All Blogs articles – Page 15
-
Blogs
Bank lending - as mesmerising as FC Barcelona...
Like playing football against Barcelona, it would be easy to become mesmerised by the De Montfort University annual bank lending report, where the full horror is laid bare in today’s Property Week. A fifth of all UK real estate debt, which stands at around £250bn, is in default or ...
-
Blogs
To bailiff, or not bailiff? That is the question
I was amused – but not surprised – to hear this week that the word bailiff is now being used a verb. Tenants not paying the rent? Let’s bailiff them! (the latter usage is attributable to a FTSE 100 chief exec whose modesty I will preserve). In my innocence, I ...
-
Blogs
Agency Etiquette
Some phone calls out of the blue are most welcome and prove what a small world it is. A while ago an email was sent by someone we work with introducing me to a developer. Emails were exchanged but nothing more than that. However, last week I had a ...
-
Blogs
Does utopia resemble a hotel lobby?
With politics dominating the media over the past few weeks the recent publication of a report by Microsoft suggesting that organisations must adopt a ‘hybrid’ model of operation to remain “responsive to change” caught my eye - offering some light relief from the shenanigans of Westminster. My first thought ...
-
Blogs
Barrie blogs on `buy, buy, buy’ agents
`Which markets are they telling us not to buy in?’, said one bemused investor as he heard the list M25 locations Knight Frank was urging him to explore with his precious cash. `Guildford, Maidenhead town centre, Uxbridge, Richmond, Wimbledon, Hammersmith, Reading, Cambridge, Oxford, St Albans and Windsor’ all offer good ...
-
Blogs
Don’t look back in anger
As the police escort peeled away from Gordon Brown leaving Buckingham Palace at sunset, it was the final sad scene of New Labour’s epilogue which has lasted pretty much three years. Ironically, it was property that became Brown’s first big broken promise. Just as it brought down RBS and Lloyds, ...
-
Blogs
Cowell on Harleys, Hague and One Hyde Park
Hello and I suppose welcome to my very first property blog. First of all I would like to thank Giles Barrie for letting me have the enviable position to offer and impart my thoughts on the property industry. Well to begin with, I spent the whole of last week ...
-
Blogs
A public-private rented sector?
Following the news that some of property’s best-known names are actively investing in the private rented sector, comes a further interesting development. As reported on Wednesday by www.publicpropertyuk.com , Property Week’s public sector property website, Birmingham City Council is next month expected to approve the establishing of a private rented ...
-
Blogs
Barrie on his vote
I voted Labour in 1987, 1992, 1997, 2001 and 2005 for a fairer Britain. I voted Conservative for the same reason today. Growing up in south east London as the son of two journalists my older brother and sister went to private school. Then my dad's publishing business went belly ...
-
Blogs
Barrie blogs on town hall bonanza
How many big property services firms staked a large part of their anticipated fees in 2009, 2010 and 2011 on getting closer to banks? And how many of those same firms are now wishing they had instead got closer to the public sector? This is the question many senior executives ...
-
Blogs
Champagne socialists and property rock’n’rollers
In a week where the prime minister had to do more digging than the entire UK property industry has over the last decade, you’d have thought he’d have got more of a drilling in the debate. But it highlights the ineptness of the other two and their complete lack of ...
-
Blogs
Barrie blogs on new media age
Forgive me for writing as a journalist and not as a property specialist today. I am doing so because it has been an amazing week which was neatly summed up by the buzz at our industry body's annual conference today. In short, the journalist of today has to do everything, ...
-
Blogs
Spring bounce comes late for housebuilders
Back in January, I wrote about the traditional spring bounce that has boosted share prices in the housebuilding sector for 25 out of the last 30 years. In the first quarter of the year, shares in the builders have historically bounced up by 11 per cent, on average. Well guess ...
-
Blogs
Cycling 7,500 miles to the World Cup - Part Nine
I am looking for more corporate donations to my charities landaid and 'footballs for fun' as the games approach in order to reach my total of 20,000. We have publicity being arranged in a few papers and ITV and are hoping to increase on this, so any donations would represent ...
-
Blogs
Beauty spot or Blemish? Conflicting common area preferences
One man’s eyesore is another man’s beauty spot! This may sound like an odd comment but, in the same way each and every one of us is different, there are different perspectives and appreciations of what is good, bad, needed or a waste of money. Some will decorate their homes ...
-
Blogs
Property's top 10 risks
What are the top 10 risks facing property asset managers? This was the subject of a fascinating debate I chaired this morning at the EC3 offices of giant insurance broker Marsh. Around the table were asset managers from Legal & General, F & C Reit, Ashtenne and CB Richard Ellis, ...
-
Blogs
Barrie blogs on volcanic ash `balls-up’
David Coffer is stuck in Miami, INREV’s conference in Venice was cancelled, and Richard Caring’s partner Nick Jones believes London is noticeably quieter this week. All are innocent victims of this week’s ridiculous health & safety gone mad saga over Icelandic volcanic ash. A deathly combination of the Meteorological Office, ...
-
Blogs
Looking at Leases
Last week I had the pleasure of spending a whole day in the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal waiting to give expert evidence. The case related to residents of a 1930’s block of flats who have spent 14 years trying to get their leases changed to allow for individual heating within their ...
-
Blogs
Cycling 7,500 miles to the World Cup - Part 8
'I love you more than you know'.... At last. Someone loves me. And by the sounds of it, quite alot! I'll admit that to finally hear this utterance from one of a pair of Ethiopian girls as I cycled past them is fairly unexpected, but that is neither here nor ...
-
Blogs
Is the property market softening?
Having spoken to a top investor, top developer and top adviser this week I have to confess it is. There are several reasons, some more important than others. First, of course, the election and the slow down it was always likely to cause. Second, an Easter holiday period that has ...
