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According to research from Knight Frank, the stamp-duty increase in last years Budget (from five to seven per cent, on 2 million-plus homes), meant sales of prime London property had gone down by 15 per cent. It would be a plus if the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) is able to.

The property industry responded to the Chancellor’s Budget announcements with cautious optimism.

It was, declared Chancellor George Osborne yesterday, “a Budget for people who aspire to own their own homes”.
On what foundations did he base this claim? First, the transformation of the NewBuy scheme into the Help to Buy scheme, inviting not just first-time buyers but second-time buyers to dip into a £3.5 billion pot of government money.
Provided those would-be purchasers can come up with a five per cent deposit on a property, Mr Osborne will now match it with a 20 per cent repayable, shared-equity loan. Not just for low-cost properties, either, but for any under £600,000.
It gets even better. Uncle George is going to come up with £130 billion of mortgage guarantees for people who can’t afford, or whose families can’t afford, a big deposit. Starting in January 2014 and lasting for three years, it was, he said “a dramatic intervention,” in response to the currently thwarted home-ownership hopes of an “aspiration nation.”
Reaction was certainly favourable from Lucian Cook, head of research at Savills… – Source

London property prices used to be seen as a bellwether for price movements in the rest of the country, with prices in the capital rising or falling first, and usually by a far larger margin. He said the big divide wasn’t London versus the rest of the country but the split.

Is London property really a recession-proof asset – and could the effects ripple out to other areas in the rest of Britain?

Is investing in property in London the nearest thing you can get to a safe bet? Property prices in the capital keep rising, despite wider problems in the housing market.
In fact the gap between property values in the capital and in the rest of the country is now wider than ever, according to new data from estate agents Savills.
London property prices used to be seen as a bellwether for price movements in the rest of the country, with prices in the capital rising or falling first, and usually by a far larger margin. But this no longer seems to be the case… – Source

London property prices used to be seen as a bellwether for price movements in the rest of the country, with prices in the capital rising or falling first, and usually by a far larger margin. He said the big divide wasn’t London versus the rest of the country but the split.

Is London property really a recession-proof asset – and could the effects ripple out to other areas in the rest of Britain?

Is investing in property in London the nearest thing you can get to a safe bet? Property prices in the capital keep rising, despite wider problems in the housing market.
In fact the gap between property values in the capital and in the rest of the country is now wider than ever, according to new data from estate agents Savills.
London property prices used to be seen as a bellwether for price movements in the rest of the country, with prices in the capital rising or falling first, and usually by a far larger margin. But this no longer seems to be the case… – Source