Housing lifted by government scheme boost November 8, 2012 MORTGAGE lending climbed rapidly through the third quarter and into October, two sets of data showed yesterday, as the Funding for Lending scheme finally appeared to be having an impact on lending. This came in tandem with a reversal in the downward house price trend of the past few months, revealed by another set of [...]
London house price growth set to outstrip rest of UK for years November 8, 2012 London house price growth will be well ahead of the UK average for at least the next five years, estate agent Savills predicted yesterday. Central London housing will get 25.6 per cent more expensive over the five years to the end of 2017, the estate agent said, compared to 10.2 per cent growth in the [...]
No mercy from Van Persie against old friends November 1, 2012 MANCHESTER UNITED VS ARSENAL Tomorrow 12.45pm IT was a harsh lesson learned by the Arsenal fans who left the Madejski Stadium early during the Gunners’ incredible Capital One Cup comeback against Reading. But if the scoring at Old Trafford tomorrow lunchtime resembles anything like the pattern it followed when they last visited Manchester United, then [...]
Wolfson’s winter jumpers keep Next hot as M&S plays catch-up October 31, 2012 MY mum used to buy me a jumper from M&S for Christmas every year. Now she goes to Next.” My colleague’s admission may have raised a laugh yesterday, but it’s a telling sign of the changing times on the UK high street. Looking at Next’s upbeat statement – predicting a £15m increase in profit for [...]
A superlative-defying Range Rover October 30, 2012 I’ve only been driving Land Rover’s new Range Rover for five minutes and already I have had to swerve to avoid a man running down the motorway. Not across the motorway you understand but down it, as if he is pretending to be a car. Driving the new Range Rover in Morocco is challenging. Pedestrians [...]
Middle Eastern investors drive office demand October 29, 2012 A WAVE of new investors from the Middle East and Far East seeking a safe haven for their cash are helping to fuel demand for London office properties, according to new research by BNP Paribas. The French bank’s property arm said overseas investors made up 61 per cent of London office investment in the third [...]
Santander hit by rise in bad Spanish loans October 25, 2012 PROFITS plunged at Santander as ever more Spanish loans turned bad in the country’s ongoing recession, the bank’s third quarter results showed yesterday. The Spanish bank’s UK arm performed more strongly, though it too was slowed by shipping loan problems, increased provisions against corporate debt it bought in the credit crunch, and a cost from [...]
No shortage of literature for banking bookworms this month October 23, 2012 RECENT City A.M. award winner and property giant Westfield welcomed the Prime Minister’s wife to their Shepherd’s Bush store yesterday. Samantha Cameron, ambassador of Save the Children, gave a special reading of The Snail and the Whale at Foyles Bookstore to a group of children from Larmenier & Sacred Heart primary school. But for grown-up [...]
Nuclear group Urenco attracts potential buyer October 14, 2012 FRENCH nuclear company Areva is thought to be examining a bid for British atomic fuel producer Urenco. Areva, which failed to make a bid for the Horizon nuclear new-build project by last month’s deadline, is now weighing up Urenco, according to the Sunday Times. The firm, which denied in January that it was interested in [...]
It might be prime time to refinance October 14, 2012 HISTORICALLY low interest rates and government schemes mean that it may make sense, for some borrowers at least, to remortgage their homes. But data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders serves as a stark reminder as to how tight conditions still are. In 2011, £46.6bn worth of remortgages were taken out by borrowers in 375,000 [...]