Consumer recovery heating up May 21, 2014 Retail sales jump by 6.9 per cent in April – the fastest year-on-year growth in a decade Mortgage lending rises by 36 per cent as Britons say they feel more secure in their jobs But policymakers at the Bank of England still voted unanimously to keep interest rates low INTEREST rates are not expected to go [...]
Brace for impact: Bank of England issues warning on house prices May 21, 2014 Super low interest rates could inflate a housing bubble, the Bank of England admitted today, indicating it could step in to cool the rampant market soon. The monetary policy committee (MPC) said it will not raise interest rates to tackle to risks yet, but has pointed to the financial policy committee (FPC) as a [...]
Lloyds caps mortgages May 20, 2014 LLOYDS Bank yesterday announced a shock clampdown on home lending designed to tackle the London housing boom, saying applications for mortgages worth over £500,000 would now be subject to a new income test. Borrowers will now only be able to get their hands on over half a million pounds from the UK’s biggest mortgage lender [...]
Now that banks are rationing loans, time to scrap Help to Buy May 20, 2014 SO the great crackdown on mortgages has started. With the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee uninterested in hiking interest rates, the only solution to contain house prices, sadly, is to ration credit. In theory, that is the job of the financial policy committee and its new-fangled macroprudential tools; but it has yet to act. [...]
Homebuying faster than building May 15, 2014 PRESSURE mounted further on Britain’s strained housing market yesterday as a raft of new data showed home purchases soaring at a far higher pace than house building. Mortgage lending jumped by 17.4 per cent in the year to March, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). The rise means 50,500 mortgages were advanced in the [...]
Carney: No rate hike to cool house prices May 14, 2014 INTEREST rates will not be hiked to slow London’s housing boom, Mark Carney said yesterday, arguing there are limits to the Bank of England’s powers when the crisis is caused by a crippling shortage of home building. Instead, Carney said he could make it more expensive for banks to give out mortgages, taking some of [...]
Housing market may finally be cooling down May 8, 2014 THE RECENT upswing in housing market activity may be moderating, with an early indication from one bank that growth in house prices could be reaching a plateau. House prices increased by 8.5 per cent in the 12 months to April, according to Halifax – slower than the 8.7 per cent increase in the year to [...]
House supply shortfall set to push prices higher May 1, 2014 HOUSE prices are now surging upwards at double digit rates across the country, as a Bank of England deputy governor indicates that the climb is set to continue. Sir Jon Cunliffe’s speech in London yesterday suggested that the lack of houses and ongoing recovery could continue to push prices up. “There is good reason to [...]
Mortgage borrowers now face tougher questions on finances April 28, 2014 HOME buyers will have to show they can cope with a rise in interest rates when applying for a mortgage, under new rules introduced over the weekend. The City watchdog hopes households will be protected from losing their homes if interest rates rise, and lenders will only give out higher quality loans. Self-certified loans are [...]
Bank of America pushed into the red by legal bills April 16, 2014 SURPRISE legal bills pushed Bank of America Merrill Lynch (Baml) to a $276m (£164.3m) loss in the first three months of the year, the lender said yesterday. Revenues fell 2.7 per cent to $22.6bn, compared with the same period a year ago, while expenses increased 14 per cent to $22.2bn. But the main blow came from [...]