UK mortgage lending rose in January February 26, 2018 Mortgage lending jumped in January as buyers raced to get ahead of looming interest rate rises – but mortgages for house purchase fell sharply. Borrowers took out mortgages worth £21.9bn in January, up 9.8 per cent on the same month the year before, according to data from UK Finance. However, while the number of people [...]
UK housebuilder Persimmon’s profits to jump to £1bn as firm moves past pay controversy February 25, 2018 Persimmon’s profits are expected to jump close to the £1bn mark this week as the housebuilder continues to bat off criticism for the pay awards it handed to executives. Analysts are expecting pre-tax profits to rise 25 per cent, up from £775m to £965m, when the firm announces its 2017 figures on Tuesday. The news [...]
The risers and fallers of London boroughs ranked on house price growth as wider UK demand remains robust February 19, 2018 Housing demand remains resilient fuelling "cautious optimism" among new sellers in most regions of the UK, according to a new report fromRightmove. Average asking prices were up by 0.8 per cent (£2,414) this month, with all regions but one recording the price of newly-marketed property rising this month. The south west was "a very marginal [...]
First-time buyers at 10-year high in 2017 but the mortgage market weakened in December February 13, 2018 The number of mortgages taken out by first-time buyers boomed last year to its highest level since 2006, buoyed by the Help to Buy subsidy. Banks lent money to 365,000 first-time buyers in 2017, an increase on the year before of 7.4 per cent, according to UK Finance, the lenders’ industry body. However, the December [...]
Banks expect significant tightening in consumer lending in first quarter says Bank of England survey January 11, 2018 British banks are planning to rein in their lending to consumers further over the first quarter as regulators’ efforts to raise lending standards start to bear fruit. Lenders expect a “significant decrease” in the availability of unsecured credit – such as consumer loans and credit cards – in the first quarter of this year, according [...]
Consumer credit growth slows in November as mortgage borrowing declines January 4, 2018 Growth in the amount borrowed by consumers in the form of credit cards and loans fell in November to its lowest since December 2015, as the amount borrowed by home buyers also declined. Figures by the Bank of England showed growth in consumer credit slowed to 9.1 per cent in the year to November, from [...]
What will innovation look like in 2018? Bird & Bird’s Digital Innovators tell us all about the year ahead November 24, 2017 In a year when quantum computing made major leaps forward and using your face as a password became a reality, you’d be forgiven for being hard pushed to imagine just how much further technology can take us. But 2018 will certainly be a year for driving even more innovation for the 50 up-and-coming companies chosen [...]
Former Shawbrook duo launch new investment firm for speciality finance businesses October 11, 2017 A duo from challenger bank Shawbrook have embarked on setting up a new investment firm, focused on companies in the speciality finance sector. Marc Sefton and Kieran McSweeney have founded Aquilam Capital, which will focus on investing and lending to businesses in the consumer and small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) finance niches and in the [...]
UK house prices: Country property prices are much higher than those in the city September 30, 2017 Rural house prices are a fifth more expensive those in cities outside London, according to the Halifax. The average country house price is £263,050, compared with the average urban price of £218,596. The biggest difference is in the West Midlands, where prices are almost 50 per cent more. “Homeowners looking to escape to the country [...]
London house prices have fallen for the first time in eight years says Nationwide’s house price index for September September 29, 2017 Year-on-year house prices in the capital have dropped for the first time in eight years, according to Nationwide’s latest house price index. Prices in the capital dropped to an average price of £471,761 this month, down 0.6 per cent compared with September last year. That makes London the weakest performing region for the first time [...]