Press Release Summary: These are interesting times in London for the property industry to say the least. While both the commercial property investment industry and the residential sector (both buy-to-live and buy-to-let) have been grappling with the credit crunch in recent months, the longer-term issues in London remain of concern to many.
Press Release Body: These are interesting times in London for the property industry to say the least. While both the commercial property investment industry and the residential sector (both buy-to-live and buy-to-let) have been grappling with the credit crunch in recent months, the longer-term issues in London remain of concern to many.
On the one hand affordability has been a problem for many who have found it difficult to get on the housing ladder as both prices and price growth have outstripped that of the country at large. At the same time and related to this, the demand for housing in London has risen, not least as the economic strength of the UK capital in recent years has made it a magnet for immigration, with a third of the population of the city made up of those born overseas.
Given these issues, Londoners will now have the prospect of finding out if the change of mayor its electorate delivered last week will lead to a major change for the better.
Those supporting Boris Johnson are optimistic. Such people include the chief executive of property development firm Helical Bar, Michael Slade, reports property Week. Mr Slade, who declared his general approval of Mr Johnson\'s election, said he hoped the flexible approach proposed by the winning candidate in introducing London low-cost homes to mixed-use developments on a case-by-case basis, rather than the formulaic strategy of Mr Livingstone, would work well.
Boris Johnson\'s housing strategy will have a number of elements. He pledged in his manifesto to work with all 32 boroughs to get 50,000 new affordable homes built by 2011, stated an aim to bring 84,000 currently unoccupied houses back into use and pledged to spend £130 million on a scheme to help first-time buyers to get on the housing ladder.
Should such policies be successful, they may well have implications for national policy if the Conservatives come to power at the next election, providing a template for housing policies in urban areas across the country.
In the meantime, the demand to live, work and rent in London remains high, with rents continuing to rise as a result. Ed Phillips, lettings director at estate agency Foxtons, said: \"This is essentially down to the factor of more people needing properties than there are properties available. Despite the doom and gloom about the current economy there are still high volumes of people moving to London and relocating here.\"
Indeed, he suggested, the situation in the lettings sector is showing no sign of being depressed by the credit crunch. Stating that there are four or five applicants for each property, he concluded: \"The levels of business so far this year are more in line with what we would expect to see in the typically busiest time of year between April and November.\"
So while Boris may be busy addressing many housing issues, it appears the lettings sector in London is not one of them.
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2025
