LONDON-Weeks of speculation about Chancellor Gordon Brown's intentions will come to an end when he begins his budget speech at 12.30 today, but there are genuine fears in the property sector about changes to the Stamp Duty system.

LONDON-Deputy Prime Minister stepped up the pressure on planners to permit more housing development, and he raised the prospect of converting more commercial land to residential use to meet housing need.

LONDON- Quintain has added to its extensive holdings at Wembley in north-west London with the pounds 17 million ($26 million) purchase of the Palace of Industries building.

LONDON-Office take-up in the Western Corridor office market reached 411,000 sf in the first quarter of 2003 according to CB Hillier Parker's latest research. This was broadly in-line with activity over the previous six months.

LONDON- Henderson Global Investors, has taken lease surrenders and negotiated new leases on 36,540 sf at Nicholson House and Westwood House on Lime Kiln Close, Bristol Parkway, Bristol.

LONDON-Short-term economic uncertainty is continuing to stifle corporate property decisions, according to the latest research from CB Hillier Parker. Activity in the Central London office market remains subdued.

LONDON-Planning permission has been granted for a new 50,000-sf building at the northern edge of the Oxford Science Park, developed by a joint venture between Magdalen College, Oxford and the Prudential.

LONDON-The Prudential, MEPC and other investors have launched a legal action against Easington District Council in the North East of England over its handling of London & Amsterdam's Dalton Park factory outlet development.