estate agents

No acceleration in rental EPC improvements despite policy push

Rightmove’s 2025 Greener Homes Report indicates that the overall energy efficiency of UK homes...

Stamp duty receipts rise sharply as market shows signs of broad recovery

Stamp duty revenues increased substantially in the past financial year as activity returned to...

What the agents say: 2026 housing market predictions

Next year should be a year of steady progress for the housing market. After...

Budget uncertainty deepened November slowdown in housing market

The latest RICS UK Residential Market Survey shows that the Autumn Budget did little...

OPDA calls on housing market to respond to proposed reforms

The Open Property Data Association (OPDA) has urged the industry to engage with the...

Zoopla: Rental demand slips as buyers return

Zoopla’s latest Rental Market Report shows the rental sector entering a new phase of...

Agents and brokers urged to guide landlords through tougher MEES changes

Lettings agents and mortgage brokers are expected to play a central role in preparing...

Midlands set to overtake London as house-price cycle shifts

House prices are forecast to record modest growth next year as falling inflation and...

Thirdfort adopts iProov identity checks in move to cut property fraud risk

Thirdfort has deployed iProov Dynamic Liveness across its compliance platform to combat identity fraud...

Prime London owners would need “severe downsizing” to avoid £2m mansion tax

The introduction of an annual levy on property value above £2 million has highlighted...

First Mortgage enters London market with KFH acquisition

First Mortgage has moved into the London mortgage market through its acquisition of estate...

COMMENT

Housing reform needs a thriving private rental sector, not just a thriving sales and purchase market

One of the most encouraging developments over recent weeks has been the renewed focus on improving the homebuying and selling process. The Government's plans to...

The economics of developing the next generation of advisers

Over the past couple of decades, I have worked alongside literally thousands of AR and DA firms, from businesses employing one or two advisers...

Is Andy Burnham the New Messiah or just Starmer with better eyebrows?

What a damning indictment of Labour that Andy Burnham appears to be strolling towards the leadership in what looks less like a contest and...

Approvals hit a 2.5-year low: When broker value gets proven – or missed

Net mortgage approvals dropped to 56,200 in May – the lowest since December 2023 - down from 66,000 the month before. Net borrowing fell from...

Removing friction from the homebuying journey

One thing I keep hearing from our advisers is how much more work each case now generates, largely because so much of it involves...

Latest news

Landlord sales slow following Renters’ Right Act

The share of homes listed for sale that were previously rented dropped to 9.2%...

Knowledge Bank teams up with Brilliant Solutions for specialist lending cases

Knowledge Bank has formed a partnership with specialist mortgage packager Brilliant Solutions as demand...

FCA urges firms to strengthen product design under Consumer Duty

The Financial Conduct Authority has highlighted examples of improved product governance under the Consumer...

Validate appoints Louise Shute as managing director

Valuation specialist Validate has appointed Louise Shute as managing director as it continues to...

PROFILES