Share of UK homes bought by first-time buyers expected to drop

Zoopla report suggests first fall in five years as Covid crisis sees lenders pull low-deposit mortgages

• Coronavirus – latest updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage

The share of homes purchased by first-time buyers in the UK looks likely to drop for the first time in five years, as major banks pull low-deposit mortgages off the market in response to the Covid-19 crisis.

Forecasts released by property portal Zoopla show that, despite a surge in demand earlier this year, first-time buyers will make up around 33.9% of home purchases in the UK for 2020, down from a 10-year high of 34.9% in 2019.

Continue reading...

from Property | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3kTKyU8
via IFTTT

Trapping the light fantastic: a new-build home that confounds expectations

When a design-conscious couple bought a dark home, they decided to start from scratch to bring sun into every corner

The planners insisted on a traditional house that sat politely with its neighbours on this tree-lined street in a conservation area of north London. But the design-minded owners of this expansive new-build, Afsaneh and Ebbi Farsian, had more ambitious ideas. They envisaged a modern, open-plan family home basking in natural light. The result? Not a tentative fudge of new and old, but a house that confounds expectations: traditional on the outside, and contemporary inside.

The eight-bedroom home, which was designed and built by Finkernagel Ross, an architectural and interior design company, replaced a lacklustre 19th-century building.

Continue reading...

from Home And Garden | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Giscgc
via IFTTT

Peek inside the Rightmove team’s ultimate dream homes

Check them out...

The post Peek inside the Rightmove team’s ultimate dream homes first appeared on Property blog.

from Property blog https://ift.tt/3kReS1p
via IFTTT

Trapping the light fantastic: a new-build home that confounds expectations

When a design-conscious couple bought a dark home, they decided to start from scratch to bring sun into every corner

The planners insisted on a traditional house that sat politely with its neighbours on this tree-lined street in a conservation area of north London. But the design-minded owners of this expansive new-build, Afsaneh and Ebbi Farsian, had more ambitious ideas. They envisaged a modern, open-plan family home basking in natural light. The result? Not a tentative fudge of new and old, but a house that confounds expectations: traditional on the outside, and contemporary inside.

The eight-bedroom home, which was designed and built by Finkernagel Ross, an architectural and interior design company, replaced a lacklustre 19th-century building.

Continue reading...

from Property | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Giscgc
via IFTTT

How original is the great British garden?

We must broaden our horizons when it comes to horticulture

“Britain has led the world in gardening for centuries” is a line often used dozens of times in gardening media. Judging by how frequently it has come up in TV scripts I have been asked to present, it seems to be a concept baked into the DNA of how British gardeners see the world and our place in it. It is a line I am uncomfortable saying.

Often, to be called a garden at all, designs must be made to fit our pre-existing cultural ideas

Continue reading...

from Home And Garden | The Guardian https://ift.tt/369LtLZ
via IFTTT

How original is the great British garden?

We must broaden our horizons when it comes to horticulture

“Britain has led the world in gardening for centuries” is a line often used dozens of times in gardening media. Judging by how frequently it has come up in TV scripts I have been asked to present, it seems to be a concept baked into the DNA of how British gardeners see the world and our place in it. It is a line I am uncomfortable saying.

Often, to be called a garden at all, designs must be made to fit our pre-existing cultural ideas

Continue reading...

from Property | The Guardian https://ift.tt/369LtLZ
via IFTTT

Autumn’s dark days are coming, but the garden prevails | Allan Jenkins

Everything is slowing down, but there are chores to do, and moments of magic to come

There is a moment when it hits you, like the end of an affair. There were signs you missed, maybe chose to ignore. The response to your touch less immediate. The magic diminished. Face it. It is over. Approaching winter’s already won; summer’s sun has fallen. The brightest days of autumn cannot beat the retreat.

I am ever-alert for this moment. The first day you see the seedlings struggle. When new growth is a shadow of just weeks before. Stunted now, slowed.

Continue reading...

from Property | The Guardian https://ift.tt/30cU7Wb
via IFTTT