Mortgage lending and consumer credit weak July 29, 2011 Mortgage approvals for house purchase and consumer credit continued to herald weak consumption ahead, official data showed on Friday, despite both rising more than expected in June. The Bank of England said mortgage approvals numbered 48,421 in June, up from 46,418 in May and the highest number since May 2010. Analysts had forecast a reading [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 28, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BHP BILLITON DIGS IN AGAINST STRIKING MINERS BHP Billiton has declared force majeure on exports from the world’s biggest copper mine, as a mineworkers’ strike entered its eighth day. The strike at BHP’s Escondida mine in Chile, which supplied 7 per cent of the world’s copper last year, comes in a month of [...]
House prices down on a year earlier after sharpest drop for 20 months July 28, 2011 HOUSE prices have dropped at their sharpest rate since October 2009, the Land Registry announced yesterday. Compared to a year earlier, June’s prices were down 2.5 per cent, it said. However, house prices across England and Wales were flat month-on-month in June. There is some disparity across the regions, the Land Registry said, with Wales [...]
Banks report small appetite for borrowing July 25, 2011 LENDING to companies, consumers and house-buyers remained muted in June despite a pick-up in the number of mortgage approvals, the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) announced yesterday. Net unsecured lending to consumers continued its steady decline, down by £100m in the month – matching the six month average and the fall recorded in May. Lending to [...]
Public sector borrowing at £14bn in June July 21, 2011 RISING government spending saw public borrowing hit £14bn last month, official figures unveiled yesterday showed. Public sector net borrowing (PSNB) was up £300m from the same time last year, and “about £1.5bn above market expectations”, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Central government spending was £51.96bn in June – up from £49.54bn in [...]
Rents in London now average more than £1,000 per month July 14, 2011 RENTAL costs have soared past £1,000 per month in London, a survey of letting agents revealed this morning. London’s rents were up an average of 6.9 per cent per property in June compared to the same time the previous year, the Buy-to-Let Index from LSL Property Services said. While rent inflation is particularly intense in [...]
EU guilty of credit rating hypocrisy July 7, 2011 SOME people simply can’t win. The largest credit rating agencies – Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch – were rightly pilloried for providing ridiculously optimistic advice in the run-up to the financial crisis, deeming bundles of sub-prime mortgages to be as safe as the debt of very cautious and successful companies or governments. It was [...]
EU guilty of credit rating hypocrisy July 6, 2011 SOME people simply can’t win. The largest credit rating agencies – Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch – were rightly pilloried for providing ridiculously optimistic advice in the run-up to the financial crisis, deeming bundles of sub-prime mortgages to be as safe as the debt of very cautious and successful companies or governments. It was [...]
BofA investors plot challenge over pay out July 5, 2011 A GROUP of bondholders in Bank of America plan to challenge the lender’s $8.5bn (£5.2bn) settlement with holders in soured mortgage-backed securities. Eleven companies, known together as Walnut Place, filed papers in the New York Supreme Court in a bid to overturn the payment. They say they have “serious concerns about the secret, non-adversarial, and [...]
Persimmon sees volumes dip July 5, 2011 HOUSEBUILDER Persimmon said completions and turnover dipped in the first half year-on-year against a backdrop of a stabilising market, while it expects an increase in volumes for the remainder of the year. The York-based builder said it completed 4,439 homes in the six months to end June, against 4,657 in the same period last year. [...]