaults on mortgage payments

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Globe Pub Company was reported last night to have defaulted on a £257million asset-backed loan, leaving property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz facing hefty losses.

Last month bondholders of the company, which owns more than 400 pubs, were said

JJB sports outlines CVA proposals to landlords having extracted a deal from it's banks

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
JJB Sports has put a gun to the heads of the landlords of the 140 stores the sportswear retailer is proposing to close. They will be able to claim against an aggregate fund of £10 million if they approve the proposed Company Voluntary Ag

Further tightening of HIPs regime brings call from NAEA to scrap them

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Calls for Home Information Packs for property in the UK to be scrapped are mounting as new changes that come into force today are widely criticised.

The controversial packs are stopping people from putting their property up for sale, a survey o

Many UK commercial property investors still waiting to see where the market is going.

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
European property stocks are rallying but some leading property investors are wary of storming back into the crisis-hit market for bricks and mortar, because they fear prices may still have further to fall.

"It is foolhardy to go into deal

Allied Irish not only lender to be targetted by fraudsters say SFO

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Following last weeks Serious Fraud Office announcement that it was investigating an alleged fraud on the corporate banking department of Allied Irish Banks Plc in co-operation with the City of London police.

The SFO said between 2003 and 2007 A

John Lewis report sales last week less down at -2% compared to last year

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
John Lewis Partnership, the employee-owned group seen as a barometer of retail spending, today reported a 2.0% fall in weekly sales at its department stores. The group, which runs 27 department stores in the UK, said week to March 28 sales in the division

Warner Estate sell St John's Wood High Street estate for £39 million

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Warner Estate Holdings today announced it has simultaneously exchanged and completed contracts for the sale of its St Johns Wood High Street estate to NW8 Holdings Limited for £39 million.
The sale of the property, which had a book value o

Bechtel win £400million Crossrail contract

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Crossrail has selected Bechtel to be the project delivery partner, a £400million contract, on the £16 billion Cross-London rail link.

Bechtel, a US engineering consultancy, will be responsible for overseeing the construction of the

Natwest / RBS sign up to working capital scheme which will release funds for SME lending

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The government said today it had signed a deal with Royal Bank of Scotland and its subsidiary Natwest to increase loans to business under its working capital scheme.

Business Minister Ian Pearson said in a statement that the government was also

Co-op Financial Services report FY 2008 banking profits up 70%

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Co-operative Financial Services has reported a pre-tax profit for 2008 of £147million compared to £155.4million last year. The difference was that last years performance featured some one-off profits from the insurance business while this year

Quintain shares recover on news of bank support

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Quintain Estates has recovered some of yesterday's 35% share price loss after admitting it is not in any position to announce an equity fundraising, but has renegotiated its banking facilities.

"Notwithstanding a very encouraging level of

Discounted property loan bonanza for debt buyers as lenders look to offload problem loans

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Commercial Property Funds see rich pickings from the carnage in commercial real estate, stockpiling cash to buy discounted loans that may cost banks billions of pounds in the coming years.

Mortgages supporting high-profile office or shopping ma

Recession knocks Aldi as sales growth dips below 20% but new store openings continue

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Aldi is feeling the effects of the recession in Britain, with sales growth dipping below 20% because of weaker demand for non-food goods, Paul Foley, its Managing Director said, but food sales remained strong and were comfortably outperforming rivals -- e

Last minute U turn on business rates produces bureaucratic nightmare for firms

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Chancellor Alistair Darling bowed to pressure last night and cut the planned 5% rise in business rates that was threatening to cripple many small firms.

In a last-minute reprieve, Darling said that the rate rise, which applies only in England a

Ronson almost calls the bottom of the market

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Speaking at his annual lunch at the Dorchester – one of the best-attended events in the property world – Gerald Ronson warned that it was impossible to predict when the market would improve, because there was still not enough transparenc

Another blow for Simon Halabi as Stockport Shopping Centre goes bust.

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 22:00:00 GMT
On 16th February 2009 Directors of GVA Grimley were appointed Receivers under the Law of Property Act over Merseyway Shopping Centre, Stockport. The Centre will continue to be managed by DTZ .

Merseyway was owned by Stockport Holdings, a subsi

Clinton Cards report H1 profit of £15million and keep support of banks

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Clinton Cards, the troubled greetings cards retailer, today posted a reduced first-half operating profit and said although visibility for the second half of the year remains uncertain, it's prospects have been boosted by the renegotiation of its banking f

Bellway report H1 loss of £48.6 million but market is pleased

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Bellway, the housebuilder, said today that it made a pretax loss of £48.6 million for the half year ended Jan 31, 2009, compared with a profit of £96.9 million in the previous year H1.

The Chairman H C Dawe said "we will contin

Marks & Spencer Q4 UK sales down 4.2% compared to 7.1% in Q3

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 22:00:00 GMT
Marks & Spencer today reported a smaller-than-expected 4.2% fall in fiscal fourth-quarter U.K. comparable sales as cash-strapped consumers bought the group's less expensive food during the economic downturn.

In line with its guidance, Marks

February residential mortgage approvals up 19%

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 22:00:00 GMT
The number of mortgages approved for house purchase jumped by 19% during February in a sign that buyers are returning to the market, figures showed today.

A total of 37,937 loans were approved for people buying a home during the month, the high

Nationwide takeover the non-toxic assets of Dunfermline Building Society

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 22:00:00 GMT

The Nationwide Building Society, the UK's largest building society, has bought the Dunfermline Building Society's branches, good loans and deposits the outgoing chairman Jim Faulds confirmed this morning.
Under a statutory instrument made under t

Marconi House re-development to 5 star Silken Hotel goes bust

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The unfinished Silken project, one of the most ambitious luxury hotel and residential developments in central London, is heading for fire sale after administrators were called in by the developer's banks,

Grupo Urvasco, a Spanish developer and

John Lewis report sales last week down 12.6% led by electricals

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
John Lewis Partnership, the employee-owned group seen as a barometer of retail spending, today blamed the earlier fall of Easter last year and sunny weather for a sharp fall in comparable sales.

The group, which runs 27 department stores in the

Christies falls to £2 million loss for 2008 and passes final dividend

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Christie Group, which comprises Christie & Co, the licenced and hotel trade valuation and agency business, Pinders the specialist business valuation business, Orridge which provides retail stocktaking services and Venners which does a similar service

AIB and other lenders believed to be victim of commercial property fraud

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The Serious Fraud Office and the City police are spearheading an investigation into claims by Ireland's biggest bank that it was tricked into providing loans to companies formed by an unnamed individual. The loans were allegedly used to buy properties in

Kingfisher report profits up 3.1% to £368million and plans to retrench in China

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Kingfisher , Europe's top home improvements retailer, unveiled plans to close a third of its loss-making Chinese stores and said it expected a "very challenging" year as it met forecasts with a small profit rise.

The firm, which runs

Rugby Estates NAV down 35% in 2008

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Rugby Estates, the REIT announced a 35% fall in NAV per share in 2008 to 64p as it's £81 million portfolio fell in value to £60.3million by the year end, which forced a loss after tax of £20.1million.

The portfolio

Songbird Estates report £1.36 billion loss for 2008 and risk of covenant breach

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Songbird Estates plc, owner of Canary Wharf today released it's FY 2008 results which show a total operating loss for 2008 was £1,358.8million compared with an operating profit of £469.9million in 2007. Underlying operating profit&nbs

Sellar Property mothball the £600million Portsmouth FC stadium replacement

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Work on the £600 million football stadium development by Irvine Sellar's Sellar Property Group has been stopped because of the economic climate.

The 45,000 seat stadium for Portsmouth Football Club and its associated development which inc

Henry Boot turn in a strong FY 2008 performance

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Henry Boot, the Sheffield-based property developer, investor, contractor and plant hire business announced that it's 2008 trading profits have increased by 53% to £44million compared to £28.8million the year before, but that pre-tax prof

Land Securities rights taken up

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Land Securities announced to the market today that it had received acceptances representing approximately 94.81% of the total number of New Ordinary Shares offered to Shareholders in the 5 for 8 Rights Issue announced by the Company on 19 February.

Sainsbury's Q4 trading beats expectations with strongest rise for over 2 years

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
J Sainsbury, Britain's third-biggest grocer, beat forecasts with its biggest quarterly underlying sales rise for 2-1/2 years, helped by its participation in the Comic Relief charity day on March 13.

The 140-year-old firm, with more than 500 sup

Davenham pulls the plug on property lending as price of new lifeline as losses mount.

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Davenham, the Manchester based lender who financed many small property developers, has announced the conclusion of a strategic review and a £215 million refinancing of its banking facilities to support a new strategy focused on its asset and trade f

Knight Frank say building land market has collapsed as banks decide fate of developers.

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Jon Neale, Head of Development Research at Knight Frank has said when interviewed recently about the market for UK building land:

"The land market has collapsed over the past year or so, to a greater extent then the mainstream housin

DGRE unveils FY loss of £135.7million for 2008 as founder bids £132 million in attempt to delist from AIM

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Delek Global Real Estate Ltd., the Delek Group Ltd. subsidiary, published its financial report for the full year of 2008 on Friday. The company posted a loss of ₤135.7 million in 2008 compared with a net profit of ₤96 million in 2007, despite a

RICS forced to freeze pay and cut 18 jobs

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors has suspended pay for staff at every level and announced its intention to make 18 redundancies.

RICS said that while its income from membership fees had remained relatively steady, commercial activity

Commercial property loans weigh heavily on Dunfermine Building Society

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The Dunfermline Building Society, which responded to margin pressure in the residential mortgage market by entering the world of commercial property lending around five years ago, is in trouble because the value of that collateral on it's balance sheet ha

Bradford retail development bought at auction for £4.74 million

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The Rushbond Group, a Leeds based property company, has acquired the crescent shaped leisure and retail Centenary Square development in the city centre at auction for £4.74million..

The 57,400 sq ft building was completed in 2004, a

Mountgrange goes into administration putting 2 major Scottish schemes in jeopardy

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Veteran property developers Martin Myers and Manish Chande are considering their options after Bank of Scotland withdrew its support for two major development projects in Scotland.

As a result of the decision, their Mountgrange Capital and a nu

The biggest skyscraper development in each of 5 continents stalled by recession

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Globally, work has been halted on 142, or 11%, of 1,324 skyscraper projects, including 29 of 301 U.S. projects, according to Emporis GmbH, a German company that tracks development. Work is stalled on the five tallest buildings on five continents, includin

The Mall Fund loses 4.4% value in February as values continue to plummet

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Capital & Regional announced today that the value of the Mall fund at the end of February had fallen to £1.544 billion, down 4.4% in the month, and follows a 4.6% reduction in value in January.

This rate of value destruction is unprec

Stanhope to buy Noho Square from Kaupthing who will lose around £200million on the deal

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The Financial Times has reported that control of the Noho Square scheme in London's West End is to be acquired by Stanhope, the property company run by David Camp and backed by entrepreneur Ian Laing.

Noho Square is one of the most high-profile

Blow to 2012 Olympic Sailing event as new Pavillion developer is wound up.

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The future of a development intended to augment the hosting of sailing events for the 2012 Olympics is in doubt after the firm developing the project was wound up in the High Court.

A winding up order was issued for Howard Holdings Weymouth

Terrace Hill gets green light for Helston and Bishop Auckland Sainsbury's store developments

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Terrace Hill has announced today that it has had the planning consents for its retail and leisure scheme at Bishop Auckland and its Sainsbury's foodstore development in Helston, Cornwall, confirmed by the Government Offices for the North East

DTZ appoints new CFO to see it out of the last chance saloon

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

DTZ has announced the appointment of Bob Rickert as CFO and the immediate departure of Colin Child from that role. It also announced that it's losses this year would be much greater than previously anticipated.

DTZ is therefore looking to ma

US commercial property prices in free fall leading to a "black hole" in banks balance sheets

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
U.S. commercial real estate prices tumbled in January, Moody's said yesterday, suggesting problems that began in housing have spread well beyond that sector.

Commercial property values fell 5.5%, the biggest drop in since the ratings agency beg

BTL investors in London and other cities hit by excess supply and falling rents

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Buy-to-let investors in London are reeling the most from a sharp fall in rental income owing to a flood of properties put up to let by unsuccessful sellers.

So-called ‘accidental’ landlords – people who reluctantly rent their

Wakefield's £200million Trinity Walk scheme goes bust as Anglo Irish pull the plug

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The £200million Trinity Walk scheme in Wakefield has seen joint administrators from KPMG appointed today at the request of the directors.

Construction of the project by York-based Shepherd Construction has stopped as joint administrato

Germany moving towards nationalisation of Hypo Real Estate possibly by share expropriation

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The German parliament’s finance committee backed a bill allowing the government to seize control of Hypo Real Estate Holding AG, signaling that Chancellor Angela Merkel has the votes to pass the proposal in the lower house.

Today’s

BAA ordered to sell Stansted and either Edinburgh or Glasgow as well as Gatwick

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Spain's Ferrovial has been ordered by the competition regulator to sell three of its seven British airports within two years.

The company, which bought British airports monopoly BAA for more than £10 billion at the top of the market in 20

Quintain Estates confirms it is considering a further shares issue.

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Shares in property firm Quintain Estates fell back after it confirmed rumours that it was considering an equity raising, joining the recent cash-call trend amongst property firms. Its share price has fallen 95% in 12 months.

Earlier, the FT rep

Pidgley puts Cadenza into administration

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The son of Berkeley Group founder Tony Pidgley has put his housebuilding firm, Cadenza, into liquidation.

The firm, which was set up by Tony Pidgley Jr in 2001 after he left the Berkeley board in a family feud, went into voluntary liquidation f

FSA Proposes stiff new capital ratios and lower LTV mortgage lending for UK banks

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Banks will have to retain more capital than currently required, making them less profitable but safer, under landmark proposals set out today by the Financial Services Authority, and may not be allowed to lend as much as they have in the past per transact

French Connection swing to loss and pass final dividend

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Fashion group French Connection swung to a full-year loss, scrapped its final dividend and said it was preparing for another difficult year.

The retailer and wholesaler, which trades in the United States and Asia as well as the UK, said today i

Birmingham to get 2 new landmark tower buildings worth £275 million

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Developer firms of two new towers worth £275million which will transform the Birmingham skyline, unveiled their plans at MIPIM last week for the £125million Regal Tower and the £150million Beorma Building.

