COLUMNISTS Cancel all dinner invitations; cut off the phone. House price braggers are once again out in force, fuelled by a high-octane diet of positive data and rash cash.
UK house prices have now risen six months in a row, with the Nationwide House Price Index edging up 0.4 per cent in October. Home loans are at an 18-month high. Funds, sniffing value in mothballed developments and potential regeneration sites, are falling over themselves to pick off bargains. In addition to Legal & General Property, one of the largest institutional property fund managers, and Aviva, the insurance group, boutique funds are springing into action. The latest comes courtesy of John Hitchcox. The founder of Yoo, a UK-based development and design group, has raised some £200m of equity and debt.
