London homes still horribly expensive for first time buyers July 15, 2012 FIRST, the good news: the housing market is becoming less unaffordable for young people across the UK. The average price paid by a first-time buyer in June was affordable for someone on average earnings in 54 per cent of all UK local authority districts, the highest proportion for 10 years, according to the Halifax. At [...]
Coalition needs to do more to kick-start ailing property sector July 15, 2012 BRITAIN’S planning and property tax laws should be ripped up and banks should be forced to offer more mortgages in order to boost the country’s moribund real estate market, the country’s largest property services group argued yesterday. The number of house sales remains near historic lows, with figures from LSL suggesting June was the second [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 12, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Co-op nears cut-price Lloyds deal The Co-operative Group is close to agreeing final terms with Lloyds Banking Group to buy 630 of its branches in a deal expected to be struck at a steep discount to the previously mooted £1.5bn price tag. But Lloyds, 40 per cent owned by the government, would be [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 11, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES CBI chief attacks lack of growth The head of Britain’s biggest employers’ group has strongly criticised the government for the “really disappointing” implementation of its growth plan, asking: “Where are the diggers on the ground?” John Cridland, director-general of the CBI, said members of the government appeared to be “dazzled in the headlights”, [...]
House prices to remain below peak until 2024 July 11, 2012 UK house prices may not return to their peak until well into the 2020s, claimed a report from PwC yesterday. House prices reached a peak in 2007 that they may not reach until 2017 in cash terms, and 2024 relative to consumer prices, the report said. Average prices are expected to plateau for the next [...]
June house prices in fastest drop since October July 10, 2012 British house prices fell last month at their fastest pace since October as demand failed to pick up and the number of properties being put up for sale dropped off, a survey showed on Tuesday. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS) seasonally adjusted house price balance fell to -22 from a downwardly revised -17. [...]
China’s thirst is beginning to quell July 9, 2012 CHINESE domestic demand isn’t keeping pace with its industrial production. According to figures released at the weekend, Chinese June consumer price index-based inflation figures (CPI) fell to 2.2 per cent year on year, down from 3 per cent in May. Chinese macro statistics are notoriously unreliable, with suspicions that the communist government smoothes figures by [...]
Taylor Wimpey predicts stable outlook for UK house market July 4, 2012 TAYLOR WIMPEY said yesterday the UK housing market remained “stable” despite wider uncertainty in the Eurozone and the global economy, as it continued to grow sales. In a first-half trading update, Britain’s second largest housebuilder said it sold 5,083 homes in the six months to 1 July, up from 4,707 the same time last year, [...]
Veolia sells UK water unit to Rift for £1.2bn June 28, 2012 FRENCH utility Veolia Environnement has sold a majority stake in its regulated UK water business for £1.24bn including debt, notching a milestone in its overhaul aimed at returning to profitability and cutting debt. It is the first significant divestment since chairman and chief executive Antoine Frerot announced a reorganisation in December to cut debt that [...]
UK house price drop worsens as London gains June 28, 2012 THE DROP in house prices in the UK accelerated in June, as weakness from the Eurozone and the expiry of the stamp duty holiday took their toll, Nationwide said yesterday. Prices were down 0.6 per cent on the month, as part of a 1.5 per cent slide since June 2011 – the biggest year-on-year fall in [...]