Birmingham-bas

Travelodge to add a further 12 hotels making use of office conversions in some cases

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Travelodge, the budget hotel chain owned by Dubai International Capital, has announced it will add 12 new hotels throughout the UK, including a 279-room property in London’s Waterloo area.

The announcement includes three other hotels in L

Warner Estates sell 2 shopping centres to Orchard Street for £44.4 million

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Orchard Street Investment Management, a specialist UK commercial property investment manager, says its Special Situations Fund has agreed to acquire two shopping centres for £44.4million, representing an investment of approximately 15% of its

FSA report repossessions up 68% last year on 2007

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Repossessions climbed by 68% last year, while the number of loan accounts in arrears steadily increased since early 2007, according to the latest mortgage lending data from the FSA.

The regulator said a total of 46,750 properties were repossess

Spanish Banks open up in property business

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Over half of Spain's savings banks are joining together to create an 'estate agent' to sell defaulted property and developments worth €3 billion.

A new company, Ahorro Corporación Soluciones Inmobiliarias (ASCI), will be managed by

Quintain report asset sales approaching £100million target with new £9.3million Cardiff disposal

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Quintain Estates & Development PLC announced to the market this morning, the sale of St David's House, Cardiff, for a total consideration of £9.3 million, reflecting a profit over cost of £4.0 million and a 2.8% premium to the September 20

Medium term outlook for UK commercial property now considered positve say IPD

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The full IPD Index covering over £130billion worth of real estate in the UK, came in at minus 22.2% for 2008. Malcolm Hunt, Head of UK Client Services at IPD said when asked about the outlook for commercial property for 2009 :

"

Debenhams reports gains in market share and H1 profits ahead of last year.

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Debt-laden department stores group Debenhams said H1 profit would be ahead of the previous year as it reported a fall in underlying sales but gains in market share.

Britain's second-biggest department store chain, which returned to the stock ma

Derwent London reveal 2008 NAV down 32% and pre-tax loss of £606.5million

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Derwent London, the West End and City focussed REIT, today announced a full year pre-tax loss of £606.5million after a loss the previous year of £99.8million. The 2008 loss was driven by a valuation deficit of £602.1million, but the grou

Wrekin Construction creditors looking for £11million ruby - if it exists.

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Collapsed engineering firm Wrekin Construction issued £11 million worth of shares a year before it collapsed in exchange for what the company’s accounts describe as probably the world’s most expensive ruby.

Shropshire-based Wr

HSBC says no further capital raising will be needed, in attempt to soothe investors

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, said it had no need to raise further cash, removing some of the uncertainty over possible further fund-raising by the lender after it launched Britain's biggest rights issue, raising £12.85 billion to help it

Brixton report full year loss of £768.8million for 2008

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Brixton plc, the industrial property REIT which specialises in the London market, today reported a pre-tax loss of £768.8 million for 2008. It passed on paying a final dividend and did not announce a rights issue as expected.

Having dumpe

MIPIM ends on a quieter note

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
In spite of a sharp drop in numbers attending this year's MIPIM, those who did show up in Cannes did their best to display unfailing optimism about making money again soon.

In the past, some of the UK’s most significant property dea

Santander buys Abbey London HQ from British Land

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Santander is buying the Abbey HQ building, 2-3 Triton Square in Euston, from British Land for £115million in a deal reflecting a net initial yield of around 7%.

British Land put the building on the market for £120million last

JLL report high levels of investor interest in UK commercial property

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Jones Lang LaSalle’s latest report on direct commercial real estate investment in Europe predicts investors will primarily focus on core Western markets in 2009.

According to JLL’s European Capital Markets Bulletin, investors are li

Evans Property starts it's acquisition drive at it's roots in Leeds

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Evans Property Group has acquired the freehold interest in No. 1 Park Row, Leeds, from Aviva Investors for an undisclosed sum.

The property was originally developed in 1999 and provides 80,000 sq ft of Grade A office accommodation over nine flo

JD Wetherspoon profits up on 1.9% sales increase

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

JD Wetherspoon, the pub group, posted slightly higher interim results for H1 2009 and sales today and said it continues to trade well.

Pre-tax profit before exceptional items rose to £30.8 million from £30.2 million,

Norway to start spending oil profits on UK commercial property in H2 2009

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Norway's sovereign fund plans to start buying UK commercial property in the second half of this year and remains a long-term buyer in the country's government bonds, the Daily Telegraph reported today.

It said the fund had set aside $20 billion

Baugur Group finally submits to bankruptcy

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The representatives of Icelandic investment company Baugur Group requested it to be taken into bankruptcy proceedings yesterday after losing their case for extended moratorium on its payments at the Reykjavík District Court. The group's British arm

Leeds to get new £31 million 4 star hotel

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Plans for a £31million new four-star hotel in Leeds city centre which will be one of the largest of its type in the city, have been unveiled at MIPIM .

The 14-storey, 244 bedroom Portland Crescent Hotel is being developed by Oxford GB on

Rok benefits from commercial property exit with sales up 14% to £1 billion

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Rok plc, the property repair and maintenance specialist, has announced a sales increase of 14% for 2008 to £1.011billion but a pre-tax profit of only £5.9million after charges and restructuring costs.

Rok have re-positione

Wm Morrison profits up 7% to £655million with dividends up 21%

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Wm Morrison, the Bradford-based supermarket group, saw pre-tax profits rise 7% to £655million, as its strategy of expansion pushed revenue higher and improved margins with dividend up 21%.

Morrisons has, under it's new management continue

MIPIM attendance much reduced as Boris launches "London Now" campaign

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Boris Johnson, the London Mayor, unveiled plans to attract foreign businesses to the UK capital by offering them a year of free office space.

Mr Johnson, speaking at Mipim in Cannes, said companies moving to London will also be provided w

Coventry regeneration plans launched at MIPIM

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Proposals for a 120-bedroom hotel for Coventry city centre are being launched MIPIM this week.

Architects have drawn up plans for the £12 million proposal as part of the Far Gosford Street regeneration area, which is set to be

Savills post £7.7million loss for 2008 but still pay £60million in bonuses.

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Savills, the global property consultant, posted annual losses of £7.7million and cut its dividend as it braced itself for another challenging year.

Savills has adopted a `very cautious outlook' on 2009 trading, but said its balance sheet

Major regeneration developments going ahead in Bradford

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Provident Financial, the Bradford-based financial services business, have announced it is to move its headquarters to the new £50million Southgate development in the centre of Bradford, which is a major office, hotel and leisure scheme by Northern I

Hundreds of millions of the "toxic debt" may be due to mortgage frauds.

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Hundreds of millions of pounds of the "toxic debt" that forced the Government to bail out British banks is suspected to have been generated by massive mortgage frauds during the boom years, which are now coming to light.

Detectives ha

SME's awaiting urgent relaxation of the credit supply to avoid failure

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Small UK businesses are failing for want of sums that in terms of national economies -- or even some bankers' pensions -- amount to small change. Relaxation of the credit supply is urgently needed.

Suzanne and Marwan Hemchaoui in Newbury

Quarterly valuations for property funds now seen part of the problem.

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Quarterly valuations may now be harming property funds’ performance, according to experts speaking at the Investment Property Databank’s UK 2008 Benchmark launch yesterday.

Property experts debated whether monthly and quarterly prop

Spotlight now falls on Barclays with 3 weeks to decide on APS strategy

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Barclays' shares fell 5% yesterday on speculation that it would need to raise more funds to meet the Government's requirements for insuring assets.

The bank has turned down government support to retain full control over lending, pay and strateg

Private buyers leading the bidding at commercial property auctions

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Private investors are beginning to snap up commercial property via auctions, according to property firm Jones Lang LaSalle, with many properties at recent sales selling at well above the guide price.

It said there was an emerging "wealth o

Land Securities shareholders approve £755 million rights issue

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Land Securities Group PLC announced today that at its General Meeting held today in relation to its 5 for 8 Rights Issue, both of the resolutions set out in the circular to Shareholders dated 19 February 2009 were duly passed by the shareholders of the Co

Warner Estates sell shopping centre for £30million to reduce debt

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Warner Estate Holdings PLC , the property REIT, today announced that it has exchanged contracts for

Bovis Homes report loss of £78.7million as sales and margins are battered

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Bovis Homes has reported a pre-tax loss for the year ended 31st December 2008 of £78.7 million (2007: profit of £123.6 million), but has renegotiated it's banking covenants with a new syndicated facility until 201

Lloyds accept public ownership as the price for digesting HBOS in "severe economic downturn"

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Lloyds Banking Group plc today announced its intention to participate in the Government's Asset Protection Scheme to the tune of £260billion, which will cost a fee of £15.6billion to insure or 20.9% of risk va

O2 Arena sale speculation

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

There is rising speculation that Norwich-based property investor Ardeshir Naghshineh has entered talks over a potential purchase of The O2 Arena in Greenwich through his Targetfollo

F&C Reit buy former Dawnay Day portfolio for over £600million

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The portfolio of 221 properties formerly owned by Dawnay, Day, the collapsed investment company, has been sold for over £600 million in one of the biggest property deals since

UK commercial property values to continue falling say IPF 17.9% overall in 2009

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The outlook for UK commercial property has worsened as fund managers and analysts predict a steeper drop in capital values this year, with a recovery not due until 2011, consensus data showed today.

In its quarterly survey, Investment Proper

Wolseley announce £965million H1 loss and £1billion cash call

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Wolseley, the UK building supplies group, has announced a fully underwritten placing and rights issue to raise £1billion, as well as announcing that it made a pre-tax loss of £965million in H1 2009 as profits slumped, notably at it's US buildi

Ask Developments looking to sell a stake in it's £2billion pipeline to Infinity

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Infinity Asset Management, the Manchester based private equity firm, is in talks with regeneration specialist Ask Developments over taking a stake in the business, it emerged yesterday.

Both parties confirmed they were holding discussions

Bank cuts Base Rate to 0.5% and pumps £75billion into the money supply

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The Bank of England cut interest rates by 50 basis points today to a record low of 0.5% and said it would buy assets worth £75 billion to help the economy by expanding the money supply.

Announcing the start of "quantitative eas

Begbies Traynor warn about commercial property sector with 30% jump in Q1 2009 of firms in trouble

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
As leading UK property firms queue to raise new cash through large rights issues, the whole sector is seeing rapidly increasing pressure from falling asset values, potential tenant defaults and the lack of liquidity in the banking sector, warns Begbies Tr

Accountants qualify R20 accounts with liabilities exceeding assets

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Baker Tilly in signing off the accounts last month of R20 have cast doubt on the ability of Robert Tchenguiz's UK investment vehicle to continue as a going concern.

According to its accounts published this week, his company R20 has suffer

Cluttons report that industrial property will give best total return in commercial property this year - a 4% loss

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Cluttons say that of all commercial property sectors Industrial property will give the best total return in 2009 and that will be -4%. That contrasts with -8% for retail and -12% for office property. Residential property prices are expected to fall 9% in

After takeover of Somerfield Coop sells 24 stores to Sainsbury's to satisfy OFT

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Sainsbury's said today it was buying 24 stores from The Co-operative Group in a deal worth £83 million.

Of the stores, 22 belonged to the Somerfield grocery chain, which was taken over by The Co-operative Group earlier this week, an

Irish Life & Permanent profits down 91% to €41million taking a €15million hit for UK BTL lender CHL

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Irish Life & Permanent today announced it's 2008 results showing a pre tax profit of €41million down 91% from the previous year, reflecting the impact of weak investment markets on it's life business and provisions for losses in it's banking busi

Segro announce fully underwritten 12 for 1 rights issue to raise £500million

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Segro today made it's much trailed cash call, asking shareholders for £500.6 million via a fully underwritten 12 for 1 rights issue.

They propose to issue 5.241 million new shares at 10p each, and the net proceeds will reduce Segro's net

Brixton board ditch the pilot after shares drop 80% in 2 months and place at rear of rights queue beckons

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Brixton, the London industrial property specialist, yesterday fired Tim Wheeler it's CEO and promoted Peter Dawson, the company’s investment director, who has been with Brixton since 1997.

Falling rents, insolvent tenants and vacant prope

10,000 house development inquiry at Daventry put on hold

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The inquiry into three major housing proposals around Daventry in Northamptonshire is being adjourned to give the Highways Agency more time to test traffic impacts.

The move agreed by inspector last week means that a decision on the 10,000 home

PFI now means Public Finance Initiative as Treasury directly supports stalled projects with £2 billion .

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The government said today it would support public building projects worth billions of pounds at risk of being stalled by the credit crisis.

"The action will ensure that crucial and valuable public investment will not be disrupted by proble

Northern Rock report FY loss of £1.4billion

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Northern Rock has confirmed it made a loss of £1.4billion in 2008, mainly due to impairments of £894million on personal loans and losses on treasury assets of £321million.

The bank also said it was ahead of target in repaying

Most of Mosaic becomes Aurora in MBO after pre-pack administration saving 8700 jobs

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
After a long period of speculation about the fate of Mosaic Fashion, Deloitte said that it had been appointed administrator to indebted Mosaic yesterday afternoon. It immediately sold the group's four main chains to the retailer's management team, led by

Shaid Luqman's sisters found liable for some of the missing Lexi funds

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Shaid Luqman, who was jailed in 2007 for contempt of court for his failure to assist in the investigation of Lexi’s administrator KPMG into the collapse of Lexi Holdings, also involved his sisters as board members of Lexi, and the court has now foun

Allied Irish bank warns exposure to property could further increase provisions after taking €1.8 billion hit

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Allied Irish Bank Net profit dropped 61% to €767million from €1.95billion a year earlier, the Dublin-based bank said in a statement today after setting aside €1.8billion to cover loan losses. That missed the €879million median estim

Persimmon gets new £322 million lifeline from it's banks

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Persimmon, the York-based housebuilder, has successfully agreed new credit facilities proving that its cash saving efforts have paid off.

The firm said today that it had agreed terms for a new forward start banking facility of £322million

HSBC reports £6 billion profits for 2008 and makes £12.5 billion cash call

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
HSBC today unveiled it's annual results and called for a record £12.5 billion rights issue to strengthen it's balance sheet so that it can continue to compete aggressively in growth markets, rather than rely on organic growth to repair the damage.

Whitbread please the market with Q4 results showing sales up 4.9%

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Whitbread, the country's biggest hotel operator, reported 4.9% increase in like-for-like sales for the 50 weeks to Feb 12, benefiting from strong sales growth at its budget Premier Inn hotel chain.

