PRESS DIGEST - Financial Times - Nov 10

AFFORDABLE HOME STARTS TO DROP BY ONE THIRD

Targets set by the Homes and Communities Agency show that construction on social homes will be reduced by a third next year. 29,900 grant-funded housing starts are scheduled for 2010-11, down from the 45,500 target for the current financial year. The country's new property quango has also revealed that the value of its development assets has fallen from 1.9 billion pounds to under 800 million pounds as a result of the housing crash. The new valuation takes into account an impairment charge of 540 million pounds and a 600 million pound reversal of gains made during the rising market.

HOUSING MARKET REVIVAL HELPS LIFT CONSUMER SALES

New data from the British Retail Consortium and KPMG shows that retail sales in October rose by 5.9 percent compared with a year earlier, boosted by half-term holidays and Halloween. The increase was the biggest one-month rise since March 2007, excluding figures from April, which were lifted by the Easter holidays. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors has also registered a further increase in the number of agents reporting rising sales during October. The most dramatic improvement was seen in London, where 95 of surveyors are reporting rising prices, a level unseen since 1996.