Government backs 95% mortgages for first-time buyers March 12, 2012 The government has launched a new mortgage indemnity scheme that is designed to allow first-time buyers to step onto the property ladder and boost the construction industry. Under the NewBuy scheme major lenders including Barclays, Nationwide and Natwest will allow people to borrow up to 95 per cent of the value of a home, with [...]
Government to back up mortgages for new builds March 11, 2012 THE GOVERNMENT will today launch a scheme designed to make new-build homes available to more first time buyers. The NewBuy programme will use an indemnity fund and government guarantee to back up 95 per cent loan-to-value mortgages. The mortgages will reduce the size of required deposits, its proponents say. Property website Rightmove argues that the [...]
Think-tank: Scrap green belt to boost GDP growth March 7, 2012 RESTRICTIVE planning laws are holding back economic growth, hurting the poor and pushing down the quality of houses, a new report claims. The Adam Smith Institute (ASI) has called for a radical shake up of planning rules that would see the green belt scrapped, devolution of planning powers to local authorities, and the privatisation of [...]
RAPID RESPONSES March 7, 2012 Caught in the net [Re: A so-called mansion tax will not achieve fairness, yesterday] Aside from the obvious problems in administering a “mansion tax”, it’s clear that it’s not solely super-rich buyers who’d bear the brunt of an annual property levy, but long-term homeowners who may not be cash-rich but simply live in areas where house [...]
House price slump not finished yet March 6, 2012 HOUSE prices fell again in February, reversing January’s rise and continuing the slow downward trend of the year. Prices dropped 0.5 per cent in the month, following January’s 0.6 per cent rise, taking the average price to £160,118. Over the last three months, prices are down 1.1 per cent, and 1.9 per cent on February [...]
House prices rise more than expected March 1, 2012 House prices rose more than expected in February, data from mortgage lender Nationwide showed. Nationwide said that house prices ticked up by a seasonally adjusted 0.6 percent on the month – the biggest rise since April 2010 – and were 0.9 percent higher than a year earlier. That is follows a surprise monthly fall in [...]
Entrepreneurs finally fighting back February 29, 2012 BUSINESS people have a tendency to run scared of political debate. They rarely want to criticise politicians on the record (though they are often extremely outspoken in private). They very rarely agree to give interviews to discuss controversial subjects. This is a great tragedy: capitalists are failing to speak up for capitalism, allowing those who [...]
Mortgages up as stamp duty return nears February 29, 2012 UK MORTGAGE lending surged in January and consumer credit also expanded, official figures showed yesterday, though economists do not expect the jump to be sustained. Analysts believe loans rose because the stamp duty holiday for first-time buyers ends later this month, prompting a short-term rise in loan applications, though numbers remain well below pre-recession levels. [...]
Housebuilders should be re-evaluated February 29, 2012 PERSIMMON, the UK’s biggest housebuilder by value, is experiencing improving fortunes like most in the sector – but it is still a shadow of its former self. Pre-tax profits, which were 55 per cent higher at £148.1m, are nothing compared to the £600m or so that was the norm in 2006. Still, the outlook for [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 27, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES GORDON GEKKO TELLS WALL ST GREED IS NOT GOOD Michael Douglas is playing a new and unlikely role as spokesman for the US Federal Bureau of Investigation in its war against corruption on Wall Street. The Hollywood actor – famous for his line “greed is good” in the 1987 film Wall Street – [...]