The group, which also owns Costa Coffee and th

St Modwen results fail to please as investors sell on covenant fears

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Shares in regeneration specialist St Modwen fell almost 7% after full year results failed to assuage concerns the company will struggle to stay within its bank covenants if property valuations continue to fall.

"We believe that the g

William Hill scrap final dividend and make 1 for 1 rights call to raise £350million

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Bookmaker William Hill said today it planned to raise £350 million through a rights issue and had scrapped its final dividend as it looked to reduce debt.

William Hill, which has around 2,300 betting shops across the UK and Ireland,

Lloyds announce HBOS loss of £10.8billion but no deal on asset insurance scheme yet

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Lloyds Banking Group has said that HBOS, which it merged with in January, made a pre-tax loss of £10.8billion in 2008,as it was hit by £9.9 billion of losses on bad loans.

Lloyds Banking Group said it had not yet finalised

Castlemore Securities goes into administration.

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Castlemore Securities, which had a national development pipeline worth £1billion and was valued at more than £250million just a year ago, has gone into administration after a desperate rescue bid failed.
Castlemore, which was founded

RBS report 2008 loss of £24.1billion - largest ever in UK corporate history

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced the largest annual loss in UK corporate history, reporting that its 2008 loss totalled £24.1billion.

It also said it would put £325billion of toxic assets into a scheme that offers insuranc

Liberty International Report FY loss of £2.662billion and NAV down 41% with cash call imminent

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Liberty International, the UK's third biggest listed property company, today reported a full year pre-tax loss of £2.662billion with a diluted and adjusted NAV down 41% from 1264p to 745p.

It's underlying trading profit of £127.7mil

AJ Mucklow H1 revaluation losses increase to £44.5 million and NAV falls 20% with solid underpinnings

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
A&J Mucklow , the Midlands based REIT, booked a headline loss of £38.8million for the half-year, against one of £11.4million in the same months of 2007, it stated in it's interim report.

“It is not an income loss,&rd

Prologis announce Royal Mail as client for 200, 000sq ft mail hub at Northampton

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
ProLogis, a leading global provider of distribution facilities, announced today that it will construct a 200,000-square-foot distribution center in Northampton, for Royal Mail, under a development management agreement.

Royal Mail's new fa

MJ Gleeson books further losses in H1 2008

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Property company Gleeson saw profits and sales tumble in the first half but said today that it was well placed to withstand a prolonged downturn.

For the six months ended Dec 31, the Hampshire based urban regeneration specialist company b

Treasury edging closer to £500billion asset protection scheme boosts bank shares

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The Treasury and top banks were hammering out final details of a plan to limit lenders' losses on about £500 billion of risky assets, which the government said should help prevent full nationalisation.

The government has pledged to unveil

Leeds city centre developer KW Linfoot goes into administration

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
KW Linfoot, the Leeds-based company which was founded by entrepreneur Kevin Linfoot in 1981 has been put into administration with the group blaming banks for "strangling" the business.

The firm, which pioneered city living development

Terrace Hill falls to full year loss of £31.6 million on revaluation losses.

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Terrace Hill, the AIM listed national property developer, reported a pre-tax loss of £31.6million for the full year ended October 2008 having swung from a profit of £18.1 million the year before.

The adjusted NAV per share fe

Segro negotiates increased loan covenant limits on £1.7 billion of debt

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Further to it's announcement on the 18 February that SEGRO was assessing its financing options, the firm has today announced a successful covenant renegotiation as an important element of the Group's overall financing strategy to increase the headroom in

Builder Morgan Sindall posts 2008 profit of £71.4million

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Construction and regeneration group Morgan Sindall plc beat expectations with a 15% rise in annual profit thanks to a raft of government-funded projects, but warned 2009 profit would be lower due to the weak property sector.

The company, whose

Redrow reports H1 loss £46.2 million

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Redrow reports it's Interim results for the six months ended December 2008 today, which show a pre-tax loss of £46.2million (H1 07/08: £35.8million profit) after charging exceptional items. The exceptional items, which total £25.0million

Laxey Partners call for EGM at Hirco to remove Hirandani family from the board

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Laxey Partners has called an emergency meeting of the AIM-listed Indian property developer for a vote on removing Niranjan Hirandani and 3 others from the board. Laxey, which holds an 11% stake in Hirco, has put forward 2 Laxey men including co-founder An

Irish governent publishes abridged report on scandalous affairs of Anglo Irish Bank

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Anglo Irish Bank's fortunes are tied to the fate of a small number of property developers, some of whom likely face major losses as the Irish property market keeps unravelling, auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers warned.
In extracts of a report publi

Home Repossessions at highest since 1996 but still below peak of 1991

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The latest statistics from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) show the number of people losing their homes rose by 54% last year, slightly less than the 45,000 previously forecast by the industry body.

Lenders repossessed around 40,000 homes

Blears calls in £1billion Ram Brewery scheme to Council fury

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Wandsworth Council has reacted furiously to the call-in of Minerva's Ram Brewery scheme, the main part of £1billion worth of regeneration projects in the borough's town centre.

Communities and local government secretary Hazel Blears inter

H1 Housebuilding losses knock Galliford Try to £37.5 million loss

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Contractor and housebuilder Galliford Try has posted a loss of £37.5million after “exceptional costs” of £48.7million in the six months to 31 December 2008, without which there would have been a pre-tax profit of £11millio

Ziff family buy back core of Stylo business from administrators keeping 3000 jobs

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The Ziff family have rescued 160 of the 380 Barratts and Priceless shops, part of the Stylo group, from administration.

Stylo chairman and chief executive Michael Ziff said the family had bought the Stylo, Barratts and Priceless names from admi

The Mall Fund loses 4.6% value in one month

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Capital & Regional today released to the stock market it's valuation of the Mall Fund as at 30th January which show that at £1.614 billion it has declined by 4.6% in one month.
Units are now valued at 59p, having fallen 14.1% in a

Growing use of legal short-cut to by-pass repossession hearings by commercial Mortgage lenders

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
A growing number of mortgage lenders are responding to the credit crisis by using a legal short cut to by-pass the time-consuming court system that entitles them to repossess property without a court order, according to Jonathan Wright, a commercial real

Land Securities announce £755 million rights issue and Liberty also confirm a cash call.

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Land Securities, the UK's largest Real Estate Investment Trust, has today announced a fully underwritten 5 for 8 Rights Issue at a price of 270 pence per share to raise net proceeds of approximately £755.7 million to bolster the balance sheet.

Dunlop Haywards to pay Cheshire Building Society £15.5 million in fraud case

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
A High Court judge has ruled that Cheshire Building Society is entitled to more than £20million in damages from collapsed property consultancy firm Dunlop Haywards.

The London-based firm had a winding-up order made against it on 12 May, 2

Irish banking scandal claims another scalp - Chairman of Irish Nationwide resigns

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
As light is shone into the once dark corners of the Irish financial institutions elite cabals behaviour, the Irish Nationwide Building Society, announced that Dr Michael Walsh, it's chairman had unexpectedly resigned, a spokesman said yesterday with

Santander suffers further blows to it's image in Spain as it's property fund locks investors in

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Now that Spain's three largest real estate companies - Martina-Fadesa, Colonial, and Metrovacesa - have all been taken over by banks, and at the latest count the Spanish banking system is now sitting on more than €45billion (£39.77billion) of p

Head of JLL Capital Markets calls bottom of UK commercial property market "in late summer" this year

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
As weaker commercial landlords now come under increased pressure the commercial property investment market is showing renewed life as bottom feeders move in, sensing that more bargains are coming to market.

Julian Stocks, Head of UK Capital Ma

Farmland prices falling now that City money and foreign buyers have vanished

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Demand for residential farmland plummeted in the second half of 2008, as lifestyle buyers all but disappeared, says RICS Rural Market Survey.

The net balance of Chartered Surveyors reporting a decrease in demand for residential farmland fell fr

Conservatives roll out green paper to decentralise powers on planning, housing and more

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The Conservative Party has set out plans to dismantle regional planning, scrap the housing and planning delivery grant and create twelve new elected mayors in a major decentralisation of power.

A new paper, Control Shift, says the regional stru

Moody's downgrades Lloyds and HBoS raising concern over Alt 'A' mortgages

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Moody's Investors Service yesterday downgraded the long-term bank deposit and senior debt ratings of Lloyds TSB Bank (LTSB) to Aa3 from Aaa and the senior debt rating of Lloyds Banking Group (Lloyds) to A1 from Aa1. This will negatively affect what the ba

Grosvenor Property Fund in talks with it's bankers

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Grosvenor, the property empire run by the Duke of Westminster, is in talks with its lenders over the possibility of breaching banking covenants on its retail fund.

The Grosvenor Shopping Centre Fund, which owns several retail centres around the

Landlords and City nervous about Clinton Cards talks with banks

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Clinton Cards is holding refinancing talks with its banks, amid growing fears that Britain’s biggest greeting-card chain could become the latest high-street casualty of the credit crunch.

The card retailer cut its dividend in October and

Galliford Try to undertake £103million restoration of St Pancras Chambers

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Galliford Try plc has won a £103 million contract to undertake the restoration of London's St Pancras Chambers to create 67 residential apartments, a £10 million penthouse and a 244-bedroom Five Star Marriott Renaissance Hotel for St Pancras C

Steve Dodd's upmarket homes business goes bust

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
LandMarque Custom Homes, based in Droitwich, was part of the empire of well-known developer Steve Dodd, and had properties across the Midlands.

But the homes, including some high-tech properties in Warwickshire valued at more than £1.5 mi

Hawtin buys Holywell Group

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Hawtin, the Cardiff based property investment company, has acquired the Holywell Group's three companies which hold an investment property portfolio valued at £9.6m.

The net assets of the three companies - Holywell Property (Holdings), Ho

IPD January index shows rate of fall in commercial property values is slowing

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The pace of UK commercial property capital value falls eased in January with a -3.01% decline, according to the IPD UK Monthly Index.
After three successive record monthly capital value declines over the final quarter of ast year, peaking at -5.8

HBoS reveal losses double what they announced last quarter - shares tumble 35%

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Lloyds Banking Group said its HBOS unit made a hefty loss last year due to a bigger-than-expected rise in bad loans, a stunned city responded by wiping a third off the lender's stock market value.

HBOS had a pretax loss of £8.5 billion

Stylo goes bust after Hammerson led landlords refuse novel CVA deal

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Shoe group Stylo will appoint administrators today after creditors rejected its rescue plan.

The move means a bleak future for the Bradford group's 5,450 employees with many of its 500 shops set to be closed.

The struggling company,

Directors of Irish Life & Permanent resign following covert €7.45 billion support to Anglo Irish Bank

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Another Irish banking scandal has erupted following the admission by Irish Life & Permanent, life assurance group that it chipped in with assistance for the struggling Anglo Irish Bank, which distorted it's half year and annual accounts by in

St Modwen get approval for £750 million Longbridge regeneration plans

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Plans which will lead to at least 1450 homes and will also deliver a new learning quarter, 25 hectare regional investment site for high tech businesses, new urban parks, shopping centres and a car museum, a total of £750 million of development, have

British Land announces 2 for 3 rights issue as Q3 NAV falls 13.3%

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

British Land, the UK’s second largest real estate investment trust, this morning annouced it's much trailed fully underwritten 2 for 3 rights issue, designed to raise £740million.

Having announced the sale of Meadowhall on Monday

No buyer for Land of Leather as going concern - last 650 jobs in peril

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Further redundancies are looking likely at Land of Leather as administrator Deloitte has so far failed to find a buyer for the business as a going concern.
Deloitte told staff today that there is a risk of redundancies and store closures should a

Bankers advise property investors to fix interest rates now

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Innes England, the Nottingham based East Midlands property consultants, have hosted Insite, their annual look at the commercial property market in the region today, at the Walkers Stadium Leicester.

Rosie Smith from the Bank of England and Jame

Hull's £100million Fruit Market scheme cancelled

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The £100 million redevelopment of Hull's Fruit Market has suffered a setback with the announcement that the developer's proposal for the scheme which included 265 new homes, a hotel, and 64 shop and office units, is no longer "commercially viab

CBRE reports Q4 2008 earnings down 95%

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., the New York listed global real estate services business, said Q4 2008 net income was down 95% as weak sales and leasing activity suffered amid the credit crunch and global economic downturn. The full year net income was down

UBS reveals biggest loss in Swiss corporate history SFr 20 billion as it refocusses on core business

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
UBS, the biggest Swiss bank, today announced the highest loss in Swiss corporate history as Europe’s biggest casualty of the credit crisis said it lost nearly SFr20billion (£11.36 billion) in 2008.

The loss, which was above market e

Grainger continues within banking covenants in Q1 2008-9

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Grainger plc, the UK's largest listed residential landlord, said in a Q1 interim statement, that in the four months to 31 January 2009 it sold a total of 173 units for a gross consideration of £25.8million, at an estimated trading margin of 36.2%. T

British Land sells 50% of Meadowhall to London & Stamford joint venture for up to £587 million

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
London & Stamford Property Limited has announced that together with its joint venture partner it has exchanged contracts to acquire a 50% interest in the freehold of Meadowhall Shopping Centre from The British Land Company PLC.

The pu

Hammerson announces a FY 2008 £1.6 billion loss and halts work on 3 of it's 4 major retail developments

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Construction on 3 major retail-led renewal schemes in Leeds and Southampton will not go ahead this year as planned, alongside work on a scheme in Sheffield, the developer Hammerson has announced.

In announcing its results for the year ending De

Antony Worral Thompson's restaurant chain goes bust

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

AWT Resaurants Ltd, the business owned by celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson and David Wilby has gone into administration, closing 6 London restaurants and throwing 60 staff out of work.

This comes after Lloyds refused to extend further

Barclays made £6.1 billion profit in 2008 and makes profits it's "magnetic north" for 2009

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Barclays reported a 2008 profit of £6.1 billion, ahead of analysts' forecasts but down 14% on the year before after £5 billion of writedowns.

Barclays said it expected 2009 to be "another challenging year" with cr

Hammerson first major to market with £584 million cash call

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Two of the UK's biggest property companies are this week expected to announce plans to raise more than £1 billion from investors.

Hammerson announced a £584.2 million rights issue today, while British Land is expected to unveil a

RICS report all commercial property indicators fell in Q4 2008

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
All aspects of commercial property activity declined in the fourth quarter 2008 with most headline indicators falling to new lows, says RICS’ Commercial Property Survey published today.

