Backing for more homes in the capital

Paddington office block plans unveiled

HIPs to go on trial

Minerva drops plans for City's tallest office block

RICS expects interest rates to rise in November

Gloucestershire granted a new village

UK property prices rise again

Backing for more homes in the capital

Plans to increase London's annual housing provision target from 23,000 to 30,650 new homes is set to become part of mayor Ken Livingstone's revised London plan, after gaining support from the Examination in Public panel. Research last year revealed a capacity for a 33% increase over initial targets.

Paddington office block plans unveiled

Plans for the latest phase of an office and mixed-use redevelopment, at Paddington Central in London has been released by development securities and investment firm Morley Fund management.

The first two office buildings, including One Kingdom Street, will provide 59,500sqm of office space alongside a four-star 206 room hotel. This is in addition to the shops, restaurants, bars and 219 new homes that have already been building the area beside Paddington station.

HIPs to go on trial

The housing minister, Yvette Cooper, has announced in a statement that £4m will be invested in trialling Home Information Packs (HIPs), in various areas across the UK, according to the Association of Home Information Pack Providers (AHIPP)

Mike Ockenden of AHIPP said: “We are delighted that the government wants to get involved in our roll-out and with the extra funding pledged we will work with DCLG to put those funds to their best use.

“We know that many estate agents are supportive of HIPs and we will be offering the home condition report as an option in our roll-out. It is the Association’s intention to press government to make HCRs mandatory once their success has been proved.

“We firmly believe that HIPs will prove to be of enormous benefit to both buyers and sellers and now that government has reaffirmed its total support for Hips we need to get on with the roll-out and inform the public about the process.”

But the announcement has provoked somewhat of a negative response within some parts of the property industry.

Nick Salmon, head of the anti-pack campaign, SPLINTA, said: "We await full details of just how this huge sum of tax-payer money is going to be spent but we can immediately question why the government is ploughing our money into trials that are being run by a body that represents companies seeking to make vast profits from HIPs. There must be robust and independent scrutiny of these so-called trials to ensure objectivity."

Peter Bolton King chief executive of the NAEA said: “The Association has always said that it was vital that any trials thoroughly test not only the systems but whether our concerns about the effect on the market are justified.

“We have not been told how these trails are to be conducted and have doubts as to their effectiveness in a voluntary scenario.”

Yvette Cooper has pledged the £4m of funding to support six area trials for the packs in Bath, Newcastle, Southampton, Northampton, Huddersfield and Cambridge in November 2006.

Minerva drops plans for City's tallest office block

Property group Minerva has dropped plans to construct what would have been the tallest office block in London's financial district, because the scheme was deemed too big for a company of its size.

Planning permission was granted in April 2004 to build a 50 storey office block, consisting of around 1m sq ft of space.

Tim Garnham of Minerva said: "For a company the size of Minerva to deliver a building of this size is if you excuse the pun, a very tall order."

RICS expects interest rates to rise in November

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors predicts that UK interest rates will rise in November due to a solid economy.

The UK economy grew 0.8% in the second quarter of 2006 and 2.6% over the past year. Household demand, which accounts for over 62% of the economy, was the primary driver of growth during the past year.

Gloucestershire granted a new village

Stroud Council has granted permission for a mix-use scheme, including 600 new homes (30% of which will be available as affordable housing) to be constructed at the former Lister Petter headquarters in Gloucestershire, subject to planning agreements.

The former industrial area will also have a business park, offices and on-site community facilities constructed on the site.

Chris Foley, South West RDA head of operations for Gloucestershire said: "Great attention is being paid to creating a high quality scheme that complements the existing landscape.

“A key feature on the site will be the River Cam which, once opened up, will run the length of the site creating a striking riverside environment offering public open spaces for community and recreational use."

UK property prices rise again

Average UK property prices rose once again in September, despite the recent interest rate rise.

Fresh figures from the Nationwide Building Society reveal that house prices increased by 1.3% in September, following a rise of 0.8% in August.

The annual house price inflation now stands at 8.2%, with the average UK house now costing £169,413.

Fionnuala Earley of Nationwide, said: "Just like the weather, the housing market was unseasonably warm in September as August's interest rate hike did nothing to cool the rate of house price inflation.

"A weak patch this time last year, when prices fell by 0.2%, exaggerates the annual increase, but the more recent three-month-on-three-month series still shows a clear pick-up in price growth since July."