Independent on Sunday report cites increase in demand and rising material prices. Plus, a round-up of the weekend's papers.
Construction prices are set to rise by over a third over the next five years, reports the Independent on Sunday, casting a shadow on the Olympics building programme. The paper cites a tender price index compiled by the Building Cost Information Service, an arm of the RICS, saying tender prices could rise by as much as 32% as demand increases and the rising cost of raw materials such as oil and steel hits home.
City watchdog the Financial Services Authority has launched an investigation into why many business owners in the Cornish village of Boscastle have not still not received compensation for damage to property sustained in last year's flood, The Times reported on Saturday. The FSA is investigating Darwell Management, an intermediary in Essex through which Jordanian insurer Arab German Insurance sold commercial property cover in Britain.
Also reported over the weekend:
- British net housing wealth has declined for the first time in a decade because of rising mortgage debt and falling house prices.
- Sir Nigel Mobbs, chairman of Slough Estates, is seriously ill in hospital
- ING has won the race to buy nearly £125bn of property from Abbey National in the biggest portfolio sale in UK history
