Edward VII reigned from 1901 to 1910, but the Edwardian period is generally extended to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Edward’s reign was short but influential. The atmosphere of the period was influenced by the king and his love of the good life, which contrasted sharply with the puritanical values of the Victorian ideal. This short era saw a huge housing boom as suburbs sprung up around every city and large town.

via findaproperty.com

It's an old one, but a good one that kitchens and bathrooms really do sell houses. If you want to add a surface sheen to your existing kitchen, try replacing cupboards and worktops. Alternatively a small new kitchen can start at £1,500- £2,000. Avocado suites might have been all the rage thirty odd years ago, but nowadays it's all about clean and crisp white minimalism. Tiling over the floral wallpaper is also advised, as is adding a shower room where there's space.

via findaproperty.com

What's HomeBuy? HomeBuy is a Government funded scheme to help social tenants and those on the housing register, key workers and other priority first-time buyers into home ownership. There are three HomeBuy products on offer: • New Build HomeBuy enables people to buy a share of a newly built property paying a rent on the remainder.
• Open Market HomeBuy enables people to buy a property on the open market with the help of an equity loan. • Social HomeBuy enables tenants of participating local.

via findaproperty.com

"If people have home warranty insurance, they will be covered," Vero Insurance spokeswoman Sue Repanellis said.
"They are going to be protected for the investment they've already made." Vero Insurance provides cover under the NSW home warranty insurance scheme. Ms Repanellis said the insurer was working with Beechwood's receivers to determine how many homebuyers had been left with unfinished properties when the company was placed into voluntary administration on Tuesday. She put the number of homeowners affected at around 300 but said it would be up to the receivers to make a final estimate.

via news.com.au

THE resources boom has pushed up residential property prices in some mining towns by more than 44 per cent in the past year. RP Data research shows prices at Broken Hill in western New South Wales rose 44.6 per cent and, at Glen Eden, a suburb in the Queensland city of Gladstone, they rose 44.2 per cent, The Australian reported. Other resource-rich centres where prices jumped in the year included Kalgoorlie in Western Australia (with 36.1 per cent), Clermont in Queensland (with 39 per cent) and Whyalla in South Australia (with 35.4 per cent).

via news.com.au

Key lawmakers spent Thursday trying to broker a deal on a bill that would allow the government to insure up to $300 billion of home loans and overhaul oversight of key players in the mortgage industry. By the end of the day, they had come closer together but had not hammered out a final compromise. "We believe we have an agreement in concept," said a spokesman for Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the lead Republican on the Senate Banking Committee. "We're currently in the process of seeing whether we can translate that agreement in concept into language."

via money.cnn.com

That is the surprise finding of the first poll to test the assumption that house price falls are unpopular and therefore politically damaging. Barely a fifth of people want house prices to rise - fewer than the number of people who want them to fall. The poll of 1,005 people, commissioned by the BBC, found that only 22% said they wanted prices to go up while 28% said they wanted house prices to fall. The poll, carried out by ICM, canvassed people over a three-day period from 25 to 27 April.

via abclocal.go.com

Key senators said they are close to a bipartisan deal on a homeowner rescue package that could help a half million strapped borrowers get government-backed mortgages. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., the Banking Committee Chairman, postponed a meeting Thursday to vote on the plan in anticipation of reaching a compromise with Sen. Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the panel's senior Republican. The measure also tightens regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that finance mortgages.

via abclocal.go.com

Wall Street turned higher in erratic trading Thursday as a batch of reports pointed to an economy that is hurting, but not experiencing as rough a time as many investors expected after the near-collapse of the mortgage market.
Some deals at major companies including General Electric Co. and CBS Corp. also helped stocks stay afloat.
"The encouraging news is that the markets have become more functional, and large companies are able to make strategic purchases and sales, which previously was a very difficult thing to do.

via topix.net

The housebuilder Barratt Developments and Britain's largest commercial property landlord, Land Securities, added to the gloom in the sector yesterday with bleak forecasts for the rest of the year. Land Securities, which is demolishing part of Fenchurch Street station in London to build an office block dubbed the Walkie Talkie, said the slump in commercial property values was past the worst but the firm would face pressure to cut rents from tenants hit by the credit crunch.

via guardian.co.uk

The Social Responsibility for Urban Transformation Conference, organized by Altınanahtar Magazine with the support of Urban Land Institute Turkey (ULI Turkey), will be held at Istanbul Grand Cevahir Hotel on May 22.

İNDER, an association for constructors, ÇEDBİK, an environmentalist association, the Spinal Cord Paralytics Society of Turkey (SCPST), Turkey Disabled Foundation (TSD) and ecological association Temiz Dünya are also supporting the event.

via turkishdailynews.com.tr

Up to 150 estate agents are closing every week in Britain owing to the continued shrinking effect the credit crunch is having upon the housing market. Research from financial analysts Debtwire finds the number of estate agents has fallen from nearly 13,000 at the start 0f 2008 to about 12,000 at present. This equates to the closure of some 150 branches a week, with the pace thought to be accelerating. Furthermore, an average of four agents employed by each, job losses could run into the thousands.

via shropshirestar.com

Commenting on the Bank of England's latest Inflation Report, Katie Tucker, technical manager at broker John Charcol, said: "The Bank of England is now in a Catch 22 situation: leave the Base Rate where it is and the mortgage lenders, who are sorely needed to keep the property market healthy, are unable to source cheap enough funds to lend at affordable rates; cut the Base Rate, and inflation rockets.

via yourmortgage.co.uk

U.S. foreclosure filings reached a record high in April, rising almost 65% over the previous year and putting municipalities at risk by cutting into the value of taxed property, according to a study released Wednesday. Some 243,353 households, nearly one in 519, received a foreclosure filing during April, according to the U.S. Foreclosure Market Report from RealtyTrac, an online marketplace that tracks foreclosed properties. That was up 4% from March, and surpassed the record of 239,851 set in August 2007.

via money.cnn.com

Drowning in a mortgage you can't afford? Whether or not you get a new one will be decided by someone you've probably never met at a company whose role is barely visible: the mortgage servicer. Nationwide, as home prices plummet and foreclosures rise, thousands of Americans at risk of losing their home are trying to work out new loans. In Washington, Congress is debating a massive rescue aimed at 500,000 people.

via money.cnn.com