On property: Sometimes it's no fun being a property agent. DTZ boss "Big John" Forrester rocked up for dinner with me on Tuesday, only 13 minutes after the 4700-employee business was forced to disclose to the market that it "knew of no reason" why its shares had plunged from 36p to 26p in two days...... more
Leny Suparman wrinkled her nose when asked on Tuesday how her stay at the Savoy was going. The 36-year-old co-founder of the Singaporean Kop Group was in London for the lavish launch of 10 Trinity Square, a 120-bedroom hotel that aims to become the Savoy of the City when it opens in 2014. So it felt like a relevant question.... more
It may be the middle of a recession and the property is derelict, but estate agents are confident of finding buyers for a £30 million Mayfair house which has just gone on the market... more
Simon Halabi, a one-time star of the London property world, has lost control of seven office blocks in the capital after defaulting on £1.15 billion of loans... more
Poor Stephen Byers wasn’t left with much of a choice when in 2000, as the Government minister in charge, he was responsible for sealing the fate of MG Rover... more
Confidence in the commercial property market was given a boost by research showing that real-estate prices rose 0.2% in July, the first positive reading since the market peaked two years ago ... more
Campaigners are fighting to save eight landmark buildings in a conservation area. The properties, in Piccadilly and Jermyn Street, include the first Lyons tearoom, which opened in 1894... more
Welcome to the bottom of the commercial property market. It must be, for today the world's biggest property agent says so. "The time to buy UK property is now," reckons CB Richard Ellis... more
The East End should be on an Olympics-inspired ascent. London 2012 was supposed to rejuvenate the area, creating jobs, affordable homes and - perhaps most importantly - forever shaking off its deprived image... more
Property: Office rents in Mayfair, the location of choice for London's hedge fund community, slumped in the third quarter as the global financial crisis hit demand... more
Afternoon:
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