71% more Chartered Surveyors reported a fall t

Peel Holdings submit planning application for phase 1 of £4.5billion Wirral Waters scheme

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The first phase of plans to transform Wirral's docklands into a multi-billion pound residential and business district have been revealed.

Developers Peel Holdings - the people behind Manchester's Trafford Centre and Liverpool John Lennon Airpor

F&C Commercial Property Trust share values have triggered another EGM

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
F&C Commercial Property Trust, the £681million property investment company, has been forced to call an extraordinary shareholder meeting to consider the future of the company after failing to meet its share price target.

As part of it

Baugur close to administration as Landsbanki call in £1billion of debt - fear of "British Vultures"

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

THE boss of Icelandic investment firm Baugur said he feared "British vultures" would swoop for the group's UK assets – as House of Fraser insisted that the troubles at its biggest investor would not impact it.
Baugur Group, which

UK Base Rate cut to 1% while ECB holds at 2%

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has cut Bank base rate to 1%, its lowest ever level.

BBR has now been cut in each of the last five months

Santander report profits at the top of the world league for banks in 2008

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Banco Santander has reported a profit up 9% to €8.876 billion for 2008, excluding capital gains. The bank which acquired Banco Real in Latin America and Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley in the UK saw revenue up 10% but costs up onl

RBS make additional £3billion available to support small businesses

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will supply £3 billion of funds to smaller businesses, to help them weather a credit drought and the United Kingdom's first recession since the early 1990s.

The funding is half of the extra £6 bill

Jones Lang La Salle 2008 FY net profit down 68% to $84million

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Jones Lang LaSalle, the Chicago based global property services firm, today reported net income on a U.S. GAAP basis of $84 million, or $2.44 per diluted share of common stock, for the year ended December 31, 2008, compared with net income of $256 million,

Quintain Estates refinances £100million of debt at 3%.

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Quintain Estates, the urban regeneration specialist, said in it's Q3 interim statement today, that it had taken advantage of low interest rates to fix £100million of it's £539million debt at 3%. During the quarter it had reduced debt by £

Bank of England lent £185billion under it's now closed Special Liquidity Scheme

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The Bank of England has announced that it has lent £185billion to financial institutions since April under its special liquidity scheme (SLS). It was originally intended to last for six months, but it was extended during the financial turbulence of

Investors cut losses and take out £200million from property fnds in Q4 2008

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Investors withdrew a net £200 million from unlisted UK property funds in the final quarter of 2008, data from the funds showed yesterday. Total return for the funds was minus 32% last year, the Association of Real Estate Funds said, citing informati

CBRE success at exploiting new capital allowances helps HansaInvest and Rockspring

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
CB Richard Ellis has announced that it has recently completed capital allowances claims for Rockspring TransEuropean Property Limited Partnership IV, a fund managed by Rockspring Property Investment Managers LLP, identifying an additional £2.2 milli

Westfield shares suspended while outcome of A$2.9billion placement is known

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Westfield the Australian property group, controlled by Frank Lowy, one of the country’s richest men, is seeking to raise A$2.9 billion through a share placement.

The group's shares

Carpetright UK and Ireland Q1 like -for-like sales down 15.9%

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Carpetright plc the specialist carpet and floor coverings retailer, today published its Interim Management Statement for the 13 weeks to 31 January 2009.

The UK and Republic of Ireland recorded a total sales decrease of 13.2%, which included a

Widows locks commercial property investors in again

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
UK commercial property investors were dealt a further blow yesterday as Scottish Widows became the latest company to block fund withdrawals.
It announced that it was reintroducing a six-month delay on switches and withdrawals out of its £596 mi

IPD index for Q4 2008 shows more than 6 years of commercial property boom gains now wiped out

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
All UK commercial property capital values fell by a record -14.4% over the fourth quarter of last year, giving an annual decline of -26.4%, according to the IPD UK Quarterly Property Index Q4 2008 published today.
The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has cut Bank base rate (BBR) by 1.5% to 3%.
The move follows a surprise cut of 0.5% a day early las

REI purchase shopping parade for £4.15million cash

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Real Estate Investors, the Birmingham based AIM-listed investment company headed by Paul Bassi, has added to its portfolio with the purchase of a retail parade in Kings Heath, Birmingham from Rockspring Property Investment Managers for £4.15 million

Banks continue to provide lending to construction and development sectors.

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Banks are still lending to companies in riskier areas such as property development and construction, though there are signs of far greater caution.
The CBI employers organisation has appealed to banks to step up lending this winter when large

Liberty posts Q3 pre tax loss of £1.059billion as NAV falls 23%

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Liberty International, the retail REIT, reported it's total return for the nine month period ended 30 September 2008 at -20.5% with Net Asset Value per share down 23% from 1264p to 975p. This reflects the valuation down on the period by 12.1%

Punch Taverns FY sales down 7% while Wetherspoon Q1 sales up 1.5%

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Punch Taverns, Britain's biggest pub operator, reported a decline in full year earnings today reflecting a 7% reduction in the size of its estate following the disposal of less profitable pubs.

Punch, which has 8,424 pubs, reported a pretax pro

Battersea Power Station owners get more debt to proceed with their plans

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Real Estate Opportunities (REO) has secured a further £40m of debt to finance the development of Battersea Power Station in London, it said in a statement to the market.

Bank of Scotland Corporate has increased an existing £18

Collapse in Irish market prices hits U2 Tower as £160 million project is shelved

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT
U2 Tower – a massive development planned for the Dublin docklands – was shelved on Friday, as Ireland slumps further into recession after a decade-long property boom when prices quadrupled.The IPD/SCS Quarterly Property Index of Total Returns

Trump gets OPP for £1billion golf resort in Aberdeenshire

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Donald Trump's £1bn golf resort plans for the Aberdeenshire coast have been approved.

Trump can now develop the 1,400 acre beachside site into two championship golf resorts, a five star hotel, 950 time share properties and 450 houses..

IPD index for Q3 commercial property returns pushes annual losses to 17.2%

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT
The IPD UK Quarterly Property Index fell -4.8% for the fifth consecutive quarter, however IPD said that the quarterly losses, during the three months to 30th September 2008, are still less than the index’s most significant fall of -7.5% which was re

Liverpool property business "The Venmore Partnership" in trouble

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Liverpool's old established property business The Venmore Partnership was last night on the verge of being sold to a Wirral-based estate agency chain,Bradshaw Farnham & Lea.

Venmore partner Phil Cassidy admitted on Friday that Venmore was a

HBOS to write off £5.2 billion and Lloyds £300 million as residential property weakens

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT
HBOS Plc raised its hit from the value of risky assets and bad loans to over £5 billion today and its takeover partner Lloyds TSB warned of a sharp fall in profits.

The banks said the takeover of HBOS by Lloyds TSB remained on track

Demand for commercial property falling fastest in retail say RICS

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Demand for commercial property is falling at the fastest pace in a decade, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)as across the UK, 52% more chartered surveyors reported a fall than a rise in demand compared to 50% in Quarter 2 20

Barclays raise £7.3 billion from private investors, market says premium for avoiding government too great

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Middle East investors will own up to one third of Barclays after Abu Dhabi and Qatar provided most of £7.3 billion raised by the bank today to repair damage from the global financial crisis and avoid taking government rescue funds.

Barcla

Four Seasons avoids bankruptcy as creditors extend time to complete agreement on debt for equity swap.

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Four Seasons Health Care Group, the third largest care homes operator in the UK, and Europe’s first large failed buyout since the credit crunch started, has missed bankruptcy by agreeing with its lenders to postpone debt repayments until late Januar

John Lewis report sales last week down 9.8% on last year

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
John Lewis Partnership, retail sector bellweather, said today that last week's sales at its 27 department stores fell 9.8% year on last year.

The group said the fall of half-term school holidays led to an easing of trade in many areas during th

Surrey housebuilder goes bust

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Premier Properties, which is based in Camberley, Surrey, and was involved in the construction and development of high end residential property in the South-east,
has gone out of business.

KPMG has been appointed joint administrators to the

Norris calls for SIPP's to be allowed to own residential property

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Steven Norris, adviser to Boris Johnson on transport and development, has called upon the government to stimulate the residential housing market by taking the step they almost took on A Day 2006 and allowing SIPP's to own residential property.

Spurs announce plans to build new 60,000 seat stadium near Whit Hart Lane in mixed use development

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Tottenham Hotspur have announced plans to build a new 60,000-capacity stadium near their current White Hart Lane ground.

Called the Northumberland Development Project,it is a large-scale development incorporating leisure facilities, public spa

Nationwide report biggest monthly house price fall since 1991 at 1.4%

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
British house prices fell 1.4% in the month of October to post their biggest annual drop since comparable records began in 1991, the Nationwide building society said today.

The 12th consecutive monthly drop highlights the reversal of fortune fo

Further momentum to BPF "Empty Rates" protest as Birmingham City Council joins

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Birmingham City Council has thrown its weight behind a national campiagn calling on the Government to rethink a property tax stifling commercial development in the city.

Council leader Mike Whitby has put his name to an open letter to the Prime

Scotland's commercial property business propped up by Aberdeen say Ryden

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Ryden's 63rd biannual Scottish Property Review says the Scottish commercial property market is managing to ride out the economic storm thanks to strong office activity in Aberdeen and a buoyant industrial sector.
But office lettings in Edinburgh and

House of Lords helps landlords with "a dose of common sense"

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Landlords have been spared an expensive and exacting administrative process to recover rent from former tenants and guarantors in a landmark House of Lords judgement today.

The Scottish & Newcastle vs Raguz case centres on how rent is recov

Jones Lang La Salle Q3 profits down 68% as one off expenses take their toll

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Jones Lang LaSalle, the US based global property consultancy, this morning revealed that its profits in the third quarter fell 68% due in part to acquisition and restructuring charges, which is similar to the drop in Q2 profits.

Third-quarter n

JD Wetherspoon High Court damages case against former property agent gets going

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
JD Wetherspoon's law suit for damages against former property advisor, Pinner based Van de Berg & Co, for breaching its fiduciary duty to the company has begun in the High Court.

Tim Martin, Founder and Chairman of JDW, claims Van de

Regulated mortgages become scarcer as arrears rise 16% and repossessions rise 71% on last year

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published today its latest mortgage lending data covering the period from Q1 2007 to the end of Q2 2008.

The total value of outstanding loans is £1,178billion, an increase of 7.5% compared to

Goodman looks to Asia for growth and recapitalises with a A$1.3 billion share issue and asset sale plan

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The Goodman Group, formerly known as Macquarie Goodman, today announced four initiatives to strengthen its balance sheet and increase its exposure to the growth markets of Asia. The initiatives are: a $755 million fully underwritten equity raising; com

Bank of England expects the banking system to stabilise following global intervention

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Global intervention should steady the banking system but it will also put big constraints on banks, the Bank of England said today, six months after it said it expected confidence to return to financial markets.

In its twice-yearly Financial

Santander and Abbey post strong Q3 results

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Spain's biggest bank, Banco Santander, posted a 5.5% rise in net profit for the first nine months to September today, underpinned by robust recurrent earnings from its core retail banking business.

In a statement, Santander said net profit came

Bassi concert party poised to take control of REI.

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Paul Bassi and Marcus Daly are on the verge of taking control of Birmingham-based Real Estate Investors plc (REI). At the time of their appointment as directors of REI, the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers deemed Bassi and Daly to be members of a concert pa

LSH report UK commercial property transactions in Q3 the lowest since 2001

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
The Lambert Smith Hampton UK Investment Transactions (UKIT) Report for Q3 shows £4.5billion of deals recorded in the third quarter which is the lowest quarterly total since the same period 2001.

Q4 is expected to see further reduced level

Housebuilder David McClean goes bust

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Housebuilder David McLean Group, which includes its trading subsidiaries David McLean Contractors, David McLean Developments and David McLean Homes, today went into administration as Deloittes has confirmed it has been appointed as administrators for the

Persimmon Homes will meet expectations for FY 2008 but fear for 2009 as sales evaporate

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
The U.K.'s biggest homebuilder by market value said it will book £600 million in land writedowns after house prices fell during the U.K.'s worst housing slump in 25 years. The provision represents about 19% of the company's land stock value as

Stoford win £10million BoS Property Entrepreneur prize

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
The regional winner of the Bank of Scotland Search for Property Entrepreurs has been announced for the Midlands and East Anglia. The result is one landmark project has been given a financial boost after its developer won the £10 million regional fin

Beer sales in Q3 down 8.1% as UK pubs come under greater pressure

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

UK publicans are pulling almost a fifth fewer pints than they were three years ago as the trade struggles with the toughest trading environment in working memory. Five pubs a day have been closing and there are fears that rate will rise further.<

Stock market falls raise fears of solvency rather than just liquidity in UK plc

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The top share index tumbled 7%, touching its lowest in 5-1/2 years by midday today, headed by energy stocks as weak growth data further deepened the gloom surrounding the economy, which for many will raise a fear of solvency in the economy rather than jus

UK housing market to fall much further - another 2.5% this year and 10% next year say experts

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
UK residential property prices will fall 15% this year, another 10% in 2009 and will take up to two years to stabilise despite the prospect of several more interest rate cuts, a Reuters poll showed today.

The poll of 38 analysts at banks, inves

Commercial property contractors feel the pinch - Bovis Lend Lease looks to axe 200 jobs

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Bovis Lend Lease is understood to have put up to 200 staff on notice of redundancy as the impact of the drop in commercial work bites the construction firm.

Sources close to the firm stressed that the move was part of a legal process and did no

LloydsTSB on charm offensive to sell HBOS deal to it's shareholders

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Many LloydsTSB investors begrudge the deal the government forced them into because they feel they could be invested in a strong, dividend paying, independent bank, still.

They regret that the £37 billion recapitalisation plan was offered

Rightmove cuts 20% of workforce

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Rightmove Group Plc announced a wave of redundancies today, with about 20% of employees to leave the company in response to the slump in the UK housing market.

The UK property search website said it will reduce its cost base for 2009 by a

Major landlords collaborate to put small tenants on monthly rent roll

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Leading UK landlords, including Land Securities Prudential's PruPIM and Hammerson, are working on a raft of measures to aid small businesses facing a hard struggle against recession.
Falling consumer spending means that the old practice of indep

Argent uses it's own banking facilities to keep Kings Cross project on track

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Developer Argent has injected more of its own cash, using in part an existing mezzanine facility, into the £2bn regeneration of King’s Cross in central London after funding talks with banks collapsed.

