EMI plans to raise £400m in rights lease March 21, 2010 TROUBLED music group EMI could offer rivals the chance to cash in on its star artists’ back catalogues as it desperately seeks to stave off a takeover bid. The label faces a spiralling cash crisis and is at risk of being bought up by its biggest lender, Citigroup, unless it can raise funds. It hopes [...]
Mortgage lending edges up in February but lack of funding hampers recovery March 18, 2010 MORTGAGE lending saw a small boost last month with a six per cent rise compared to January, but remains six per cent lower year-on-year. Despite the month-on-month increase, the estimated £9.2bn in mortgage lending for February was the lowest for a decade, and economists warned the lending market remained in flux. Economist Paul Samter from [...]
Business lending in January slumps at fastest annual rate since records begin March 18, 2010 LENDING to businesses fell at its fastest annual rate in January since records began more than a decade ago, figures from the Bank of England (BoE) showed yesterday. The flow of net lending fell £6.5bn in January, nearly twice as fast as in December, the BoE said in its Trends in Lending report. That pushed [...]
First-time buyers hit by rising house prices in January March 16, 2010 FIRST-time buyers were faced with house prices 8.9 per cent higher in January than the same month last year, according to figures from the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG). The department said average prices paid by those buying their first home was £149,924 in January. This was up 0.2 per cent against December [...]
Northern Rock losses narrow March 10, 2010 LOSSES at nationalised bank Northern Rock shrank to £257.4m last year, as income levels picked up and bad loans lessened in the second half of the year. This compares to a £1.36bn pre-tax loss in 2008, when the beleaguered lender was feeling the full force of the financial crisis. Rock, which was taken into the [...]
Harrah’s $5.5bn loan extended March 8, 2010 Harrah’s Entertainment has won approval from lenders to extend the maturity date on a $5.5bn (£3.65bn) loan, giving it until 2015 to pay off the debt. Harrah’s, the world’s largest operator of casinos, will also have the ability to buy back the commercial mortgage-backed securities loan at a steep discount, helping it reduce debt, the [...]
UK housing recovery running out of steam March 4, 2010 THERE were yet further concerns yesterday over a double-dip downturn in the UK housing market when mortgage lender Halifax reported that house prices fell 1.5 per cent in February, the first decline in this index since last June. The survey, which comes just days after Nationwide reported that UK property prices fell one per cent, [...]
SELLING March 4, 2010 Russell Hunt MANAGING DIRECTOR OF PROPERTY HUNT Q.Dear Russell, we are cash buyers but we keep losing out on houses. I thought cash buyers were supposed to have a better chance. Any advice? A.Buying your home is one of the biggest decisions that you ever have to make and it is also one of the [...]
House prices hit by the big freeze February 26, 2010 HOUSE prices fell back in February for the first time in 10 months as poor weather deterred would-be househunters. Nationwide’s latest monthly survey revealed that prices fell by 1 per cent to £161,320 during the month following a 1.4 per cent rise in January – the largest for five months. Economists warned that although the [...]
Redrow warns on mortgages February 25, 2010 HOUSEBUILDER Redrow slashed its first-half losses following a pick-up in the number of sales and an increase in prices but warned that a lack of mortgages is still causing problems. Completions climbed 21 per cent to 1,266 for the six months to December with the average selling price of homes rising 3.6 per cent to [...]