For the first time in five years the housing market in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest urban area, is showing signs that prices are stabilising, and may even be slowing. The average price in July was $867,681, a fall of 4.5% from the previous month and 2% below the average price
At its heart, Property Butler’s proposition puts the estate agent in the driving seat by offering competitive conveyancing services early in the purchase process Property Butler, part of Sort Limited, has announced today that it has launched a new conveyancing and concierge service for estate agents. The new service will
©Bloomberg Oil markets will remain awash with crude well into 2017, Opec warned on Monday, as the resilience of the US shale industry and new streams of oil production threaten to keep pressure on prices. The producer cartel revised higher for this year and next oil supply forecasts from non-member
Peacock Engineering has been awarded a contract to offer asset management solutions for Flogas. The management solution will be delivered by Peacock for their client’s installation and maintenance engineers who operate across the nation. Peacock Engineering Ltd was first created in order to deliver a range of Asset and Service
The national equipment hire group, GAP Hire Solutions, care about the impact they have on the environment. Their Green Action Plan sets out the steps they are taking to reduce their carbon footprint and the support they provide to their customers to help them increase their own sustainability. In support
Habinteg has launched a campaign recently that urges the government, councilors and developers to recognise the importance of creating accessible homes. The organisation that champions the creation of more accessible and inclusive housing is hoping their campaign will make the government and property developing companies will start to create more
Roofers and Builders operating in Shrewsbury have been given the opportunity to learn about latest developments taking place in roofing systems. The advanced glass fibre roofing systems are being tested out as part of a training day which will be hosted by the builders’ merchants General Building Plastics, or GB
For the first time in five years the housing market in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest urban area, is showing signs that prices are stabilising, and may even be slowing. The average price in July was $867,681, a fall of 4.5% from the previous month and 2% below the average price for the previous three months, according to the latest data from Barfoot & Thompson. The trend is not as evident in the median price, which at $840,000 was the same as in June, and 2.1% higher than the median price for the previous three months. ‘There has been a definite change in the market in the last month. The winter months, school holidays and a slowing in the number of new listings all contributed to the slowdown in July, but buyer determination to pay whatever is necessary to achieve a property was tempered,’ said Wendy Alexander, chief executive officer of Barfoot & Thompson. ‘Buyers remain prepared to pay a fair price, and under the hammer sales at auctions of 70% were still high, but sales activity is slower than it was at the same time last year. In the three months May to July this year we sold 3,508 properties. In the same period last year we sold 3780, a 7.8% difference,’ she explained. She pointed out that the year on year increase in prices is still occurring, but at a much slower rate than in the past four years. The average price has increased by 5.3% over the past seven months compared to 2015’s full year average price increase of 14%. Meanwhile, the median price increase over the past seven months has been 6% compared to 17.4% for 2015. ‘Whether price increases will continue in the remaining months of the year is unclear. Normally, prices rise as we enter the spring/summer months, but the Reserve Bank’s new regulations affecting investors will start to have an impact from August,’ said Alexander. The data also shows that in July Barfoot & Thompson sold 1,034 properties, down 11.5% on the number in June and down 25.5% on those for the same month last year. New listings at 1,426 were down 19.4% on those in June and down 19.6% for those in July last year. At end of the month the firm had 3,012 properties on its books, some 2.6% higher than in June and 7.5% higher than in July last year. During July the firm sold 383 properties, or 37% of all sales, for more than $1 million and sold 94 properties, or 9.1% of sales, for under $500,000. Source link
At its heart, Property Butler’s proposition puts the estate agent in the driving seat by offering competitive conveyancing services early in the purchase process Property Butler, part of Sort Limited, has announced today that it has launched a new conveyancing and concierge service for estate agents. The new service will ensure clients are properly represented by conveyancers right from the beginning of the house purchase process. Powered by SortRefer, Property Butler offers agencies a white labelled online portal to a select conveyancing panel. This means that estate agency advisers can produce penny accurate quotes, instruct online and then be able to access progress reports 24/7 via their desktop or by smartphone or tablet app. In addition, Property Butler will be offering :- • Fee Guard – Free to clients, it offers peace of mind for the upfront costs involved with a property purchase. Fee Guard covers disbursement fees for unforeseen events to a value of £1,500. • Concierge Service – Provides a bespoke service for estate agencies to pass referrals and let the Property Butler team convert the opportunities The new service will be run by Tim Price, who has an impressive twenty five year career in estate agency and property markets with Parkers and Legal & General and then providing important ancillary services to the industry through ONN Financial and The Live Organisation. Tim said: “Conveyancing is one of the key areas of any property transaction, but is traditionally slow with poor communication to estate agents and their customers. This can and does lead to operational frustrations and poor sales pipeline control for the property professional, which is why we believe that Property Butler’s proposition will appeal strongly to estate agents. At its heart, Property Butler’s proposition puts the estate agent in the driving seat by offering competitive conveyancing services early in the purchase process, which will go a long way to improving pipeline control and communication with the client. Sales progression benefits from Property Butler’s real time pipeline updates, through the portal, email and app notifications. Our solicitor partners are integrated which means you receive updates as they happen ensuring you are always informed.” Source link