According to a report in today&

Construction & property companies bear the brunt of credit crunch

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Construction and property companies suffered more than a third of the UK’s insolvencies in the autumn, highlighting their exposure to the credit crunch and resultant property slump.

Research by Wilkins Kennedy, the top 30 accountancy firm

Green light for Walsall "Gigaport" £400million development

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT

A green light has been given to Walsall Gigaport’, a fibre optic cabled development that will offer huge bandwidth as bait to attract new industries to the region and help deliver a strategically important Office Corridor to Walsall.
An out

Further rate cuts forecast

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Economists at Capital Economics are forecasting another big rate cut by the MPC when they announce their decision on interest rates this week.

This follows on from last month's half point cut in a move that was co-ordinated with both the US Fed

Buy to Let investors return to the market for bargains

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
What have savvy investors realised? That Buy-to-let investment yields are rising, and despite the bad press which seems to have confused BTL with sub-prime taking advantage of properties with good letting potential at the right price is sensible. Add to t

Bloor Homes sell 335 unsold homes to Sanctuary Housing in £13million deal

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Bloor Homes, the Derbyshire based privately owned housebuilder, has become the first housebuilder to take advantage of the government's offer of £200million to help buy up unsold private homes and turn them in to affordable housing.

The g

Simon Morris arrested by West Yorkshire Police Organised Crime officiers.

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Simon Morris, the property developer who was sacked by the administrators of his former company last week, has been arrested during a series of raids by police investigating fraud and money laundering allegations.

The former Leeds United direct

Ashwell gets the green light for the £800million mixed use CB1 scheme

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Cambridge planners have approved a £800million plan submitted by local firm Ashwell plc, to redevelop the city's railway station and its surrounds.

The CB1 project was rejected by Cambridge City Council two years ago over density conce

NAB reports Yorkshire & Clydesdale Banks performing strongly expecting to benefit from banking shakeout

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
National Australia Bank (NAB), which owns Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank, said today that its British businesses had continued to deliver a "strong trading performance relative to local peers" in what it described as a "challengin

Debenhams FY profits down 16% as margins come under pressure

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Department store chain Debenhams has reported a 16% fall in profits and halved its share dividend as trading conditions deteriorate.

Pre-tax profit before one-off items fell to £110.1million for the year to 30 August, against £

Young shoppers support a sagging Arcadia as profits fall to £275million

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Sir Philip Green's Arcadia Group has reported a 6.1% drop in operating profits, but its young fashion brands including Topshop enjoyed a record year.

Green said that Arcadia's young fashion brands Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge all had reco

Specialist lender Davenham in trouble

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Davenham, a specialist lender to small property developers, saw its share price drop 73% yesterday after it warned that market conditions would eliminate profits and force it into talks with its banks.
The company said that its portfolio of loans

Barratt Developments looking to sell land bank stake for £200million

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Barratt Developments, the housebuilder, is seeking partners for a joint venture to invest in its strategic land bank.

The move is one of a series of possible measures to help reduce its £1.65billion debt burden. A source said the company

Aldi to generate better site returns from stores with Travelodge upstairs

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
German discounter Aldi has joined with budget hotel operator Travelodge to develop joint hotel and store sites in the UK. The first site, due to open in Autumn 2009, will see Aldi and Travelodge develop a 74-room hotel above Aldi's existing Newquay store,

Europes banks need a further €94billion capital injection to match UK banks Tier1 ratios

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
ING grabbed a €10 billion Dutch cash injection and Sweden joined countries offering lifelines to their banks, as scrutiny of capital health switched to Societe Generale and its French peers.

Shares in ING Group NV leapt 23% after the finan

Further Bank of England support measures introduced today for UK banks

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The Bank of England acted today to make it easier for commercial banks to get short-term funding today, introducing new facilities promised last week to allow banks to borrow overnight and for up to a month. This action is against a backdrop of funding fo

Wilson Bowden push ahead with plans at Kingsway

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Wilson Bowden Developments and the North West Development Agency, in partnership with the Rochdale Development Agency and Rochdale Council, have submitted a planning application for 600,000 sq ft of Industrial space at the 420 acre Kingsway business park.

Propinvest porfolio close to administration

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Glenn Maud, the former Sheffield lawyer turned property tycoon, has been working on an urgent £2.5bn refinancing plan after one of his funds breached banking covenants, and it appears that his efforts may have failed, with administration the like

Travis Perkins passes on final dividend and cuts costs as downturn bites

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Travis Perkins, the builders merchant and home improvements group, said it expected underlying profit for 2008 to be at the low end of analysts' expectations, reflecting the downturn in construction markets.

The group said it is also unlikely t

Centros gets planning approval for £150 million Lancaster Canal Corridor scheme

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Centros has received planning permission for its £150m mixed-use regeneration scheme for Lancaster city centre. At a marathon meeting of Lancaster City Council's planning committee has approved developer Centros' redevelopment of a brownfield city c

IPD say Commercial property returns at -18% for year and double dip trend now evident

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
IPD today released the results for its UK Monthly Property Index for September 2008.

The Index showed all property total returns falling to -2.4%, compared with -1.1% in August, making September the weakest single month since the low points of

Marstons continues to meet expectations

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Marstons is expected to turn in a respectable FY performance with turnover approximately 2% ahead of last year in a difficult market. The firms results will be announced on December 5th, but in a year end trading statement the firm said that in the

UK must take enabling measures to tenfold increase offshore wind power to meet 2020 renewables target

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
In March 2007, the European Union set a target that 20% of energy consumed across Europe would need to come from renewable sources by 2020. Different countries took on different targets, based on both their existing renewable capacity and relative GDP per

Whitbread delight investors with H1 pre-tax profits up 24% thanks to Premier Inns

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Whitbread, the country's biggest hotel and restaurants operator, reported a 24% increase in first-half pretax profit, helped by strong growth at its Premier Inn and Costa Coffee chains, driven by expanding capacity.

Pretax profit before excepti

Housebuilder Bellway profits down 30%

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Bellway plc, the nations 4th biggest housebuilder, has reported pre-tax profits down to £165.7million a 30% reduction on last year on a turnover 15% down to £1.149billion. which underlines the margin reduction the firm has accepted to move

Irish property prices collapse to 35% of recent levels intensifying the banking crisis

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The value of property assets held by prominent Irish developers has collapsed to ruinous levels.

So dire has the situation become that Allied Irish Bank (AIB) has written down by almost two-thirds the value of property held by some major develo

Knight Frank reduces head count in hotels division by closing Birmingham department

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Knight Frank, has decided to consolidate its Midlands hotel business from Birmingham to London as a result of a “service line review”.

The agency, which has a significant presence across all sectors including residential, commercial

Plans for £250million Stoke -on -Trent shopping centre regeneration submitted

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Plans have been submitted for the £250 million regeneration of the East West Centre in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent City Centre. The plans were the vision of internationally
renowned architects Benoy, who also designed the Birmingham Bullring.
<

Latest news of big bank capital increases, and mergers

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The government is to inject up to £37billion of new capital into Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and HBOS.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is to raise £20billion - with the government buying £5billion of preference shares and

DTZ replaces CEO from November

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
DTZ, the global commercial property consultant, has hired the American Paul Idzik, former chief operating officer of Barclays, as its new chief executive.

Mark Struckett signalled in June he was leaving DTZ after 14 years in the post. The acqui

Rugby Estates looking for £100 million warchest from shareholders

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Rugby Estates chairman David Tye and Andrew Wilson, the chief executive, are courting leading shareholders over a plan to raise £100million in fresh equity.

The pair met Laxey Partners, the biggest shareholder, on Friday to seek app

Woolworth sell 9 leases to Tesco and Sir Alan takes a 4% stake

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Woolworths Group has agreed to sell leases on up to nine stores to supermarket giant Tesco Plc for up to £9 million. It said proceeds from the disposals, which are expected to take up to six months, will be used to reduce group borrowings. Assuming

Scotland's new 400,000sq ft logistics park opens

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Scotland's latest logistics park Centralpoint - the Elite Logistics Park - is the latest development at Eurocentral and provides over 423,660 sq ft of new industrial space across six buildings.

Completed in September, the new logistics park whi

Candys pick up Kaupthing stakes in property developments

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Nick and Christian Candy, the property entrepreneurs, have acquired full control from Kaupthing of a scheme in London, at the former Middlesex hospital near Oxford Street, and also a development at 9900 Wilshire in Beverly Hills in the US after the

Grainger keeping within banking covenants

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Grainger, the UK's largest residential landlord, said a boost in sales and reduced level of acquisitions meant it would stay within the terms of its banking agreements.

Full-year profits at the Newcastle based company to the end of September ar

The current state of the banking nations -Iceland, Ireland and UK

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Yesterday, the UK authorities seized control of Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander, the UK arm of Kaupthing, which employs almost 700 people in the City. Control of the business of Kaupthing Edge, its Internet bank,was transferred to ING Direct and&

The safest banks are Canadian say the World Economic Forum

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Canada has the world's soundest banking system, closely followed by Sweden, Luxembourg and Australia, a survey by the World Economic Forum has found as financial crisis and bank failures shake world markets.

But Britain, which once ranked in th

Joe Lewis recoups some Bear Stearns losses picking up Tchenguiz's M&B stake cheaply

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Joe Lewis, the Cockney Bahamas-based tax exile with investments in companies including Ladbrokes and Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, is understood to have bought a 25% stake in Mitchells & Butlers (M&B), the pub operator, from Robert Tchenguiz. L

Bank of England cuts Base rates to 4.5%

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
In a shock move the Bank of England has cut Bank base rate to 4.5% from 5%.

A decision on rates was not expected until noon tomorrow.
The Bank of England held an

Government bailout of UK banks - £50 billion of risk capital made available

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The UK government has announced details of a rescue package for the banking system worth at least £50billion.

It will make extra capital available to eight of the UK's largest banks and building societies.

In return for the fun

HBOS sells Bank West to Commonwealth Bank of Australia as OZ banking consolidates

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Commonwealth Bank of Australia agreed to buy HBOS's Australian unit BankWest and other assets for a cheap A$2.1 billion ($1.5 billion), to boost its market share in fast-growing Western Australia.

The cash deal by Australia's second-large

Tchenguiz 25% stake in M&B sold

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Robert Tchenguiz, Mitchells & Butlers' largest shareholder, has sold a 25% stake in the UK pub group to an unknown buyer, the Financial Times reported.

Some 101 million shares in the All Bar One operator changed hands after the formal close

Quintain in talks to sell 50% of it's Wembley scheme to UAE investors

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
UK developer Quintain Estates & Development is talking to Gulf Arab investors about taking a stake in its Wembley City project and would also be open to selling a stake in the company, deputy chief executive Nick Shattock told Reuters.

Leeds property firm SRM Holdings goes bust for £50million

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The Leeds property group SRM Holdings, owned by Simon Morris has gone into administration with debts of more than £50million.

Once listed in the Sunday Times Young Rich List with an estimated fortune of £69million, a residential pr

Scotland's Heritor's cuts staff as sales dry up and 4 sites are mothballed

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The credit crunch is now affecting the quality end of Scotland's residential property market, with Heritor's Group being forced to put developments on hold.
Edinburgh-based Heritor's, which buys properties in prime locations for refurbishment t

Public enquiry rejection of Coventry Airport expansion plan upheld in High Court

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The High Court has dealt a potentially fatal blow to expansion plans for Coventry Airport.

A judge upheld the Government's decision to reject moves to build a new terminal to take up to two million passengers a year.

Earlier local bu

RICS survey says construction in all sectors is in decline and new homes target will be missed

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The Government's house building target looks out of reach with fewer than 100,000 new homes expected to be built this year, RICS has warned.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said construction workloads were declining at their fastes

RBS to sell Grosvenor House Hotel for £720 million

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane is set to be the next trophy property for oil-rich buyers from the Gulf states.

The landmark five-star hotel, which contains London's biggest banqueting hall, The Great Room, was built in the Twenties .

Advantage Trust sales confirm smaller commercial property valuations holding up

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Advantage Property Income Trust Ltd.(formerly knowns as The Teesland Advantage Property Income Trust Ltd) said it has sold five of its investment properties for £4.17 million.

The company said it achieved a value 1.8% above preceding valu

Birmingham based William Ashley Developments goes bust

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
William Ashley Developments a Birmingham property developer has gone bust with debts of nearly £4 million - with creditors claiming the collapsed firm’s sister companies are still selling houses.

A spokesman for the Official Receive

Berlin guarantees retail deposits in package of moves to bail out Hypo Real Estate

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Germany’s government and financial regulators agreed yesterday a second bail-out package for Hypo Real Estate after the abrupt failure of a first attempt to rescue the property lender.

HRE is a specialist commercial lender, it does

Guestinvest goes bust despite HBOS backing

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
GuestInvest Group Limited, the HBOS-backed hotel investment firm, has appointed Deloitte as administrators, becoming the latest casualty of Britain's property crash, Deloitte said today.

"We have today been appointed administrators a

Stockland reports flat UK H1 profits and remains cautious for full year

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Stockland Group, Australia’s second-largest real estate investment trust, expects to take A$110 million (£48 million) in charges on its struggling UK business in the first half, the company said today.

Operating profit in the UK wou

Commercial building activity falling at a record rate

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The UK construction market is contracting rapidly, with commercial activity in particular falling at a record rate, according to data from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS) and Markit UK.

Their latest purchasing managers

£16billion Crossrail project threatened by funding issues as deadline passes

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The falling property market may have knocked a £400million hole in the finances of Crossrail, the £16billion rail project to link east and west London.

Last year, Crossrail and the government agreed that £800million for the sc

Funds pour into Irish banks as Irish parliament approves state guarantee

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Ireland's banks are suddenly flavour of the month among nervous British savers after the Irish government stepped out of line with its European neighbours and pledged a blanket guarantee on all deposits.

The Irish parliament yesterday approved

Bank of England says reduction of credit supply to consumers and businesses greater than expected

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Banks tightened secured lending to households by more than they had expected in the third quarter of this year and credit across the economy was likely to become more scarce, a Bank of England survey showed.

The BoE's quarterly credit condition

Plans submitted for £50million Ipswich town centre scheme

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Following a public consultation in July, Chelmsford based developer Turnstone has submitted a planning application in a joint venture with investor RevCap for a £50million scheme to redevelop Ipswich's former Civic Centre site, building

Todays window on the economy from M&S, Ted Baker and Halfords

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Evidence from the High Street that consumers are cutting back comes today from Marks & Spencer and Ted Baker.

