Virgin Money’s profits jump on mortgage loans March 4, 2014 BOOMING mortgage lending drove up profits in 2013 at challenger bank Virgin Money, the lender said yesterday. The bank, which was built out of the remains of Northern Rock, made a pre-tax profit of £179.4m in 2013, up 23.5 per cent on the year. Mortgage balances jumped 17 per cent on the year to £19.6bn, [...]
The secret of mutuals: Price beats ethics every time February 26, 2014 Britain’s building societies are enjoying a boom in new business, as big banks have cut back lending since the financial crisis. Their local, ethical image is often trumpeted as the reason why – they are owned by their customers, a refreshing contrast from those scandal-hit bankers. Certainly they are doing something right. This morning three [...]
Soaring number of low deposit mortgage deals February 24, 2014 NEW FIGURES released this morning suggest that the number of products for the highest loan-to-value (LTV) mortgages has tripled since the surprise launch of the second phase of Help to Buy in October. The number of products available for buyers with only a five per cent deposit has soared from 43 to 132 in less [...]
Mortgage boom grows as house prices keep soaring February 20, 2014 BRITAIN’S housing boom grew again in January as mortgage lending hit new post-crisis highs, the Council of Mortgage Lenders reported. The boom in lending came along side soaring prices – in London the average house cost £450,000 in December, up 12.3 per cent on the year. The intense pressure in the market could lead the [...]
Nationwide seizes market share February 20, 2014 THE NATIONWIDE is grabbing more current account and mortgage customers from the big four banks, the building society revealed yesterday. The growth pushed up profits as the lender’s interest margins improved. Nationwide made £21.6bn of mortgage loans in the nine months to December, up 34 per cent on the year. The growth is faster than that in [...]
January mortgage approvals up over a third from a year ago February 20, 2014 More fuel to stoke house price fear fires this morning, with added evidence that market activity started 2014 very much on the front foot. Mortgage approvals hit their highest level in six years in the final quarter of 2013, averaging 70,000. And in January, they were up 33 per cent year-on-year. According to figures from [...]
RBS to pay $275m to settle US mortgage lawsuit February 19, 2014 RBS has agreed to pay $275m (£164m) in cash to settle a US class action lawsuit brought by pension funds accusing it of misleading investors in the sale of mortgage-backed securities (MBS). The case was brought in 2008, and concerned the packaging and sale of 14 MBS deals known as “Harborview”. The lender was accused [...]
Green light for Paragon to join banking market February 18, 2014 RADICAL new rules to bring more competition into the banking market paid off yesterday as Paragon Bank became the first lender to get a new licence under the system. It is only the second new licence to be awarded in more than 100 years – the first was Metro Bank in 2010. Paragon Bank will [...]
Stamp duty is feeding the growing bubble in London’s house prices February 16, 2014 SUPPORTERS of financial transaction taxes (FTT), often known as Robin Hood taxes, claim that they can make markets safer. But a look at London’s frothy housing market makes this argument difficult to sustain. FTTs remove liquidity from markets, making bubbles more likely to form. And it looks like London house prices are booming thanks to [...]
Housing boom as deals near pre-crisis high February 13, 2014 HOUSE sale volumes hit their highest level in seven years in January, and are now just four per cent below the average seen in the boom years of 2000 to 2007, according to figures out today from LSL Property Services. Last month 73,000 properties changed hands, rocketing up 67 per cent compared with last January. [...]