House prices drop sharply in April despite mortgage approvals pick up June 14, 2011 HOUSE prices plummeted by 1.1 per cent from March to April, government figures revealed yesterday. Yet a separate survey showed an increase in approved mortgages for the month, providing some sign of rising activity in the market. The monthly drop in April’s prices largely offset the 1.2 per cent jump recorded in March, according to [...]
Virgin Money recruits an old hand as chair June 14, 2011 JONATHAN Agnew, the former chairman of Nationwide Building Society, is set to become the new chairman of Virgin Money, as soon as his appointment is approved by the FSA. Agnew (pictured) will take over the leadership of a company that has been without a figurehead for the last year since the death of its chief executive [...]
STORM CLOUDS GATHER OVER THE ECONOMY June 2, 2011 ■ Slowest US and UK factory activity since September 2009 ■ Inflation pressures start to feed through into British wages ■ Yields on 10-year US government bonds fall to three per cent STORM clouds gathered over the global economy yesterday, as a raft of gloomy data poured doubt on the strength of the UK and world [...]
Economic shocks sent FTSE back below the 6,000 mark June 1, 2011 BRITAIN’S top share index dropped back yesterday as below-par US economic pointers and weak UK manufacturing and housing data intensified investor concerns about the strength of the global economy. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was down 61.38 points, or one per cent, at 5,928.61, reversing sharply in the afternoon after briefly pushing back [...]
House prices in first rise since January May 31, 2011 House prices in England and Wales rose by 0.8 per cent in April, the first monthly increase since January and the biggest rise since January 2010, data from the official Land Registry showed. However, average residential property prices were still 1.3 per cent lower than a year ago at £163,083 the Land Registry said. House [...]
Banks’ mortgage lending falls May 25, 2011 MORTGAGE approvals dropped by six per cent in April, according to figures from Britain’s leading high street banks. Approvals fell to 29,355, down from 31,205 in March, while gross mortgage lending was five per cent lower than the same time last year, the British Banking Association (BBA) said. The average price of houses purchased with [...]
House prices rise 1.2pc in March May 17, 2011 House prices rose by 1.2 per cent on a seasonally-adjusted basis in March, taking the year-on-year rate of growth to 0.9 per cent, government figures showed. The Department for Communities and Local Government said the average price of a home stood at 205,565 pounds in March. The DCLG data is based on a sample of [...]
Bank reveals weak lending on mortgages May 4, 2011 SLUGGISH mortgage lending and stuttering house prices continue to haunt the UK’s housing market, a series of data releases showed yesterday. Mortgage lending grew by just £400m in March, the Bank of England revealed – below increases of £1bn and £1.7bn in the two previous months, and an average jump of £800m over the last [...]
Bank lending data shows slump May 4, 2011 Lending to consumers and homebuyers rose less than expected in March, Bank of England data showed, adding to evidence of a sluggish economy from the construction sector and falling house prices. A slew of weaker-than-expected data, kicked off by tepid first-quarter growth figures last week, have caused economists to push back their expectations of a [...]
Mortgage loans at 8-month high April 27, 2011 THE number of mortgages approved for house purchase rose to an eight-month high during March as activity in the property market showed signs of picking up, figures have revealed. A total of 31,660 loans were approved for people buying a new home, five per cent more than during the previous month and the highest level [...]