Week ahead: Bank of England speak to dominate agenda as investors look for clues on interest rate path February 26, 2023 Investors will be parsing over a string of speeches from top Bank of England rate setters this week for clues on whether the central bank is close to ending its aggressive campaign to tame inflation. Ben Broadbent, a deputy governor at the Bank, kicks off a busy week of central banker speech at Threadneedle Street’s [...]
Analysis: Fintechs need to get back to basics and forget the flashy stuff February 20, 2023 Fintech firms in the UK have long driven new products trying to change the game in financial services, but as investment dries up in the face of a recession, they need to go back to basics, writes Lyle Wraxall.
House prices are poised to slide in 2023 but straight into the hands of the lucky few February 7, 2023 There’s a pretty wild variety of house price predictions doing the rounds. Capital Economics have forecast they could fall 12 per cent, while experts at property search site Zoopla are a bit more optimistic. The consensus seems to be somewhere around a six per cent fall in 2023. One thing is certain: house prices are [...]
‘Fizz has left the market’: House prices fell by 0.6 per cent in January as average property value plummets February 1, 2023 The average UK house price fell by 0.6 per cent in January, according to Nationwide Building Society. Annual house price growth slowed to 1.1 per cent , from 2.8 per cent in December, and the typical property value is now 3.2 per cent lower than its August peak, the lender said. The average UK house [...]
A tumble in mortgage approvals could be followed by a fall in house prices, analysts believe January 31, 2023 Mortgage approvals have plummeted to their lowest since the credit crunch after the global financial crisis in 2008, excluding the pandemic when the housing market was shut down, in a sign house prices could fall sharply soon, according to official data. The number of loans to Brits to fund a home purchase dropped more than [...]
Persimmon and Barratt to sign Gove’s cladding contract as others stall for time January 30, 2023 A handful of developers plan to sign the government contract to fix buildings affected by cladding and other fire risks in the coming weeks. Levelling up secretary Michael Gove gave developers a six-week deadline to commit to more than £2bn of repairs to fix the issues in buildings taller than 11 metres. This comes on [...]
Record profits place TSB on course for £50m dividend but impairment charges rise on recession fears January 26, 2023 TSB Bank proposed a £50m payout to its parent company in the first quarter of 2023 as its yearly pretax profit increased to a record level. Pretax profit in the 2022 financial year rose to £183.5m from £157.5m in 2021, reflecting lending growth, higher interest rates and higher deposit margins. This figure includes the costs [...]
House sales set to tumble this year on recession jitters, experts warn January 24, 2023 House sales are set to tumble due to owners waiting until the recession passes to cash in on their homes, estate agents have predicted today. Homeowners are expected to adopt a wait and see approach during the first six months of 2023 for fear they will have to sell their property at a lower-than-demanded price. [...]
First-time buyers spend 39 per cent of take home pay on a mortgage – Nationwide January 13, 2023 Homes for first-time buyers are at their most expensive as a proportion of take-home pay since the financial crisis. The proportion of monthly income that first-time buyers are having to put towards mortgage repayments is returning to levels last seen in the 2008 financial crisis, according to Nationwide. Nationwide, the UK’s third largest lender has [...]
Starling boss Boden marks quadrupling of bank’s profits with barbs at fintech peers January 6, 2023 Digital bank Starling said it expects to more than quadruple its profits to £120m and ramp up a hiring spree this year as it becomes the latest lender to be buoyed by rising interest rates and a surge in borrowing.