RAPID RESPONSES July 18, 2012 In praise of Mervyn [Re: Somebody needs to guard the City of London’s guardians, yesterday] To me the story comes across a little differently. The recent facts on Libor point to regulators knowing that the rate was rigged, but doing nothing – or at least nothing in a timely fashion. But Mervyn King succeeded where our [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 17, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES M&S to charge for current accounts Marks and Spencer is set to become the first UK bank to shun free current accounts as it plans to charge all customers a monthly fee for banking services when it launches later this year. The retailer said it would offer two accounts, priced at £15 and [...]
Renters can’t afford to buy July 16, 2012 Prospective first time buyers in the UK are being squeezed out of the property market, according to a survey released yesterday. Over four in 10 (42 per cent) of renters are unable to save for a deposit, while just under a third (31 per cent) are spending over half their post-tax income on rent, the [...]
RAPID RESPONSES July 16, 2012 Building problems [Re: London homes still horribly expensive for first time buyers, yesterday] Unfortunately, policy-makers are stuck in a house building dilemma. If they supply more homes to help first-time buyers, the price of the average home will drop – therefore moving many existing homeowners into negative equity. Stephen Bishop Private sector contractors are certainly better [...]
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. [...]