British house prices expected to fall this year, despite ‘Burnham bounce’, Rightmove reports Asking prices for newly listed homes in UK’s richest borough fall by £100k in one month Back in the housing market, there are signs that investors are driving a harder bargain when buying homes. Hamptons reports that 56% of house offers from investors were at least 10% below the initial asking price in July – rising to 63% among landlords paying in cash. “When the market slows, seasoned investors rarely stand on the sidelines for long. With homes taking longer to sell and chains proving fragile, landlords are using their liquidity and chain-free status to maximise their leverage when it comes to agreeing a price. In a market where certainty has become more valuable, these benefits tend to be worth more than in hotter markets where sellers often have multiple options on the table. The Wall Street executive told Healey in a call on Thursday that higher taxes often drive jobs elsewhere, citing a material decline in finance roles in New York that he attributed in part to the city’s tax burden, according to people briefed on the conversation. Continue reading...