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The pattern was also seen beyond the capital. Dartford rose to 37 days, Peterborough to 48 days and Slough to 46 days. Zoopla said four in five first-time buyers in London pay stamp duty equal to about 3% of the purchase price. Outside London, fewer than one in 10 first-time buyers in England pay the tax, and usually at a lower cost. The data also pointed to a continuing North-South split. Scotland remained the fastest-moving market, with homes taking an average of 15 days to sell, unchanged from a year...

The UK land grab continues. Real estate startup Zoopla has acquired property technology company Byteplay Ltd, whose assets include OnOneMap.com, DotHomes.com and Extate.com, all three of which are now pointing to Zoopla.co.uk. The terms of the deal remain undisclosed in what appears to be classic consolidation play. Byteplay is also the operator of the local ‘propertygazette’ websites, which include bristolpropertygazette.co.uk and coventrypropertygazette.co.uk and a host of others covering UK towns and cities. Zoopla says the deal is a “win” for estate agents already utilising its service as they’ll now see...