Britain's biggest clothing retailer, reported a 6.1% drop in second-quarter underlying sales and said it was cut

Businesses move substantial funds into Ireland as questions about unfair state aid are raised

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The Irish pledge unveiled on Tuesday to guarantee the liabilities of six Irish-owned banks totalling some €400 billion, has raised questions in Brussels and London about competition and state-aid rules.

One senior stockbroker told Re

Euro Zone economy shrinks for the 1st time since monetary union as inflationary pressures recede

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Euro zone manufacturing activity fell to a near seven-year low in September, below the flash estimate, and there may be more contraction to come despite some relief from a fall in prices, a key survey showed today.

The Markit Eurozone Pur

JLL says UK commercial property sales down 58% YTD compared to last year

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Five billion pounds of UK commercial property changed hands in the three months to end-September as the market continued to shrink due to a lack of debt funding and falling prices, data showed today.

Property consultants Jones Lang LaSalle said

St Modwen warns of disappointing results to come

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
St. Modwen Properties said today that efforts to preserve the value of its portfolio were being undermined by a rapidly deteriorating UK property market.

The company said the slide in UK property prices had continued and occupational demand was

Oakdene struggling as share issue fails and forced to turn to bank as latest victim of housing collapse

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Housebuilder Oakdene has failed to raise £5m through a share placement and dropped more than £6m into the red for the first six months of 2008.

It is also in breach of its banking covenants and relying on a temporary facility from i

New capital adequacy rules for European Banks proposed - speedy adoption expected.

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Banks will have to tie up more capital to cover risk in their operations in future under European Union rules due to be unveiled today.

The EU's executive European Commission wants to apply lessons learnt from the credit crunch, which this week

MFI properties to go into administration as more than 100 MFI stores at risk of closure

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
More than 100 MFI stores are expeced to close despite an 11th hour management buy-out of the stricken furniture chain.

The management team led by Gary Favell, the current MFI chief executive, then intends to take back 92 of the most profitable

The UK credit crunch - our limited options

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The UK, which is in a lending drought every bit as serious as the United States’, is far less able to mount a government rescue and may well come out much worse.

The UK is about a year behind the United States in its property crash but se

Toolstation takes Quintain shed at Redditch as developer reports steady progress

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Toolstation, the Bridgewater based tools and fixings supplier, has signed up for a 140,000 sq ft distribution complex at Quintain Estates’ Arrow Valley scheme in Redditch, Worcestershire.

Toolstation has taken a 15 year lease on

Tesco meets expectations with H1 profits up 10.3%

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Tesco met forecasts with a 10.3% rise in H1 profit and said today like-for-like sales growth at its British operation accelerated over the summer months.

"Our business is strong, broadly based, increasingly international and, I believe, we

Irish government intervenes to prevent bank runs after bank shares plunge

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Ireland’s banks suffered their biggest one-day fall in share price for two decades yesterday as fears swept the Dublin market about their ability to withstand the downturn in the Irish economy amid the global financial turmoil.

Anglo Iri

Buy to Let mortgages perform better than owner occupied mortgages contrary to received wisdom

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Inaccurate reporting of the Bradford & Bingley demise and earlier reporting from the start of the credit crunch, has created an impression that Buy-to-Let mortgages were responsible for it's difficulty as B&B was the biggest lender in the BTL sect

Scottish Power reveals world leading tidal energy plans

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The world's largest tidal energy farm could be built in British waters, it has been announced.

Two sites off Scotland and one off Northern Ireland are being looked at to house up to 60 underwater turbines generating 60 megawatts – enough

Residential Mortgage lending at weakest on record as pressure rises on Bank to reduce Base Rate

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Mortgage lending was £143 million last month, a mere 2% of what was advanced in August 2007 and the weakest level since the series began in April 1993. Analysts speculated net lending could even turn negative before long.

Other Bank of En

Close Brothers FY profits below expectations as CEO steps down

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
UK investment bank Close Brothers Group Plc reported a drop in annual profit below market expectations today and said Chief Executive Colin Keogh was to step down.

Operating profit before tax was £127.5 million in the year to July 31, dow

Bradford & Bingley, Fortis and Hypo Real Estate all rescued as Europe fights credit crunch

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The government is set to nationalise troubled bank Bradford & Bingley today after Santander agreed to buy its retail deposits and branch network. Under the arrangement, the Government will take control of the bank's £50billion in mortgages

QIA buys 20% of Chelsfield

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Chelsfield, which owns Camden market in North London, has sold a 20% stake in itself to the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) for a sum thought to be less than £80million. A spokesman said that the funds would allow the group to capitalis

Minerva shares plummet as Limitless pulls bid

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Minerva, the troubled property company, saw it's shares fall by half yesterday after Limitless, the property arm of the sovereign wealth fund Dubai World, pulled out of a £260 million takeover bid.

Limitless said that it had left the 160p

Revised Victoria plans submitted by Land Securities exclude transport interchange upgrade

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Revised plans for London Victoria station have been submitted - without proposals to improve its transport interchange, which Land Securities had proposed spending £200million improving.

As expected, the Land Securities application featur

Bank of England in concert with ECB and SNB pump more liquidity into banking system

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT

The Bank of England said it would lend $30 billion of funds for one week today and auction £40 billion on Monday.

'The Bank of England will increase the term of its existing operations to lend U.S. dollar funds against collateral eligi

HSBC announces 1100 job losses

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
HSBC Holdings, Europe's biggest bank, said today it was cutting 1,100 jobs in its global banking and markets operation, or 4% of the unit's total, as it weathers the global financial crisis.

'We're doing it because of market conditions and the

Canary Wharf owner NAV down 21% as firm loses £470 million in H1

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Songbird Estates, the majority owner of Canary Wharf in London's Docklands, has seen its net asset value drop by more than a fifth owing to a £548million loss in the value of its property in the past six months.

Songbird's property por

EPC's will hit commercial property sales from next week

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Many commercial property transactions which have been delayed by financing difficulties and are still in the pipeline months after they should have completed may fall foul of the introduction of mandatory energy performance certificates (EPCs) for c

Bristol's £600million shopping centre opened today

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Bristol's new Cabot Circus shopping centre has opened this morning after developers Land Securities and Hammerson spent £600 million over the past 10 years to deliver it.

The development, which boasts a 1 million sq ft shopping centre, 26

Bassi's REI makes steady progress as underlying profits rise 25%

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Real Estate Investors, the AIM-listed property group headed by Paul Bassi, unveiled interim pre-tax profits of £663,000 for the six months to the end of June, against £2.88 million in the same period a year ago. However, the

Metrovaseca fails to find partner or replacement to relieve HSBC Tower pain

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Metrovacesa, the troubled Spanish property company, is struggling to find a partial sale for the HSBC skyscraper in London’s Canary Wharf, with just weeks to go before a loan used to buy the building expires.

Metrovacesa bought it in a sa

CareCapital H1 profits evaporate on delays at Folkestone dental centre development

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
CareCapital Group Plc’s chairman made a £4 million personal loan to the UK medical centre developer to help fund development plans while other sources of funds remain constrained.

Reporting a 97% drop in first-half pretax prof

Clapham Junction station development plans submitted

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Delancey and Land Securities’ Metro Shopping Fund submitted plans to Wandsworth Borough today for a major development at Clapham Junction station.

The mixed-use proposal includes two new station entrances, a two-level pedestrian sho

Hawtin H1 profits down 43% and passes dividend to build warchest

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Hawtin plc, the property group, said yesterday that the malaise in the sector could last for another 18 months, but added that it was well positioned to add to its UK-wide portfolio.

The AIM-listed company, whose ownership of developments

Further downgrades of Bradford & Bingley credit rating as it revises GMAC deal

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its short-term counterparty credit rating on Bradford & Bingley Plc. (B&B) to 'A-3' from 'A-2' and maintained the rating on creditwatch with negative implications, pending forthcoming meetings with

Blears signals U turn on Empty Rates Relief

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The Government is considering changes to its controversial policy to force the owners of empty commercial property to pay business rates, communities secretary Hazel Blears admitted yesterday.

Speaking in Manchester at a Labour Party conference

ProLogis to build carbon neutral shed for M&S at Bradford to achieve BREEM "very good" rating.

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
ProLogis, the world's largest owner, manager and developer of distribution facilities, announced today that it will develop a new, 1.1 million-square-foot distribution facility for Marks & Spencer at ProLogis Park Bradford, a 90-acre business park in

UK mortgage approvals fall to new low as banks starve the market of cash

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
UK mortgage approvals fell 64% on the year to a record low in August, the British Bankers’ Association said today, suggesting no end was in sight for the country’s housing market woes.

The BBA blamed the drop on uncertainty regardin

Mitchells & Butlers expect FY results to meet expectations

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Pubs operator Mitchells & Butlers said today it expects earnings for the year to be in line with its expectations and reported a 1.3% rise in like-for-like sales in the nine weeks to Sept 20.

The owner of the Harvester and All Bar One

£210million regeneration of Bolton town centre gets planning approval

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
A joint venture between Alderley Edge-based Bluemantle and Manchester-based Ask Developments has been granted planning consent for a £210m regeneration of Bolton town centre.

The Church Wharf scheme, designed by Carey Jones architects, wi

Santander shareholders promised €10billion 2008 net profit as they approve A&L bid

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Santander, Europe's second largest bank, is better prepared than its competitors to ride out the current financial markets' crisis, Chairman Emilio Botin told shareholders at an EGM held today.

At the same meeting, shareholders also approved a

Speymill H1 profits double last years but FY outcome deteriorating

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Property investor Speymill Plc. more than doubled pretax profits during the first half helped by a 60% rise in turnover, but warned that full-year profits may come in 30-35% lower than current market expectations.

The company said that in addit

Westfield on track to deliver £1.5billion London Olympic Mall in time

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Westfield has begun work on a £1.5 billion complex of shops, offices and hotels which will act as the main entrance for thousands of spectators to the Olympic Park at Stratford in East London.

But while construction is well under way, wor

Scottish Enterprise selling business sites across Scotland

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Scottish Enterprise (SE) is hoping to raise £60m from the sale of at least 11 sites across Scotland, including Queen’s Road in Aberdeen and the Science and Technology Park at East Kilbride.

Money from the sales has been includ

Lloyds HBoS looking to close 700 branches

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Lloyds TSB is looking for property agents to oversee the closure of up to 700 high street branches once its planned takeover of HBOS completes, the Independent on Sunday reported.

The Independent said Lloyds had approached property agents inclu

Grainger asking shareholders to increase it's borrowing powers

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Grainger Trust plc, the UK’s only listed residential landlord, is asking shareholders to amend its borrowing powers following an increase in its level of debt and a fall in the value of its properties.

The Newcastle firm, which owns over

Santander thought to be considering moves on Bank of Ireland and Washington Mutual

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Santander is thought to considering a bid for 2 troubled banks, one in Ireland and the other in the US.

Bank of Ireland, whose exposure to a property market collapse in its home market has seen its shares pumelled also declined to comment

Barclays further boost capital by £1.3 billion with share sales this week

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Barclays raised £701 million by selling shares yesterday to add to this week's boost to its capital as part of its purchase of assets from Lehman Brothers.

Barclays said alongside Wednesday's purchase of Lehman's U.S. broker-dealer

Minerva posts a £270million loss but shares rise as takeover talks near completion.

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Minerva, the London commercial property developer, reported a financial loss of £270million reflecting the sharp drop in the value of its property portfolio. Net asset value per share fell 43% to 187.7p.

The group, which is exposed to Cit

RBS allow Dunedin's Industrious Fund to go under

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Ernst & Young partners Alan Bloom, Alan Hudson and Colin Dempster have been appointed as receivers of Dunedin Property Capital Fund Limited and Dunedin Property Industrial Fund (Holdings) Limited,the holding companies of the group which own the Ind

Henderson & Morley sell Cambridge Retail Park for £90million

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Henderson and Morley have sold Cambridge Retail Park to Deka Immobilien for €114m (£90.2m).

The 215,000 sq ft retail park, located at the north eastern edge of Cambridge, is fully rented to 14 companies including Homebase, Curr

Plans submitted for Prestons £700 million Tithebarn scheme

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
An outline planning application has been submitted to Preston City Council for the £700 million regeneration of the city's Tithebarn area.

John Lewis and M&S will anchor the scheme.

Richard Coppell from the Preston Tithebar

Lloyds £12.2 billion takeover of HBOS agreed

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Lloyds TSB sealed a £12.2 billion deal to buy HBOS Plc, to create a dominant mortgage and savings provider, encouraged by the government amid fears turmoil in financial markets would claim another UK victim.

Lloyds will offer 0.8

Kier produce strong FY results with profits up 12%

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Kier Group plc, the contractor and housebuilder, today released it's FY preliminary results which showed underlying pre-tax profits up 12.1% to £89.2million, and the benefit of a multimarket strategy.

Exceptional charges total £24.6

BoE extends Special Liquidity scheme for a further 3 months for fear of withdrawal consequences.

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The Bank of England will allow banks an extra three months to swap their risky assets for government paper, extending a scheme that was set to close next month because of the latest turmoil in financial markets.

The Bank Special Liquidity Schem

Rokeby submits plans for new Stockton business park

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Plans have been submitted for the first phase of a 23,000 sq m Business Park in Stockton-on Tees.

The £50m scheme, by Rokeby Developments, has outline planning consent and will be developed on a 15-acre triangular site on the Preston Farm

LloydsTSB in advanced talks to takeover HBOS

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
LloydsTSB is in merger talks with domestic rival HBOS to create a £28 billion mortgage giant, a person familiar with the matter said today.

News of the talks surfaced after shares in HBOS, Britain's biggest home lender, were battered for

Pub closures are inreasing say BBPA - predicting 43,000 sector job losses over next 5 years

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Britain's cash-strapped pubs groups, faced with the toughest trading conditions for years, look set to accelerate pub closures as the government turns the screws and presses ahead with planned tax rises.

The British Beer and Pub Association (BB

Barclays up and HBOS & Bank of Ireland down as sentiments shift

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Following the loss of investor confidence, mirrored in it's plunging share price yesterday Fitch Ratings has downgraded HBOS Plc. and main operating unit Bank of Scotland Plc., citing heightened concerns over the outlook for core parts of HBOS's retail an

AIG rescued by the Fed

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
American International Group staved off collapse yesterday after the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York agreed to lend up to $85 billion to the cash-strapped insurer over two years at stiff rates ( thought to be   more than 11.4% interest ) o

Bank shares plummet as LIBOR soars despite massive BoE Support.

