House prices drop unexpectedly – but don’t rule out a bubble just yet January 8, 2014 Mortgage lender Halifax has reported that British house prices fell 0.6 per cent month-on-month in December. The unexpected dip in house prices is a stark contrast with the 1.4 per cent month-on-month increase reported for December by Nationwide. In a poll of economists conducted by Reuters before the data release, not one predicted a fall [...]
RBS sells chunk of Charter One ahead of exit from US banking January 7, 2014 RBS QUIT retail banking in and around Chicago yesterday, selling 94 Charter One branches to US Bancorp. The British lender is planning a wider exit from the US, aiming to float its American bank Citizens, which includes Charter One, later this year. It bought into Charter One a decade ago, and is now partly reversing that [...]
Letters to the Editor – 06/01 – Gold speculation, Payday lending, Best of Twitter January 5, 2014 Gold speculation [Re: Here’s why Capital Economics thinks gold will bounce back this year, Thursday] Buying gold at current prices is speculation, and not just over the potential removal of Indian import restrictions. Its price tells you about fear in an economy at any given point – and there just isn’t that fear around that [...]
Mortgage loans to reach £170bn mark for 2013 December 19, 2013 MORTGAGE lending dipped slightly during November, down £600m from the previous month, despite a surge over the past year. According to the latest estimate from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), gross mortgage lending dipped to £17bn last month, but stayed 30 per cent higher than the figure in November 2012, demonstrating how much more [...]
Housebuilders pledge to end advance sales of homes overseas December 18, 2013 A TOTAL of 11 housing developers have signed a pledge to market their properties to UK buyers first, or at the same time, as marketing abroad. Concerns about properties being sold to foreign investors who then choose not to live in them have led to claims that many London streets are unoccupied while demand in [...]
Why bank data transparency could lead to a better functioning market December 18, 2013 FEW would find it hard to spot the difference between Stoke Newington and Salford. It’s certainly more than 200 miles that divides the North London district and the regenerating Manchester borough, now home to the BBC’s MediaCityUK. But earlier this week, banks published figures showing that both these places are hotspots for small and medium-sized [...]
Mortgage debt leans on south east of England December 17, 2013 LONDON and the south east of England make up nearly half of Great Britain’s outstanding property loans, as new figures show how the region dominates the mortgage market. London and the south east have £388.7bn of outstanding mortgage debt, 43 per cent of Britain’s £891.4bn total lending. The capital alone holds £227.3bn, more than a [...]
Aldermore raises another £40m ahead of expected London float December 16, 2013 CHALLENGER bank Aldermore yesterday sold a £40m stake to two hedge funds, worth roughly nine per cent of the lender. Lansdowne Partners paid £10m, valuing its stake at around two per cent. The fund is a major investor in the financial services sector, with around $10bn (£6.1bn) in assets under management. Meanwhile Sky News reported another [...]
Ireland’s leader hails the end of €85bn bailout December 15, 2013 IRELAND’S exit from its international bailout has restored national pride and set the stage for a swift recovery, Prime Minister Enda Kenny said in a televised address yesterday to mark the end of three years of economic policy dictated from abroad. The first Eurozone country to leave a bailout, Ireland’s exit has been hailed by [...]
The pair taking peer-to-peer to property December 15, 2013 Annabel Palmer talks with lending platform founders Anthony Fane and Graham Wellesley THE BURGEONING peer-to-peer (P2P) lending industry could transform the personal loans market. It is currently worth £550m in the UK, but some experts expect that to increase to as much as £1bn by 2016. One of its newest entrants is Wellesley & Co, [...]