The much anticipated online estate agency offering from Tesco and SpiceHaart will be launched today in Bristol. Tesco’s previous attempt to enter the property market was adversely affected with legal challenges from the outset and eventually sold to their partner in this new venture SpicerHaart.
Tesco & Spicerhaart launches iSold.com
March 4th, 2010 HIP-Consultant.co.uk Posted in Property Market, Property Portals 13 Comments »
NAEA reconciliation with HIPs as OFT report is questioned?
February 25th, 2010 HIP-Consultant.co.uk Posted in Home Information Packs, Property Market, UK Property News 6 Comments »
The recent OFT report into estate agency has led Gary Smith, president of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) to write an open letter to the Office of Fair Trading regarding possible loosening of regulations to further facilitate the involvement of Tesco in the property market.
Estate Agents – Damned if you do and if you don’t
February 22nd, 2010 HIP-Consultant.co.uk Posted in Home Information Packs, Property Conveyancing, Property Market 5 Comments »
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has carried out a year long investigation into standards in the industry and reported largely positive findings, which has surprisingly been responded to with negative comments from the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA)? Estate Agents have picked up an unenviable reputation over time which has stuck with them for sure but is it really still justified?
Is This What London Will Look Like in 2012?
February 15th, 2010 HIP-Consultant.co.uk Posted in Guest Articles, Property Market 2 Comments »
On a global scale, the United Kingdom simply doesn’t compete with having any significantly tall buildings. In fact, the UK’s tallest building is not even a third as high as the world’s tallest man made structure (Burj Khalifa – Dubai).
Has the Property Market learnt from the House Price Crash?
February 2nd, 2010 HIP-Consultant.co.uk Posted in Property Market, UK Property News 6 Comments »
The property market is starting to recover from the recent housing crash witnessed and experienced around the world. However, it is a start of a recovery and certainly in our minds has not ‘recovered’ as some would like us to believe will happen very shortly or has actually happened and we just missed it.
The economic meltdown caused by the banking crisis will no doubt continue to affect the property market for some time (unless it was really caused by the introduction of HIPs) though the phoenix could rise out of the flames with some new and improved solid foundations. This possibility does potentially bring some questions to the forefront;
Government Tax Levy on Banking Bonuses will impact UK Housing & Mortgage Market
January 25th, 2010 HIP-Consultant.co.uk Posted in Financial Products, Guest Articles, Property Market 2 Comments »
After the government bail out of the UK banking system in 2009, there is a now 50% tax levy on all future bonuses. Traditionally we enter “bonus season” in Q2, we expect to see buyers to start investing from this point and despite the new tax constraint the majority of banks have announced their intent to assign significant bonuses.
However, it is estimated that the bonus payments will be lower than in previous years and a larger proportion of payments will be made in shares and other types of investments. Looking to 2010, it is yet to be apparent what extent this will negatively affect sales volumes. In essence, bonus money will continue to play a central factor in the housing market and many cash rich individuals will still invest in the UK and abroad.
Online estate agency – cure or virus for property professionals?
January 20th, 2010 HIP-Consultant.co.uk Posted in Property Conveyancing, Property Market, Property Portals 15 Comments »
Online estate agency is growing by the day and 2010 seems as if it could well be the year of sale by property owner websites. These property portals have been set up for owners to sell their own properties by missing out the estate agent. They are selling their services with claims of 0% commision and 0% fees.
How has social media affected the property industry?
December 7th, 2009 HIP-Consultant.co.uk Posted in Guest Articles, Property Market 3 Comments »
There’s no doubting that business participation on social media is the flavour of the month, with almost every established brand now having a Twitter page, a Facebook group and a frequently updated blog, we can assume that there must be some very significant benefits to business’ getting stuck in with social media.
Conservative Home Information Pack policy to stall property market?
December 3rd, 2009 HIP-Consultant.co.uk Posted in Home Information Packs, Property Conveyancing, Property Market 10 Comments »
Grant Shapps has re-iterated his and the Conservative’s plans to scrap Home Information Packs HIPs; yet again over the last few days. However, yet again he has not detailed any planned phase out or replacement of the HIP.
Nationwide – 2010 The End of House Price Rises?
December 2nd, 2009 HIP-Consultant.co.uk Posted in Property Market, UK Property News 1 Comment »
The Nationwide have released data indicating that house prices rose by 0.5% during November 2009. The data seemingly supports house price forecasters who expect that the rate of house price rises will diminish over coming months with possible retreat of prices during 2010.
