It’s the railway construction project that has certainly kept us waiting with baited breath. Since Crossrail was announced in 2007, there’s been a decade and a half of anticipation, with work falling behind schedule several times and also costing much more than anticipated. The initial budget was £14.8 billion but the bill now stands at £18.8 billion. Though it was originally due to open in 2018, it was only in May 2022 that the first section started to operate; this is the Abbey Wood to Paddington stretch of the Elizabeth Line (named in recognition of the platinum jubilee). And while there are losers in the Crossrail project – people who’ve suffered forced rehousing, construction workers who’ve died of heart attacks because of undertaking such labour-intensive jobs – there’s also no shortage of winners, not just those whose daily commutes have been made quicker and simpler by the existence of the new line, but also those whose homes are located in key spots along the new line. Let’s take a closer look at the knock-on effect of Crossrail on the housing market: Read more…

It’s the news story that shows no signs of going away in a hurry. Exacerbated by several interrelated factors – the aftershocks of covid, the war between Russia and Ukraine, global supply chain issues and Brexit – inflation has hit a 9 per cent high, something the UK hasn’t seen since the early-1980s. Not only that, but consumer confidence is at a low last experienced around 1974. In response, the Bank of England has raised interest rates. The rate was 0.1 per cent in 2021 until an increase to 0.25 that December. And since then, it’s crept up again and again, with the most recent jump in May 2022 taking it to 1 per cent – the highest it’s been since 2009 when the country was reeling from the financial crisis. Further eye-watering rises are expected, with experts predicting as much as a 2 per cent rise by the end of the year. It’s likely that interest rates will continue to go up until there’s a downturn in inflation, but there’s no immediate likelihood of that, so for now we can only buckle up and hope for the best. But what exactly does this mean for property prices, mortgages and moving house? 

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When Airbnb first came to prominence, no one could have foreseen what impact it would have on the housing sector. It’s now possible to rent out anything from single rooms to entire houses for short-term rentals, and at a decent profit. In fact, it’s now so popular that people from every walk of life are joining in.

Although it’s not an easy task, to begin with, lots of people are earning a decent second income from renting out properties. It’s also possible to do so without doing the dirty work you’d associate with a landlord.

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Anyone not living under a rock knows that a general election is looming. Instead of sitting it out until 2020, it’s 8 June 2017 on which we’re being asked to cast our votes into the ballot boxes around the country – three whole years earlier than anticipated and only a month away. But what should you expect if you own or are looking to own a flat or a house? How will this snap election affect the market, if at all? And is there any way of accurately forecasting such things in the first place? Let’s take a closer look at this issue and see what is and isn’t the case.

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