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Central Banks have stepped in to support the banking industry as liquidity evaporates following the crisis yesterday. The Bank of England injected £20 billion today, after five billion on Monday. Demand was three times the amount of extra liquidity

Bradford & Bingley gets further downgraded by Moody's

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Bradford & Bingley plc has been further downgraded by Moody's Investors Service on a range of assets and the overall financial strength rating falls to D from C-, in a move which will make the struggling banks position increasingly untenable, gi

Berkeley Group say past 4 months house sales are down 50% on the average for the period

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Housebuilder and construction company Berkeley Group Holdings Plc said sales since the start of May are 50% below average, but in line with expectations for the first six months and the year.

Berkeley said today it is confident of being able ma

Hurstwood Developments goes bust

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Bolton-based property group Hurstwood has placed two more of its businesses into administration.

Hurstwood Developments and Hurstwood Facilities Management have suffered the same fate as Hurstwood Construction, which was placed into administra

Jones Lang LaSalle announce up to 80 UK jobs to go

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Jones Lang LaSalle is cutting 60-80 jobs, or 4-6% of its workforce in the UK, due to the property market downturn, the global real estate services firm said today.

A spokeswoman for the company, which employs more than 30,000 people in 60 count

Shares in Canary Wharf hit by Lehman bankruptcy

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Songbird Estates , the AIM-listed majority owner of the Canary Wharf business district, sinks 9% following news that tenant Lehman Brothers has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Songbird’s “B class” shares trade at 1

Lehman files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy while Bank of America buys Merill Lynch for $50 billion

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT

It has been a Black Weekend on Wall Street as Lehman Brothers has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after US Government officials and top Wall Street bankers held talks yesterday in an effort to sell Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and avoid a collapse of

Will RBS save Dunedin's Industrial Fund from collapse?

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Dunedin Property Industrial Fund is in trouble. The fund owns the 10m sq ft Industrious portfolio, which has been up for sale for some months.

The fund’s problems were revealed on September 5th when a notice was issued to holders of the

Asquith Developments, the West Yorkshire residential developer goes bust

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Asquith Properties the Pontefract-based property development business, founded by Russell Baker and Katherine Stacey in the 1990s, has gone into administration, blaming cash flow problems caused by difficulties in accessing finance to fund its development

Irish Banks may have €6 billion of bad debts in residential property development.

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Irish banks could have combined bad debts of over €6 billion in 2009 and 2010 according to Dresdner Kleinwort, and Bank of Ireland will have little option but to issue a scrip dividend instead of a cash payment

Real Estate Investors in £4million office deal

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
AIM listed Real Estate Investors Plc. said it will buy York House, a 22,000 sq ft office building, on the corner of Great Charles Street and Newhall Street in central Birmingham for £4 million cash.

The Birmingham-based property company l

Further contrast in the High Street with Morrisons up and John Lewis down

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
In 2 more views of the high street today Wm Morrison Supermarkets met forecasts with a 19% rise in first-half profit and said it was well placed to continue taking market share as cash-strapped Britons flock to its budget-focused stores.

Meanwh

Galliford Try produce respectable FY results on sales up 35%

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Galliford Try have reported sales up 35% to £1.832bn with pre-tax profits level at £60.3million in it's 2008 FY preliminary results.

The Galliford Try model of operating in both construction and housebuilding markets dur

Costain get £80million Newbury contract to build Parkway after 20 year gestation.

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Costain has been awarded an £80 million contract by Standard Life Investments to construct a retail-led mixed use development with Shearer Properties in Parkway, Newbury, West Berkshire.

The contract is expected to be completed in 2

Lehman Brothers post Q3 loss of £2.21 billion as shares slide 45% as fear stalks markets

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Lehman Brothers, the US investment bank, lost £ 2.21bn ( $3.9bn) in the third quarter, mainly from a further $5.6bn of write-downs related to commercial and residential property investments and $760million on investments. That compares with a Q3

News Corp decides to stay at Wapping

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
News Corporation has announced plans to build a "new campus" on its existing Wapping site in a move it says will boost employment in the area. The proposed scheme will bring together News International, Harper Collins, MySpace, Dow Jones,

Cuts in planning red tape could save homeowners £50million a year

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Regulations that will remove 80,000 householder planning applications from the planning system each year were introduced to Parliament today.

Housing and planning minister Caroline Flint laid a revised general permitted development order before

Contrasting news from the High Street - Next down but Thorntons up.

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
There is contrasting news today from the High Street, as Next Plc posted a 12% fall in first-half pretax profits, while chocolate retailer Thorntons reported a better than expected 19.6% increase in annual profit, shrugging off the impact of a consumer do

Barratt passes dividend and reports profits 67% down at £137.3million

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Barratt Developments today revealed it's preliminary FY results for year ending June 30th. 2008. They show contracted sales down 37.8% and forward sales down 50%, which reflects the pipeline effect of the year as the credit crunch struck, with pre-tax pro

Industry surveys reveal further falls in UK commercial property development and total returns

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Commercial building activity in the United Kingdom posted its biggest monthly fall in at least five-and-a-half years in August and was set to continue tumbling in the autumn, a survey showed today.

Savills said its Total Commercial Develo

UK house prices continue to fall and sales volume hits a record low say RICS as consumers feel the pinch

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT

UK house prices kept falling sharply in the three months to August even as the average number of home sales per surveyor hit a new low, a survey showed today.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its house price survey balance i

Redrow secures new £450 million bank loan and reports a loss of £193.9million

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Uk housebuilder Redrow Plc said today it had secured a new £450 million debt facility until 2011, and that its markets would remain difficult for the foreseeable future.

Redrow full-year pretax profit nearly halved before exceptional item

Darling to bring forward measures to stimulate the mortgage market

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, is preparing to intervene to stimulate the UK housing finance market, The Times newspaper quoted senior government officials as saying.

The newspaper said Darling was waiting for the final proposals from James

Stevens Scanlan profit from the downturn

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Stevens Scanlan, the Manchester based surveyors and property consultants, is bucking the property downturn by taking further space in its Manchester office and expanding its property management team.

When it moved to Mosley Street 7 years ago t

Bristol based Midas Group has the right touch - profits 38% up

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Property services specialist the Midas Group has bucked the trend of poor performers in its sector, reporting an increase in pre-tax profits of £5.9million – an increase of 38% from the previous year.

The Bristol-based business, whi

HBOS chief sees UK house prices falling for at least 12 months

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Andy Hornby, Chief Executive of Halifax Bank of Scotland told the BBC's Business Editor Robert Peston that the credit crunch will last a further 18 months. He confirmed that HBOS is only lending what it is taking in as customers deposits, which explains i

Rockspring announce 4 UK acquisitions for £48.5 million

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Rockspring Property Investment Managers, the london based property fund manager, said on Friday that it has completed four acquisitions on behalf of its Retail Plus Property Trust and Trans-European IV funds for a total of £48.5million.
Rocksp

Nationwide to absorb The Debyshire and Cheshire Building Societies

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Nationwide, the UK's biggest customer-owned lender, said today it was to merge with smaller rivals the Derbyshire and Cheshire Building Societies.

Nationwide, the country's second-biggest provider of mortgages, said the tie-ups would create a m

Mounting concern about ongoing level of BoE support to UK banks hits bank shares

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
There is mounting concern in the UK banking sector about what will happen to the funding support provided by the Bank of England as the end of the current scheme in six weeks tightens the screws on lenders.

Analysts say Britain's banks ma

Commercial property experts forecast no capital growth for next 5 years

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Hopes of a recovery in commercial property values this year and next have been dashed by the latest Q3 survey by the Investment Property Forum (IPF).The five year view shows negative capital value growth over the period and sub-inflation returns from the

Southern Cross ease their troubles with further sales and leasebacks of care homes and loses CEO

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Southern Cross,the largest provider of care homes and long term care beds in the UK,has raised more than £20m to help pay down debt – and announced the departure of chief executive Bill Colvin.

The troubled company, which operates a

Banks are twisting Taylor Wimpey's arm

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Pressure to reach agreement grows on Taylor Wimpey as interest charges on debts are set to spiral to £170million a year as banks increase the interest rates they will charge the firm as the price of breaching the loan to value covenant.

T

Wetherspoon profits down 11% as pubs struggle

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Pubs group JD Wetherspoon reported an 11% decline in full-year pretax profit today as the smoking ban and slowdown in consumer spending impacted sales.

The group, which has nearly 700 pubs in Britain, made an adjusted pretax profit of £55

Bluemantle secure £85 million debt finance

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Commercial property investment, development and asset management group Bluemantle has secured an £85m refinancing package, which will help it re-structure itself into a co-investing fund manager.

The family-owned Manchester company, which

Leicester Highcross opens as the UK's most technologically advanced shopping complex

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The UK's most technologically advanced shopping centre opens today in Leicester at the newly refurbished Highcross complex. The 1.1 million sq ft scheme has John Lewis, House of Fraser and Debenhams as anchor stores out of a total of 120 stores, 15 restau

Why the self -cert commercial mortgage has vanished

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
If you are wondering what happened to self-certified commercial mortgage lenders Commercial First, 5D Finance, Interbay, and Base Commercial Mortgages, who 12 months ago were touting for commercial mortgage business, look no further than the figures relea

Whitbread further delight with strong H1 results

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Whitbread, Britain's biggest hotel and restaurants operator, said today like-for-like sales across the group increased by 7% in the 24 weeks to Aug 14.

The group said its Premier Inn budget hotel chain, which accounts for about 70% of profit

£215 million Swindon regeneration agreement signed with Modus Properties

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The regeneration of Swindon town centre has taken a step forward with the signing of a development agreement which will bring more than £200 million pounds of private and public sector investment into the town centre, and deliver one of the largest

Goodman plans for Tesco mega-shed defeated in round one

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Test Valley Borough Council's northern area planning committee have rejected the controversial plans for Andover Airfield by Goodman Developers to transform the former airfield – once the home of the Royal Flying School and which is now farmla

RBS say Barclays has insufficient capital and may need to raise a further £7.5 billion

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
RBS analysts Ian Smillie and Cormac Leech said today that Barclays Bank may need to raise between £4.9 billion and £7.5 billion to bring its capital ratio in line with its peers, and have changed their advice to "sell" from "hol

A.J. Mucklow FY report NAV down 14.8% and a pre-tax loss of £26.7 million

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT

A&J Mucklow Group, the Midlands based real estate investment trust, slumped to a full-year pretax loss of £26.7m after writing down £41.2m, and said this morning that it expects a further decline in property values over the next 1

Punch Taverns FY sales down and final dividend scrapped

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Punch Taverns, Britain's largest pub company, announced full year results with turnover down 3.4% in the leased pubs and 3.3% in the managed pubs, in line with management’s expectations.

The firm says that it intends to ret

1200 home riverside development for Leicester given approval

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
A 1,200 home development in the Belgrave area of Leicester has received outline planning permission for it's owners Cyprus based Trafalgar Global Ltd.

The former British United Shoe Machinery Works on Ross Walk is on the River Soar opposite the

Housing support measures announced and Stamp Duty floor raised to £175,000 for 12 months

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Prime Minister Gordon Brown unveiled plans today to help vulnerable families struggling with mortgage payments avoid losing their homes and bring forward funding for new social housing from existing budgets.

The government and property

ASDA backs the BPF and BRC empty rates campaign

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
ASDA are backing a campaign by the British Property Federation (BPF) and the British Retail Consortium (BRC) against the loss of empty property relief. Dubbed the ‘bombsite Britain’ tax by the media, in response to the increasing spate of demo

Greene King confident of meeting expectations ahead of AGM

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
British pubs group Greene King said today it would meet its expectations for the current financial year, despite tough trading and a lacklustre outlook for the UK economy, in a trading statement ahead of the AGM.

The firm, which has aroun

Mortgage approvals for July at lowest for 15 years as UK probably in recession

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Mortgage approvals hit their lowest in at least 15 years in July and the manufacturing sector shrank for a fourth straight month in August, surveys showed today."Prospects for the UK economy remain grim," said Michael Saunders, a Citigroup econo

Urbo get Planning permission for Phase 1 of £300million Chesterfield mixed use scheme

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Planning permission has been granted for the first phase of a £300m urban village in Chesterfield.

The approval covers the creation of a new lock and 1,200 sq m canal basin which will form the terminus to the restored Chesterfield canal n

Meltdown among branded bars on the High Street say Fleurets

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Fleurets, the specialist agency dealing with licenced premises, has pointed in it's 2008 report to the "Meltdown on the High Street" as far as branded bars are concerned. The process has had a knock-on effect on all licenced premises.

Cushman & Wakefield make H1 loss of €44million

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Cushman & Wakefield, the biggest closely held real estate services firm, lost €44 million in the first half of this year, its Italian parent Ifil said.

Ifil, one of the holding companies through which Italy's Agnelli family contr

RICS offer government advice to help the housing market recover

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) is calling on government to act “swiftly and decisively” to prevent further damage to the UK property market.

A research report published today from the organisation finds pr

Office firm Derwent London report NAV down 9.1% as it turns in H1 profits of £2.1 million.

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Real estate investor Derwent London said its adjusted net asset value fell by 9.1% in the half year to the end of June as the property market in the UK capital showed increasing signs of stress.

Derwent London, which specialises in office

Bradord & Bingley fall to H1 loss of £26.7 million

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Bradford & Bingley, Britain's largest buy-to-let lender with 19% of the market, posted a £26.7 million first-half pretax loss, hit by writedowns and investment losses, and said bad debts continued to rise.

Regus 39% up in first half trading

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Regus PLC, the office rental company, posted a 39% increase in first-half profit today and said its robust business model would enable it to cope with difficult economic conditions.

Regus, which offers ready-to-use offices for period

Nationwide say house prices falling faster than at any time since 1991

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
House prices fell 1.9% in the month of August to post their biggest annual drop since monthly records began in 1991, the Nationwide building society said today.

The decline, which was bigger than most analysts were expecting, pushed the average

Savills report strong H1 results but hesitates to predict full year outcome

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Savills plc, the international property adviser, today announced strong H1 results with revenues of £278.1million and profits of £33.4million which are similar to the previous year. The underlying results do reflect the difficult market condit

Segro falls to losses in H1 as NAV falls a further 12%

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Segro saw the value of its UK assets slump by 10% in H1 as it suffered from the downturn in the property market. The valuation loss of £389million wiped out profits to result in a pre-tax loss of £315.3million, and a 12% fall in NAV to 605p.

