First-time buyers benefit from falling deposits February 2, 2010 FIRST time buyers have been given a boost after new figures showed that the availability of mortgages is on the rise. The number of deals is up 20 per cent compared to the start of the year, according to financial information service Moneyfacts. The increased has been driven by the thawing of the mortgage market [...]
City rents jump on supply crunch February 2, 2010 RENTS in the Square Mile will rocket by 19 per cent this year as a slowdown in the rate of new developments creates a supply crisis, property consultant Knight Frank warned yesterday. Rates are predicted to jump to £52.5 per square foot as international companies expand their City headquarters and the availability of space falls. [...]
Man Utd bond deal slammed February 2, 2010 MANCHESTER United’s controversial £500m bond issue was last night slammed as the worst performing launch of the past two years. The bond, which is part denominated in sterling and partly in US dollars, has seen its price slide to 93p in the pound following worries over the club’s high debts and volatile revenue profile. The [...]
Businesses ‘face power shortages’ February 2, 2010 BUSINESSES and homes across the UK could face power shortages in the years ahead, energy regulator Ofgem has warned. The regulator also warns that a proportion of consumers may not be able to afford the higher energy prices they will have to face. Ofgem says there is “reasonable doubt” about whether the UK’s energy market [...]
Jobless rises not over yet February 2, 2010 BRITAIN will have to endure a further deterioration in the unemployment rate over the next two years while net debt will rise for longer than the Treasury currently expects, a leading think-tank will say today. In its quarterly forecasts, the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) predicts that the jobless rate will only [...]
Tory economic plan is a damp squib February 2, 2010 IT should have been an important moment, the day the Tories unveiled their masterplan to sort out the economy. So it was with some trepidation that I turned to George Osborne’s 23-page document, tantalisingly entitled “A new economic model”. I shouldn’t have bothered: the report is a damp squib. A few of the proposals are [...]
Car sales fall in Germany again February 2, 2010 New car registrations in Germany, Europe’s largest auto market, fell in January for the second month in a row, bucking the trend in other major European markets that are growing thanks to government incentives. The VDIK foreign carmakers association said registrations fell 4.2 per cent versus January 2009 to around 181,500 vehicles, the weakest monthly [...]
US home sales edge upwards February 2, 2010 Pending sales of previously owned US homes edged up as expected in December, a survey showed yesterday, which should help to calm fears of renewed weakness in the troubled housing sector. But the housing recovery remains slow and painful, with other data showing the percentage of empty privately owned homes rose to 2.7 per cent [...]
Gulf Finance House hit by S&P February 2, 2010 Gulf Finance House (GFH) said yesterday it is seeking to defer payment of a third of a $300m loan due next week as credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s slapped it with its third downgrade in 10 weeks. “Gulf Finance House … confirms that it has been in discussions with members of the WestLB syndicate [...]
SEC charges ex hedge fund boss February 2, 2010 Former Wall Street hedge fund manager David Slaine made more than $500,000 from insider trading tips in 2002 by a former UBS Securities executive who is now in prison, the US Securities and Exchange Commission said yesterday. Slaine, 50, formerly of DSJ International Resources, or Chelsey Capital of New York, used the confidential information to [...]
