Consumer confidence and personal deposits up as business borrowing increases September 24, 2013 (BBA) Personal deposits have risen by almost five per cent over the year to August, says the BBA. (Release) BBA statistics director, David Dooks said: These figures suggest that consumer confidence is growing. For the first time in four years, annual growth in household borrowing on credit cards and personal loans has turned positive and [...]
Buy-to-let specialist Paragon raises £273m in mortgage sale September 23, 2013 SPECIALIST lender Paragon completed a securitisation transaction yesterday, raising funds in the market to finance more lending, the group announced. Special purpose vehicle Paragon Mortgages 18 was made up of three tranches of assets, and came in at a total of £273m. The vast majority of the deal was made up of triple-A rated notes [...]
Bank of America prepares for court case over home loan row September 23, 2013 BANK of America will this week face claims Countrywide, which it owns, defrauded government mortgage underwriters from 2007. It is alleged Countrywide approved deficient home loans in a process called “Hustle”, before selling those loans on to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. When the loans defaulted, those state-backed entities lost more than $1bn (£623m), with [...]
London leads UK as optimism on house prices rockets again September 19, 2013 BRITONS are more upbeat on house prices than at any point in the last three and a half years, according to the Knight Frank sentiment index out today, as the economy recovers. And they believe prices are rising at their fastest pace since 2009. More than one-fifth of those surveyed believe their house’s value has [...]
Bubble fears too high – the housing market is ordinary September 19, 2013 The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has announced that gross mortgage lending remained steady in August at an estimated £16.6bn. (Release) In July, the figure was £16.7bn and up 28 per cent from August 2012 (£13bn). Not unexpectedly, the CML highlighted that: Prospects for the UK economy continue to brighten, although there is a risk [...]
Ireland’s central bank lays down tougher goals on mortgage debt September 17, 2013 IRELAND’S central bank and bailout lenders set the country’s lenders tougher targets yesterday to solve a mortgage arrears crisis that has left one in five of all Irish homeowners unable to repay their loans. Ireland took an €85bn bailout in 2010 after rescuing its banks, whose easy lending had fuelled a credit bubble, and the [...]
Mortgage rates could be on the rise September 17, 2013 With rising costs and house price highs spooking homebuyers, shop around for a good deal NEWS that house prices in England have hit record highs – now 0.9 per cent higher than their previous peak in January 2008 – has heightened fears that the government’s Help to Buy subsidised mortgage scheme is fuelling a housing [...]
Five years since Lehman failure heralded crisis September 15, 2013 THIS WEEKEND marked the fifth anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the landmark moment that began the sharp spiral into the financial crisis. The iconic investment bank was declared bankrupt after more than 150 years of business, and its web of complex trades around the world baffled investors and regulators, and sparked panic globally. [...]
Risky loans are back as house market booms September 12, 2013 MORTGAGE lending is up by almost one-third on the year, according to industry data out yesterday, as borrowers gain confidence and the market gathers pace. And the belief that a boom could be underway was backed up again by figures from surveyors group e.surv showing a rise in high loan to value mortgages. In July [...]
Lloyds ordered to give another £240m to help build new TSB September 11, 2013 NEW HIGH street lender TSB was given another boost last night as the Office for Fair Trading (OFT) said its parent Lloyds should give it more financial help to establish a foothold in the market. The decision is believed to remove the final hurdle before the government can go ahead with selling Lloyds Bank, as [...]