Businesses can’t blame it all on weatherman January 30, 2011 WON’T blame it on myself, I’ll blame it on the weatherman”. So sang rubbish Irish girl group B*Witched in their 1999 number one hit. Over a decade later business leaders are following their lead. In December it snowed in the UK. In January we heard that people bought fewer Airfix models and drank less beer. [...]
House prices drop in January January 27, 2011 House prices in England and Wales fell for a seventh month in a row in January, dropping 2.2 per cent from a year earlier, property data firm Hometrack said. The monthly survey of more than 5,000 estate agents and surveyors showed prices slipped 0.5 per cent on the month, slightly more than December’s 0.4 per [...]
Mortgage levels fell in December January 26, 2011 LENDING remained sluggish in December, while approvals for mortgages dropped to their lowest rate since January 2009, the British Bankers’ Association said yesterday. The number of approvals from banks dropped from 29,696 in November, to 28,726 in December, the BBA said. Overall mortgage lending rose by £0.9bn, a slower rate than was measured in November [...]
Bank mortgage approvals fall in 2010 January 26, 2011 The number of mortgages approved for house buyers by the UK’s main banks fell by ten per cent in 2010. The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) says its members approved just 400,000 mortgages in total. THe BBA said: “Mortgage demand was weak throughout the year. “Unsecured credit demand was also weak during last year, with net [...]
Bovis warns over weak mortgage volumes January 14, 2011 Bovis Homes expects full-year profit to come ahead of estimates on higher selling prices and plans to restart dividends, but the housebuilder warned of a subdued year ahead. “Mortgage approval volumes remain weak, with mortgage providers requiring high levels of deposit, particularly from first time buyers,” the company said in a statement. British homebuilders are [...]
Halifax: Modest decline in house prices signals price stagnation for coming year January 10, 2011 HOUSE prices dropped slightly in the final three months of the year, according to a Halifax study released yesterday. “Prices were 0.9 per cent lower than in the previous quarter,” said Halifax economist Martin Ellis. “This rate of decline is significantly less than the quarterly falls of five to six per cent during the second [...]
FTSE bounces in New Year rally January 4, 2011 POSITIVE economic news from across the globe saw a sharp rise in London stocks, with the FTSE jumping above the psychologically-important 6,000 barrier. It finished the day up almost two per cent at 6,013.87 – its highest close since the start of June 2008. And US markets also reacted positively after being reassured by the [...]
Mortgage approvals edge up January 4, 2011 MORTGAGE approvals unexpectedly increased to their largest number in four months in November, the Bank of England revealed yesterday. The Bank also released data on the money supply, with its favoured measure increasing by 0.2 per cent on the previous month, and 3.5 per cent year-on-year in the three months to November. And after a [...]
THE TIPSTER January 4, 2011 THE US dollar has risen for the second consecutive day against the yen thanks to increased optimism for the US recovery – factory orders are falling at a slower pace than expected and the labour market is also starting to show a glimmer of improvement. Following the latest fall in weekly jobless claims, analysts are [...]
Mortgage approvals in unexpected rise January 4, 2011 Mortgage approvals rose unexpectedly in November to their highest level since July, but unsecured consumer lending suffered its biggest monthly fall since August, Bank of England figures showed. The mortgage approvals figures chime with an unexpected rise in the Nationwide house price index in December, though activity is still much lower than 12 months earlier [...]