By Vivienne Shirley, Senior Consultant Only five of London’s 33 boroughs met their targets for housing need during 2017-18, with twenty delivering less than half, according to Knight Frank’s latest London Residential Development Report. Whilst Mayor Sadiq Khan set the capital the target of building 66,000 new homes annually, already …

By Vivienne Shirley, Senior Consultant Chelgate attended the latest annual planning update by Cambridge University Land Society, promising an afternoon of timely topics and high-profile speakers. The event kicked off with a keynote by Simon Gallagher, Director of Planning at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). He …

By Vivienne Shirley, Senior Consultant As Londoners spend almost a third of income on rent, and the number of homeowners under 45 falls by almost a million from 2010 to 2016, is it time to look at micro-homes? The housing crisis shows no signs of abating, with the number of …

By Vivienne Shirley, Senior Consultant Land values slumped at the end of 2018 thanks to increasing build costs and economic uncertainty over Brexit, according to Knight Frank’s latest Residential Development Land Index. The biggest decline was seen in prime central London, where land values fell a further 2.8%, taking the …

By Vivienne Shirley, Senior Consultant Chelgate Local’s latest breakfast briefing went with a bang last month, as keen delegates braved a miserable rainy morning to gather in Hertfordshire over bacon butties and coffee. Attendees from titans of the property industry including Taylor Wimpey, Linden Homes, Willmott Dixon and Bidwells took …

By Vivienne Shirley, Senior Consultant Half of home movers move less than 10 miles, and we are moving half as often as we did 30 years ago, new research shows. Analysis by home moving company AnyVan.com of over 18,000 home removal jobs showed 48% of moves are less than 10 …

By Vivienne Shirley, Senior Consultant The super-prime market is rarely affected by the vagaries of the general housing market, but it is a very good guide to confidence in the economy – if rich people are investing in London, they obviously think the UK has a prosperous future. With this …

By Vivienne Shirley, Senior Consultant The government has launched a fresh consultation on permitted development rights (PDR) for upwards extensions, following its 2016 London-focused consultation which concluded with plans being withdrawn. The new plans were trailed at the recent Tory party conference, where communities secretary James Brokenshire said we “need …