London’s new mayor of London Sadiq Khan has accused his predecessor of letting down Londoners and “leaving the cupboard bare” when it comes to delivering affordable housing in the city. Above: Sadiq Khan Khan also blames Boris Johnson for a construction skills crisis. He said that annual construction apprenticeship starts
Dutch proptech investor Real Estate Partners has bought We Are Pop Up. The pop-up retail agency fell into administration last month after it failed to find new equity investors. Real Estate Partners, which is run by managing partner Leon Goldwater, paid around $200,000 (£138,000) for the platform, which has offices
Keystone Property Finance has announced today that as well as refreshing both its buy to let and bridging offerings, it has widened its reach with the introduction of ranges for auction purchases and commercial property. The Auction Finance Range has been launched today and is aimed at borrowers looking for
London’s new mayor of London Sadiq Khan has accused his predecessor of letting down Londoners and “leaving the cupboard bare” when it comes to delivering affordable housing in the city. Above: Sadiq Khan Khan also blames Boris Johnson for a construction skills crisis. He said that annual construction apprenticeship starts in London average just 7% cent of the national total and that a total of 100,000 planned apprenticeships starts were missed during the previous mayor’s second term. Immediately after taking over from Boris Johnson last week, Khan asked officials to produce an urgent audit of City Hall’s preparedness to tackle the housing crisis. Khan said that the audit revealed affordable home delivery at near-standstill. Last year, the previous mayor delivered the lowest number of new affordable homes since current records began back in 1991 – just 4,880 – and left a legacy of just 13% affordable homes coming forward through planning permissions granted under his watch, according to Khan. Khan found a flawed process for identifying public land for homes. The previous mayor’s work to produce a digital ‘Doomsday Book’ of public land ncludes scores of sites that will never be built on, including 10 Downing Street, City Hall and the British Museum, found Khan’s audit. Khan has pledged to build new homes on land owned by City Hall, including Transport for London land, and intends to fast-track scores of sites that are suitable for development. He wants to see 50% of all new homes in London being genuinely affordable, also plans to bid to develop other public sector land across London. He has said that he will work with Government ministers to ensure a far more active role for City Hall in identifying surplus public land that can be used for the construction of the new affordable housing London needs. He said: “London gave me the opportunity to go from the council estate where I grew up to being able to buy a family home we could afford. But today, too many Londoners are being priced out of our city. One of the first things we did when we got to City Hall was open the books and look at what was already in the pipeline and it seems the previous mayor has grossly let down Londoners by leaving the cupboard bare when it comes to delivering affordable housing. “I am determined to fix London’s housing crisis and ensure that all Londoners have the opportunity to rent or buy a decent home at a price they can afford, but the scale of the challenge is now clearer than ever and we’re not going to be able to turn things around overnight. “We will be outlining our plans in the coming months, but one of the first things we can do is work with Transport for London to fast-track their numerous surplus sites for development that have previously just been sat on.”
Dutch proptech investor Real Estate Partners has bought We Are Pop Up. The pop-up retail agency fell into administration last month after it failed to find new equity investors. Real Estate Partners, which is run by managing partner Leon Goldwater, paid around $200,000 (£138,000) for the platform, which has offices in London and New York. All the content from this weekís magazine, including this article, is available in the new app. Nicolas Russell, former chief executive of We Are Pop Up, said: “Real Estate Partners has acquired We Are Pop Up and it is going to take it forward across Europe with its other existing businesses, which is a great opportunity for the platform.” Last year, We Are Pop Up used crowdfunding to launch online retail property letting platform ShopShare, which was included in the sale.
Keystone Property Finance has announced today that as well as refreshing both its buy to let and bridging offerings, it has widened its reach with the introduction of ranges for auction purchases and commercial property. The Auction Finance Range has been launched today and is aimed at borrowers looking for money in a hurry to purchase both residential and commercial property at auction. The range includes a ‘valuation bypass scheme’ which will facilitate speedier completions. This means that on some applications a valuation of the proposed purchase will not be required and lending decisions can be made in just a few hours with funds released within five days is necessary. Borrowers can choose between three, six, nine and 12-month rates starting from 0.75% pcm up to 70% LTV. The Commercial Mortgage Range, also launched today has been designed for both investors and business owner-occupiers looking to purchase a wide range of property across a variety of sectors including business, retail, leisure and industry. With rates starting at 7.99% up to 70% LTV, lending will be based primarily upon the 180 day market value, although 90 day valuations will be used for borrowers with medium levels of adverse credit. Steve Olejnik, sales director of Mortgages for Business and Keystone said: “These new products are an exciting addition to the Keystone suite and are a direct response to investor feedback. I am particularly pleased to announce the introduction of short and medium term solutions for difficult to place commercial transactions. We will continue to offer solutions to both individuals and limited companies, including those with impaired credit and non-standard construction types.” Keystone has also refreshed its Short Term Finance Range to include rates for commercial property starting at 1.15% per month to 70% LTV. Rates for residential property have been reduced and now start at 0.75% per month, down from 0.85% pcm. For commercial property up to 70% LTV is available as standard and up to 75% LTV on referral. The minimum loan size has been reduced to £30,000 from £50,000. The Solutions Range which offers finance for buy to let property has also been updated. It now offers both interest only (3-15 years) and capital and interest (6-25 years) terms. Rates have also been reduced and now start at 7.16% to 75% LTV, down from 7.99%. All four ranges have rates for borrowers with prime and light-to-medium adverse credit profiles and all products are available to both individuals and limited companies. Funding is provided by Together Money.