HSBC leads banks’ plans to hike savings rates – and analysts say they could go up even further June 2, 2023 HSBC UK is boosting the interest rates on some savings accounts with increases of up to 0.75 percentage points, the bank has announced. The increases will come into effect next week, on Thursday June 8. They include a 0.75 percentage point increase on the bank’s mysavings and premier savings youth accounts, taking rates to 5.00 [...]
Record £9bn pumped into ISAs as Brits capitalise on higher interest rates June 1, 2023 Brits are yanking cash out of high street savings accounts and piling it into products that tie up their money for a longer period in exchange for a better interest rate, official figures out today show. Savers dropped £3.6bn into banks and building societies in April, nearly all of which went into fixed savings accounts [...]
Prospective buyers hit with fresh blow as mortgage approvals continue to fall June 1, 2023 Prospective buyers continue to suffer setbacks as fresh data reveals that mortgage approvals fell during April. Net mortgage approvals for house purchases fell from 51,500 in March to 48,700 in April, figures from the Bank of England show, with experts predicting that the figure could fall further following the central bank’s decision to hike interest [...]
Euro inflation slumps faster than expected to 6.1 per cent leaving UK further afield June 1, 2023 Inflation in Europe is falling much faster than expected, further marking Britain out as suffering the toughest price pressures in the developed world. The rate of price increases in the 20 countries using the euro dropped to 6.1 per cent last month, down from seven per cent in the previous month, according to eurostat. That [...]
Interest rate hikes triggers house price fall and analysts think there’s further to go June 1, 2023 House prices remain below their August peak as demand softens following a spike in interest in early spring. The annual rate of house price growth slipped back to -3.4 per cent from -2.7 per cent in April, figures from Nationwide show, as the Bank of England’s decision to hike interest rates rattled buyers confidence. In [...]
Recession uncertainty arrests UK business confidence upward march June 1, 2023 Uncertainty about whether the UK economy will tip into a recession caused by sky high inflation and the Bank of England hiking interest rates aggressively to tame it is keeping businesses grounded, a new survey out today shows. A five straight month upward rise in optimism among leaders of Britain’s biggest firms was arrested in [...]
House sales drop by almost a third as market braces for slowdown in mortgage approvals May 31, 2023 The number of houses sold in the UK has fallen by almost a third as the market struggles to upkeep the momentum from a surge in sales at the start of spring. UK residential transactions fell 32 per cent in April with 67,220 homes sold, figures from HMRC show, 32 per cent lower than April [...]
Bank of England to surpass Federal Reserve and hike interest rates to 15-year high May 31, 2023 The Bank of England will have to hike interest rates to their highest level in more than 15 years to tackle sticky inflation that will stay above its target for at least another three years, a top Wall Street investment bank has warned today. Researchers at Goldman Sachs suspect businesses will carry on passing on [...]
People who get ‘poor’ bank rates should ‘shop around’, DWP sec Mel Stride says May 31, 2023 People who feel they are getting “very poor” interest on their savings should “shop around” and find a bank that will pay “a better rate”, the Work and Pensions Secretary has said. Mel Stride said some of the “stickiness” comes because there is “often inertia” and that it is “relatively easy to change and switch [...]
London businesses most confident in the UK amid economic slowdown May 31, 2023 London businesses are poised to lead the UK economy out of its slowdown, although they remain acutely concerned about the impact of higher interest rates and scorching inflation, a new survey out today shows. Confidence among the capital’s firms slimmed four points to 43 per cent, although that was the highest reading of any area [...]