Taylor Wimpey reveals a £1542 million loss and confirmed talks with lenders agree new loan terms

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Taylor Wimpey, the UK's largest housebuilder, today announced it's interim results for H1 2008, showing a loss of £1542million. The business made a small operating profit if £4million which was swallowed up by losses on it's land bank values i

Business as usual for commercial property in Brighton

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Morley Fund Management sold Mocatta House, Trafalgar Place, Brighton, to Invista for £8.8 million.

The office complex, next to Brighton railway station, measures 3,421sqm over six floors and has 63 car parking spaces.

It is cur

Battle of the giants for Liberty as both Simon & Westfield build stakes

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Shopping centre developer and manager Westfield Group has taken a 2.96% stake in Liberty International Plc for "investment purposes".

Westfield, the world's largest listed retail property group, said it had acquired 10.7 million ordin

Residential mortgage approvals remain at historic lows in July and volume drops on BTL mortgages also

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Mortgage approvals for house purchases remained near a record low in July and the British Bankers' Association said there was no sign yet of a property market recovery.

The BBA said mortgage approvals totalled 22,448 last month, 65% lower than

Bovis H1 profits down 80% on previous year

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Housebuilder Bovis Homes reported a slump in first half profits today following what it called 'the toughest period of trading it has experienced in its life as a public company'.

Bovis reported an adjusted pretax profit of £11.7 million

Commercial property EPC deadline draws close with much confusion among all involved

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
New government legislation that will require hotels, pubs and restaurants to have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) before they can be sold is already causing confusion, property experts have warned.

The law, set to come into force on Oct

Regeneration quango chairman adds fuel to empty rates argument

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
A senior government adviser on the regeneration of cities has warned that a tax imposed on empty commercial buildings is threatening to derail efforts to breathe new life into some of the most blighted parts of Britain.

John Nicholls, who

Q2 GNP figures revised down by ONS prompting fear of recession and hope of rate cut.

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Britain's economy failed to expand in the second quarter of this year for the first time since the slump of the early 1990s and raising expectations interest rates will fall to avoid a recession.

The Office for National Statistics revised down

Shropshire estate agent Barbers goes bust

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Shropshire estate agents Barbers has become the latest victim of the credit crunch, closing four of its offices with the loss of 60 jobs. Staff from Barbers Estate Agents were yesterday called into an emergency meeting where they were told the administrat

Goodman turns in resilient performance benefitting from geographic spread

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Goodman,the Australian based industrial property specialist has announced it's 2008 results and has absorbed a $382.5 million writedown in it's UK asset values, out of it's $567 million income for the year. In the UK the company owns a portfolio

Halifax Estate Agents to close a quarter of branch network, mostly in southern england

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Halifax Estate Agents, the residential brokerage arm of one of the UK's biggest mortgage providers, is shutting down a quarter of its branches as Britain's depressed housing market lurches from bad to worse.

Halifax Estate Agents, a unit of Hal

Targetfollow get approval for £122 regeneration scheme at Norwich

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
A £122million project to regenerate the former Bally shoe factory and surrounding area in Norwich has been given the go-ahead, with Norwich based developers Targetfollow, run by Ardeshir Naghshineh, declaring the scheme will be up and running within

Tesco raise £605 million from commercial property sales

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Tesco, the UK's largest retailer, said today it had raised a further £605 million in four sale-and-leaseback property deals.

The transactions mean the supermarket giant has raised nearly £2 billion since it set a target in 200

BRC writing to ask Chancellor to help retailers through slowdown

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is to write to the chancellor Alistair Darling ahead of the Pre-Budget Report today.

Its wish list includes asking the chancellor to reduce retailers’ price pressures including pushing down commercial p

Persimmon Homes turn in an expected H1 2008 performance reflecting a tough market

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT

In its H1 results today Pesimmon Homes, Britains number 1 by market value and number 3 by homes sold, has delivered a pre-tax profit of £36 million after taking a £64 million charge for slimming down operations to adjust the business to cu

Land Securities sell 50% stake in west London office tower to Liberty International

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Land Securities said today it has sold a 50% stake in its Empress State office tower in west London to Liberty International for £107.75 million.

The 470,000 square foot Empress State building in London's Earls Court area is l

Oak sign deal with Rotherham Council for £390 million Yes! Project

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Oak Holdings plc, the AIM listed property development and consultancy group, has announced that the Development Agreement for Oak's £390million YES! Project, a 1.2million sq ft covered fully integrated mixed-use leisure and entertainment based resor

Eco-towns scheme being moved to the back burner

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Ministers have been forced to delay the timetable for implementing Gordon Brown's eco-towns scheme, in the latest -setback to the project, the Financial Times has reported.

The FT says : "A shortlist of applicants due to be published in Oc

More bad news for the High Street as buyers go online lifting online retail sales 11.3% in July

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Online retail sales in Britain rose by 11.3% in July compared to the month before as wet weather boosted online clothing sales while electrical sales also soared, a report said today.

The IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index showed Britons spent

Bowbridge Group submits plans for £200 million redevelopment of former Corah factory site in Leicester

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Bowbridge Group has submitted a £200 million plan to build a new city centre swimming pool, ice rink, bowling alley, homes, shops and offices on the old Corah factory site in Leicester.

The Bowbridge Group, which owns the land, also wants

Brixton reports H1 NAV down 17.8% and a loss of £236.7 million

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Brixton plc, the London area industrial landlord which became a REIT, has reported a H1 loss of £236.7million which has resulted in a 17.8% fall in NAV to 448p per share.

Valuations of the Brixton portfolio were carried out by CB Richard

UK Coal gets the go-ahead for 900 home mixed development at Pontefract

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
UK Coal has won planning permission from Wakefield Council to redevelop a 300-acre former Prince of Wales Colliery site at Pontefract in West Yorkshire.

The oldest mine site in Britain will be transformed into 917 homes, a business

Crest Nicholson and Seeda get £500million regeneration plan approved for former Southampton shipyard

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
A £500m plan to build 1,620 new homes on the derelict former Vosper Thornycroft shipyard in Woolston now renamed Centenary Quay, has been passed by Southampton Council after a marathon six-hour planning meeting.

It marked a victory for t

Europe's top 2 banks must decide how to capitalise on their advantage

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
HSBC and Santander, Europe's top two banks, are stretching their lead over hard-hit rivals and may have a window of opportunity to drive home their capital strength advantage to pick up bargains and market share.

Unlike most banks, the main cha

SWAP Rates remain at historic highs as an indicator of stresses which remain in financial system

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The fall in high oil prices and recovery of stocks and the dollar over the past month might suggest the year-long global financial upheaval is easing, but that's not the picture painted by interest rate swaps.

The gap between 10-year swap rates

Peterborough selects developer for 344 home zero-carbon residential development

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
pPod, a consortium made up of Morris Homes, Gentoo Homes and Browne Smith Baker architects, has been selected as the preferred developer for the first phase of the 344-home development in Peterborough.

The project is expected to be zero-carbo

Home repossesssion orders up in England & Wales

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
English and Welsh courts ordered more home repossessions in the second quarter of 2008 than at any time since the housing market crash of the early 1990s, in a further sign the economic slowdown is hitting households hard.

The Ministry of Justi

IPD index for July shows commercial property returns continuing to fall

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
IPD has released the results for its UK Monthly Property Index for July 2008. The Index showed all property total returns fell to -1.3% in July 2008, just slightly less than in the preceding month when all property

Analysts say Barclays , HBOS and others may need further new capital to survive a recession

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Barclays, HBOS, and other British banks may have to raise further new capital to cover escalating losses on toxic debt and meet fresh needs if the economy slides into recession, according to analysts at Merrill Lynch.

The US investment bank sai

British Land announces Q1 loss of £572 million yet shares rise 5% on the news

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Shares in commercial property firm British Land rose 5% this morning despite recording a loss of £572m on 'ordinary activities' for the first quarter of 2008, as many analysts now believe that the price is cheap for the quality of the assets.
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HBOS folds TMB in bid to remove duplicate costs makes 425 jobless

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
HBOS is to cut 425 jobs and shut down The Mortgage Business, the specialist buy-to-let and self-certified lender owned by the group. Its customers will be transferred to Birmingham Midshires, also owned by HBOS. Intelligent Finance (IF), is to stop offeri

Britannia BS reports H1 profits down 38% as reduced lending and bad debts hit bottom line

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
First half profits at the Britannia Building Society, the UK's second biggest, have fallen by more than 38% as the credit crunch continues to hit lenders. The mutual took a £40.4million bad debt provision, which it blamed in part on lending to

Mountview Estates Q1 profits down 30%

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Residential property company Mountview Estates Plc. said profits for the first quarter are 30% lower than year-ago levels and that the quarter may prove to be typical of the full year.

However, the company said trading conditions are very diffi

5 star hotel planned for Scottish Borders

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Acting on behalf of UK-based developers Manor Kingdom Estates and De Vere Hotels, Knight Frank has submitted plans to Scottish Borders Council to create a luxurious 5* hotel and conference facility in West Linton.

The proposals represent

Bank governor sees inflation at present level til next year - stagflation

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Inflation should fall below the central bank's 2% target in two years if interest rates stay at 5%, the Bank of England said today, prompting markets to price in a rate cut by year-end.

The Bank's quarterly Inflation Report showed the CPI rate

Balfour Beatty H1 profits up 25% to £95 million

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Construction and services group Balfour Beatty posted a 25% rise in first-half profit today on revenues up 28% at £4.3 billion and said it expects order intake and trading to remain strong throughout the year.

The company reported p

Short run investments in regeneration areas are being hit harder than elsewhere

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Total returns on property in areas that host regeneration projects are lower and are falling at a faster rate than other types of UK real estate investment,a report commissioned by national regeneration agency English Partnerships shows today.

Savills report commercial property development at all time low since survey began.

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
In July,according to the monthly report from Savills,40% of commercial property developers had indicated a reduction in overall activity compared to one month earlier, while just 6.6% reported a rise. This represented a record low for the survey.

Intercontinental Hotels report H1 profits up 29%.

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The world's largest hotelier InterContinental Hotels Plc reported a 29% rise in first-half operating profits today, but said growth had slowed in the second-quarter, particularly in the U.S.

The UK-based group, which operates InterContinental,

Rok profits up 22% in H1 but exits commercial property sector

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Rok plc reported a 22% rise in first-half profit on revenues up 37%, underpinned by solid public spending on social housing and education, but said it will close its commercial property operation.

The building and maintenance services gro

Moody's sound warning as defaults on loans in CMBS rise 80% in Q2

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Moody's Investors Service has claimed UK commercial property values fell have fallen 19% in the last 12 months, and with it the number of loans that have breached banking covenants such as loan-to-value ratios has increased.

Lead analyst Viola

Mapeley reports strong H1 results, though NAV has slipped 13%

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Mapeley said it had more than doubled its funds from operations (FFO) in the first half, showing not all constituents of Britain's flagging property market were in crisis.

The company, which focuses on the acquisition and management of as

Workspace hit by £40million Q1 revaluation as NAV falls 8.4%

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Workspace Group plc, the flexible business space provider which owns and manages London area office properties , reported net rental income of £12.1 million for the first quarter, up 2.5%, helped by continuing strong demand from small and medium-si

McCarthy & Stone trying to shed debt burden

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
McCarthy & Stone, the UK's largest retirement homes builder, is talks with its lenders over re-negotiating its bank debt, as its loans plunged in value this week amid the worsening housing sector.

Talks with the lenders are in the "ear

RBS reports it's biggest H1 loss ever, though many analysts expected worse

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Royal Bank of Scotland fell to a first-half loss of £691 million , one of the biggest losses in UK corporate history, though not as bad as expected, after taking a £5.9 billion writedown on the value of risky assets.

RBS, Britain's

Base Rates remain at 5% as the housing market dives more steeply than during 1990's slump.

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
On a day when the MPC has voted to keep Base Rate at 5% the Halifax has revealed the biggest monthly drop of 1.7% since December 1992 in UK House prices, in line with those reported recently by Nationwide. Howard Archer, chief UK economist at Global Insig

Millennium & Copthorne pricing business away

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Millennium & Copthorne plc, the hotel operator,said its half year results were in line with expectations but warned that the rate of growth in Asia had slowed in the last two months.The firm recently announced the disposal of the Millennium Seoul H

Hammerson takes £407 revaluation hit to portfolio as NAV falls 9.9% in H1

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Hammerson Plc. reported a 6.4% dip in the value of its UK and French assets today but robust rental income growth buoyed pretax profits, boosting shareholder returns by 10.5%.
In interim figures for the half-year to June 30, the office and shoppi

Barclays H1 profits only down 33% to £2.75 billion

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Barclays reported a 33% drop in first-half profits as it took a £2 billion writedown on the value of risky assets, but the profit drop was not as steep as expected.

Britain's third biggest bank said today its pretax profit in the six

Ballymore to halt construction of 44 storey apartment block in Birmingham

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Developers Ballymore are reviewing the timetable for completion of the £500 million mixed-use regeneration scheme at Snow Hill, Birmingham.

Although work has begun on building the footings of Snowhill Phase 3, it has been confirmed

Goodman wins planning appeal on Bedfordshire science park development

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Planning permission has been granted on appeal after Bedford Borough Council’s decision to block the development, by a government inspector, who has granted permission for the development of a new Knowledge Hub and world-class Innovation Centre at

Liberty loses 14% value in H1 and chairman expects property to continue to fall until the banks become stable

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Liberty International, Britain's third-largest real estate investment trust said the value of its property portfolio fell 14% to £7.99 billion in the first half, squeezing its diluted, adjusted net asset value (NAV) per share to 1,095 pence from 1,2

Dutch architects chosen to design Europes largest library in Birmingham

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
A Dutch architect chosen to design the new £193 million Library of Birmingham has promised to build a “warm and welcoming people’s palace”.

Francine Houben, founding partner of multi-award winning firm Mecanoo, said she

UK grinds to a halt as fear of slipping back into deep recession rises

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
The services sector shrank for a third straight month in July and manufacturing output fell for a fourth month in a row in June, data showed today, sharpening fears of a deep economic slowdown.

Many economists say Britain risks slipping into it

Quintain batten down the hatches

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT
Quintain Estates in it's Q1 interim statement places conserving cash in the business as it's top priority. In line with that they are witholding dividend payments for up to 2 years and cutting overheads by making 16 redundancies and cutting Greenwich Peni