©Bloomberg Oil markets will remain awash with crude well into 2017, Opec warned on Monday, as the resilience of the US shale industry and new streams of oil production threaten to keep pressure on prices. The producer cartel revised higher for this year and next oil supply forecasts from non-member countries, implying that demand for its crude will remain far lower than current near record output of more than 33m barrels a day. More On this topic IN Commodities The larger than expected surplus threatens to derail hopes that supply and demand will come into balance by next year, putting a damper on prices that remain less than half mid-2014 levels. Opec is due to meet other large producers later this month to discuss possible output curbs, with talks likely to receive a jolt of urgency following the latest forecasts. Brent, the international crude benchmark, fell 2 per cent to $47 a barrel shortly after the publication of the cartel’s monthly oil report. Opec kingpin Saudi Arabia and Russia, the largest exporter outside the group, agreed last week to work together to stabilise the market but there are still big doubts that a deal to reduce or freeze production is attainable. Opec countries have stepped up production to a near record 33.2m b/d, according to secondary sources. While production is down slightly from August, it is more than 1m b/d above a year ago. The so-called “call on Opec” — or the amount of crude the market needs from the group — is at 31.67m b/d for 2016 and 32.48m b/d for 2017. Output outside of the cartel is expected to expand next year, potentially leaving the market with a more than 750,000 b/d of surplus crude if Opec’s production remains at today’s heightened levels — 2017 non-Opec production was revised up by 350,000 b/d from last month to an average of 56.52m, an increase on this year. Opec said its revised forecasts were mainly due to the resilience of the US shale oil output in the face of lower prices and the long-delayed Kashagan field in Kazakhstan, which is expected to come on stream later this year. Kashagan, the world’s most expensive oil project, has been dogged by technical challenges, delays and cost overruns. It has cost the consortium — which includes Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, Total, Eni and CNPC — more than $50bn to develop. You need JavaScript active on your browser in order to see this video. The project, which has some 10bn barrels of recoverable reserves, was halted in 2013 to make pipeline repairs. It is scheduled to relaunch in October, with initial production of 75,000 b/d being targeted by November, according to officials in Kazakhstan. Analysts say new streams of production from the North Sea, Russia, Brazil and the US Gulf of Mexico may also delay any rebalancing of supply and demand, as well as Opec’s own production. Some producer countries such as Venezuela and Algeria have pushed for a global deal to curb further increases in crude production and prevent any more drops in the oil price. Saudi energy minister Khalid Al Falih said last week there is no hurry to limit output but there is a possibility to do so in the future. Iran, meanwhile, has said it supports measures to stabilise the market but has not committed to any output restraint until reaching 4m b/d — a level at which it was pumping before the imposition of western sanctions against its oil industry. Opec data showed Iranian output has held near 3.6m b/d for several months. Analysts say that, even if these Opec exporters, together with non-Opec peers such as Russia, agree on freezing output around current levels later this month, it would do little to raise prices as many are pumping flat out. Additional reporting by Neil Hume Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. Source link
Peacock Engineering has been awarded a contract to offer asset management solutions for Flogas. The management solution will be delivered by Peacock for their client’s installation and maintenance engineers who operate across the nation. Peacock Engineering Ltd was first created in order to deliver a range of Asset and Service Management solutions to industries that are often asset intensive. The consulting team at the company has an average of 12 years’ experience working with the Maximo Professional system. Their consulting team has also built up more than 250 man-years working on implementing the Maximo system. Peacock Engineering works with their clients in order to offer them the most efficient and affordable solution to meet all of their requirements. The company appear to be the ideal candidate to help Flogas with their asset management. The IBM Maximo Asset Management solution gives a company better visibility for their asset usage and is used to support companies in a range of key industries. Flogas are looking to expand their use of the Maximo system as part of the management solution. The system will be used to cover the company’s inventory, procurement, maintenance and installation for Flogas’ domestic and commercial customers. When the solution is set up it will be integrated with the ClickSoftware and Fingertip in order to allow engineers up to date and in real-time information and scheduling that will eliminate down-time and also allow engineers to work online safely in ATEX zoned environments. By working with Peacock Engineering, Flogas will be receiving a comprehensive asset management solution that will be used throughout the company’s work-order lifecycle. The awarding of this contract and the management solution that will be delivered will offer the company an opportunity to have visibility of their assets in a way that hasn’t been possible with systems that they have used in the past.
