CML warns of higher rents and a buy-to-let slowdown under Stamp Duty Land Tax proposals January 29, 2016 The new tax on second properties could lead to higher rents and a slowdown in the buy-to-let market, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). Days before HM Treasury ends its consultation period on the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) proposals, the CML has publicly criticised the plans, claiming that they will have a [...]
TSB results: Chief executive Paul Pester says the big banks have it far too easy as his challenger bank reports 22 per cent increase in customer lending for 2015 January 28, 2016 TSB Bank chief executive Paul Pester told City A.M. that the challenger bank "definitely went from strength to strength" in 2015, as the lender announced its full-year results this morning. The retail and commercial bank, which was carved out of Lloyds Banking Group in 2014, reported profits were ahead of expectations, with management profit before tax of £105.7m, while [...]
HSBC to leave the Council of Mortgage Lenders by the end of 2016 as financial industry trade bodies get set to merge and Barclays could follow January 26, 2016 HSBC is to quit the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), the trade body representing mortgage lenders, as it decides whether to remain headquartered in the UK. The bank has handed in its notice that it intends to leave the CML at the end of December, after the requisite one year notice period. This comes after a plans were unveiled [...]
Mortgage lending hits post-recession high of £220bn in 2015 January 21, 2016 Mortgage lending rose by eight per cent last year compared with the year before, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said this morning. Lenders approved £19.9bn of home loans in December, taking the 2015 total to £220.3bn – the highest annual figure since 2008. December's lending figure was slightly down on November, but was 23 per [...]
Grindr snapped up by Beijing Kunlun Tech and Dalian Wanda buys a slice of Hollywood with Legendary Entertainment studios in Chinese shopping spree January 12, 2016 It takes the January sales to a new level. Today two Chinese giants went shopping: Beijing Kunlun Tech bought a controlling stake in Grindr, and Dalian Wanda bought Hollywood film studio Legendary Entertainment. Dalian Wanda Group announced today it had bought a stake in the studio, which produced the Batman trilogy, Inception, The Hangover and Jurassic World, for $3.5bn (£2.43bn). The [...]
London house prices: First-time buyers pay £91,000 deposit as fewer get on the property ladder in 2015, according to Halifax January 11, 2016 First-time home buyers needed an average deposit of £91,409 to buy a house in the capital last year, according to figures from a major British lender. The figures, published this morning by Halifax, showed London deposits were nearly three times the national average at £32,927. The deposits paid by first-time buyers nationally rose 13 per [...]
Top tips for saving up a house deposit January 8, 2016 Four out of five Britons under 30 would prefer to own their own home, rather than rent, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders, but in London, that’s easier said than done. Home ownership is at its lowest level in 25 years and property prices have risen to about six times the UK’s average annual [...]
Peer to peer mortgage lender LendInvest hits £500m mark January 8, 2016 LendInvest, the peer-to-peer mortgage provider, has reached a new milestone: it has lent more than £500m in short-to-medium term mortgages. In the first week of 2016, it processed a £5m loan in London, taking the total lent to £501m. The site was the first crowdfunding platform for residential and commercial mortgages and since launching in May [...]
The Treasury could be about to return £17bn of Bradford and Bingley assets to private ownership January 6, 2016 A sizable part of the Bradford and Bingley (B&B) mortgage book could be about to be sold off in what could be the biggest ever sale of financial assets by a British government. The government is reportedly working on plans to offload a £17bn tranche of the bailed out mortgage lender. A spokesperson for UK [...]
Buy-to-let tax hike: Our guide to the government’s plans to raise stamp duty on second homes – with rules to cover joint owners, landlords, investors and overseas property owners January 6, 2016 Details of the government’s plan to raise stamp duty on purchases by homeowners with more than one property were released over the festive period. Simply, it will be a 3 per cent surcharge on each stamp duty land tax band when an additional residential property is bought by someone who already owns a home. With the [...]