Mortgage firm braves a stock market debut October 27, 2014 The Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB) wants to float on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim), yesterday announcing its plans to go public. It comes after challenger bank Aldermore scrapped its initial public offering, blaming poor market conditions, and Virgin Money postponed its attempted stock market debut. But the brokerage has not been dissuaded by the flow of [...]
New mortgage hurdles begin to make impact on property market October 23, 2014 THE NUMBER of mortgage approvals fell for the third month in a row as housing market activity continued to slow. Data released yesterday by the British Bankers Association, a trade body for UK banks, revealed that the number of mortgage approvals in September was 39,271 – a 14-month low. The figure marks a 10 per cent [...]
How shared ownership can help get Londoners on the housing ladder October 22, 2014 The Scottish Parliament has set out plans to levy its first tax since 1707. In an effort to support first time buyers, it proposed reforming stamp duty into a marginal – rather than a “slab” – tax, meaning that house sales in Scotland will no longer incur the highest rate on the whole price. These [...]
London house prices: Property market stalls in September October 21, 2014 The inexorable rise in London’s house market stalled in September according to Sequence, a national estate agency network. The number of transactions fell by one per cent, adding to the body of evidence pointing to a marked slowdown in the London housing market. “What we are seeing is a return to normality in the housing [...]
Mortgage loan growth slows October 20, 2014 THE HOUSING market continues to lose steam with the amount of mortgage lending falling for the second consecutive month. The Council of Mortgage Lenders yesterday estimated that gross mortgage lending reached £17.8bn in September – one per cent less than in August. However, this is 10 per cent higher than last year. “There is growing [...]
Mortgage price war as interest rate hike prospects fade October 20, 2014 Banks slashed mortgage rates again this weekend as the prospect of monetary tightening from the Bank of England receded even further into 2015. Lenders had started increasing rates earlier this year as they believed the booming British economy would lead policymakers to raise interest rates. But the Bank’s monetary policy committee has resisted lifting rates [...]
Bank of America share price falls as $17bn fine crushes profits October 15, 2014 Bank of America Merrill Lynch (Baml) posted a tiny pre-tax profit for the third quarter, as the giant lender was still reeling from its record $17bn (£10.7bn) fine for bad behaviour in the mortgage market. Pre-tax income came in at $168m, down 93 per cent on the $2.5bn it made in the same period of 2013. [...]
London house prices may be starting to drop October 15, 2014 London house prices could already be falling, according to figures released yesterday by estate agents Haart. Prices in the capital were 3.3 per cent lower in September than in August. However, growth since September 2013 remains high at 19.8 per cent. A similar, but less extreme, trend is seen for prices for the whole UK. [...]
Britain’s bad bank sells off £2.7bn of loans October 14, 2014 GLOBAL investors yesterday snapped up £2.7bn of Northern Rock and Bradford and Bingley (B&B), in Europe’s biggest retail mortgage-backed security (MRBS) deal for three years. JP Morgan and Commercial First arranged the deal with UK Asset Resolution (Ukar), the unit responsible for the assets of the so-called bad bank parts of the collapsed lenders. The [...]
London house price boom set to stall in 2015 as tough new mortgage lending rules take effect October 14, 2014 House price growth is set to level off across the UK and could even be at risk of falling in the capital, according to industry experts. “It’s been indicated by the collapse in buyer in inquiries, there’s been a very sharp fall in London,” Joshua Miller, economist from the Royal Institution of Charted Surveyors, told [...]