Friday 29 June 2007
Thursday 31 May 2007
welcome...
here are some of my photographs of London, the whole city radiates an energy i hav'nt felt in any other place that i have visited, i absolutly love it there but i don't visit London as often as i should !
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London finally breaks away from Britain
So it has finally happened. Slowly, silently, and without most of us noticing, London has detached itself from the rest of the country and is now floating off serenely into the sunset. There were cracks and moans as the tectonic plates started to shift in recent months, but it was not until yesterday that the Land Registry finally confirmed it.
House price growth across London has hit a five-year high, it said. Meanwhile, values in many other parts of the country are dropping, with property prices in Yorkshire and Humberside tumbling at their fastest rate in at least seven years.
The economic dichotomy is expected to yawn wider still in the coming months, which prompts the unsettling question: might vast swaths of the country be sliding towards a housing crash while London experiences the biggest boom in recent memory?
It looks increasingly likely. More than ever before, London and the South East are behaving almost completely independently from the rest of the country. The smartest parts of the capital are experiencing the biggest boom since the 1980s.
Prices have been catapulted sky-high, as bankers, hedge fund managers and lawyers cash in their bonuses on property. Thousands of multi-millionaires from around the world want to live in London's poshest postcodes - think Mayfair, Chelsea and perhaps Notting Hill. There simply isn't enough room to house them all, let alone the less well-off families who are priced out of the market. At heart, it is simply a dramatic mismatch between supply and demand.
Meanwhile, in the rest of the country, house prices are flatlining at best - and are falling in many regions. In these counties and cities, which are rarely touched by the money gushing out of the Square Mile, life is getting very tough indeed. Interest rates have climbed up from a post-war low of 3.5 per cent to their current level of 5.5 per cent. Many City experts think there will be a further couple of increases - the next of them perhaps as soon as next week.
This is causing problems for property investors, too. A study this week from RICS, the surveyors' association, showed that buy-to-let landlords are having to ratchet up rents at an almost unprecedented rate to try to make any money from their investments. In fact, an increasing number are being forced to sell up.
Rates at six per cent may not seem like much of a hardship in comparison with the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the government lifted borrowing costs as high as 15.4 per cent - but don't be fooled. Because we are all now more indebted than ever before, we are much more sensitive to even the smallest twist of the screw.
This will only get worse. If the Bank of England does lift rates a couple more times, the proportion of our monthly incomes spent on mortgages will hit the highest level since the midst of the last housing crash.
But a word of reassurance: even if some parts of the country do see house prices fall, the impact on the economy as a whole will not be as severe as in the last crash. Back then, prices slumped dramatically and left one and a half million people facing negative equity.
This time around, banks have been more reluctant to let people over-extend themselves, and so aren't lending quite as generously as they were before. They, after all, are the ones who pick up the bills if people start defaulting.
The fact that we now have an independent Bank of England is another key advantage. Unlike in the late 1980s, when borrowing costs were set with the disastrous aim of making the pound shadow the Deutschemark, the Bank will react if the housing market tanks and will cut rates if things start looking hideous.
Gravity will soon catch up with the London housing market as well, though in its case what happens to interest rates will be far less important than the fate of share prices and bond markets.
The best that households can do right now is to tighten their belts as much as possible, avoid running up new debts and think very carefully before plunging into the buy-to-let market, where the potential returns are now looking far from tidy.
Whether it is buy-to-let or simply over-indebted households that eventually prick the bubble remains to be seen. And as for the timing, and the amount prices fall: well, as the Bank of England Governor, Mervyn King, frequently says, guessing that is a fool's game.
New research reveals failure to provide supported homes for the most vulnerable
London is failing some of its most vulnerable and socially excluded citizens, research published today warns. A joint report by the London Housing Federation, Mayor of London and the Housing Corporation reveals that London has a serious shortage of specialist supported housing. This shortage is most acute for certain socially-excluded groups of people. These include people fleeing domestic violence, homeless people, people with drug and alcohol addictions or mental illness and young people leaving care. Building for all: Identifying the need for supported housing in London estimates that London needs 5,874 additional supported homes over the next 10 years. More than 70 per cent of these are for the groups defined as socially-excluded under the Supporting People programme, with the remainder split between people with disabilities or learning difficulties, and older people. East London has the greatest need for all kinds of supported housing, owing to higher levels of deprivation and a fast-growing population. In recent years, changes to Government policy mean that more people receive support in their own homes, rather than moving into a supported or sheltered housing scheme. However, while this kind of floating support is appropriate for many people, for example older people and those with disabilities, there remain some groups of people who need specialist housing. Women fleeing domestic violence, for example, need secure housing with support to help them break free of abusive relationships and rebuild their lives. People with drug problems may need round-the-clock support and encouragement to help them break the cycle of addiction. Since the introduction on Supporting People in 2003, the number of new supported homes being built in London has fallen dramatically, partly because of uncertainties around securing revenue funding for new schemes. In addition, it can be difficult to get planning permission for supported housing projects, because of local objections. However, the report says that, as London's population increases over the next decade, the city must ensure it has the right kind of homes and support to meet its most vulnerable residents' needs. Jane, from west London, has a history of heavy drinking and self-harm. Following a long period in hospital recovering from a breakdown, she moved into specialist accommodation for people recovering from mental illness run by Notting Hill Housing and the charity Mind. She says the support she received at the hostel helped her rebuild her life, to the point where she has now moved into her own flat. "When you're ill, you don't even notice a mess, because you can't think straight. But towards the end, I was itching to get out and was looking for somewhere to move to. I was dying to have my own place, where the mess was mine, and no-one else's. It's been hard at times, but life is good now and I never would have got here without all of the help." Berwyn Kinsey, head of the London Housing Federation, said: "Supported housing transforms lives. It gives people who have often faced terrible difficulties a safe, secure place to live and the support they need to make a fresh start. "In recent years, housing associations have found it difficult to provide the extra supported homes London needs because of uncertainty about funding and the 'not in my backyard' attitude of some residents. "London's success as a city should be judged on how well it treats its most vulnerable residents." Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said: "This report confirms what we have feared for some time, that some of London's most vulnerable citizens are failing to get the support they desperately need. My first housing strategy will start to address this. I will ensure there is greater investment to increase the supply of specialist supported housing, matched by revenue funding, and will encourage those involved in Section 106 agreements to give this a higher priority in their negotiations. It is crucial that people with specialist housing needs have the homes and support to enable them to lead full and independent lives." Rona Nicholson, Field Director, Housing Corporation, said: "Good housing with support is vital for people's wellbeing and the Housing Corporation's investment programme ensures that we deliver quality homes and services for many of London's most vulnerable citizens. "We have demonstrated our commitment to investing in supported housing by a big increase in the amount we are funding in London in 2006-08 through the National Affordable Housing Programme. We look forward to continuing to work with our partners in London to deliver more good quality new homes for people with a wide range of supported housing needs".