The national equipment hire group, GAP Hire Solutions, care about the impact they have on the environment. Their Green Action Plan sets out the steps they are taking to reduce their carbon footprint and the support they provide to their customers to help them increase their own sustainability. In support of this action plan, GAP have committed to a further sixty X-ECO tower lights from the expanding lighting tower manufacturer, Trime. This brand new order follows the £3m investment made by GAP in Trime lighting products in 2016. GAP’s Green Action Plan document states, “The X-ECO LED 6 from TRIME is the most innovative lighting product on the market. Thanks to its LED lamps and automated start/ stop technology, the X-ECO uses less than a third of the fuel required to run a standard lighting tower, producing 888kg less CO2 per month as a result”. GAP now has nearly 500 X-ECO LED lighting sets, making it the largest LED powered hire fleet in the UK. Commenting on this latest order, Ken Stewart, GAP’s Head of Procurement added, “The sustainable elements of the X-ECO are very apparent. But equally as important is the favourable reception we get from our customers when we supply them with these units. We are seeing an increasing number of contractors specifying the X-ECO when they are planning their site layouts.” The GAP Group now employs 1,633 staff, an increase from 1,503 a year earlier, and has grown to 137 locations throughout the UK. The Trime manufacturing plant is based in Cassinetta di Lugagnano, near Milan and the UK operation is situated in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. The company is highly experienced in developing and marketing environmentally biased lighting sets for the construction and event rental markets.
Habinteg has launched a campaign recently that urges the government, councilors and developers to recognise the importance of creating accessible homes. The organisation that champions the creation of more accessible and inclusive housing is hoping their campaign will make the government and property developing companies will start to create more properties that have accessible features in order to meet the national demand. A number of events have been held in recent weeks by tenants in order to tell their own stories and challenges in order to highlight how vital it is that accommodation is offered to suit a range of different needs. The staff and tenants of Habinteg have also paid a visit to Parliament in order to meet MPs from right across the political spectrum in order to further make their voices hear about the creation of more accessible homes. During their meeting in Parliament, the staff and tenants met, among others Melanie Onn MP of the Shadow housing team and the Minister for Disabled People, Penny Mordaunt MP. Habinteg is the leading national provider of affordable and accessible homes and support services. The organisation supports inclusion through the creation of sustainable neighbourhoods of Lifetime Homes and wheelchair standard properties for both disabled and non-disabled people to share and enjoy. The organisation uses their knowledge and experience in order to fight negative social issues and educate as well as promoting the rights of disabled people and boost accessibility standards in the housing sector. It is as important now as it ever was to promote the case from accessible and inclusive homes for the entire population. Habinteg was formed from the belief that with accessible homes, more people can live independently and can lead to further inclusion in community life as well as education and the workforce. In a time with stricter budgets, increasing the number of accessible homes available can help money go further in terms of health and social care.
Roofers and Builders operating in Shrewsbury have been given the opportunity to learn about latest developments taking place in roofing systems. The advanced glass fibre roofing systems are being tested out as part of a training day which will be hosted by the builders’ merchants General Building Plastics, or GB Plastics. The training day is planned to go ahead on the 21st September and GB Plastics have been working with the materials supply company Cromar in order to host the event at their Shrewsbury branch. The event will take place on the Battlefield Enterprise Park later this month and give the attendees the opportunity to try out the latest roofing solutions. The Shrewsbury training day will explore the features and applications for the brand new Cromar Pro GRP system. This product is an advanced liquid applied glass reinforced polyester flat roofing solutions that has been specifically engineered for a wide range of flat roof applications across the UK. The new ProGRP is a fully integrated seamless system. All of the components of the system have been designed to work together and can be installed on a wide range of flat roof types. These different types are up to and including vertical surfaces such as the sides of a dormer or the inside face of a mansard or parapet style roof. GB Plastics’ training day will be ideal for builders and roofers that are keen to install these types of roofing solutions as part of their portfolio of work. The training day will also form part of an ongoing commitment to supporting roofers and other building trade professionals as well as keen DIY-ers and other customers who are looking to improve their flat roofing skills. This training day looking at the Cromar ProGRP solution will be the fourth training day to be held by GB Plastics across the Midlands and the third to be held at this Shrewsbury branch. There are around sixty local roofers and installers in the local area and many of these have signed up to take part in the training day.
