Buy-to-let loans surge to 5-year high in fresh boom August 8, 2013 LENDING to buy-to-let landlords has soared to its highest level in nearly five years thanks to strong tenant demand and increased mortgage availability. Lenders advanced 40,000 mortgages worth £5.1bn in the three months to the end of June, up 21 per cent in value on the previous quarter and the highest since 2008, according to [...]
What the other papers say this morning for 8 August 2013 August 7, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES High-speed orbital rail for London A new high-speed “rail bagel” encircling London will become a priority for the capital as its population soars to 10m over the next 20 years, Boris Johnson’s transport adviser has said. Isabel Dedring, deputy mayor for transport at City Hall, said new light-rail and tram services – now [...]
Ratings agency says Help to Buy will push up house prices August 6, 2013 Ratings agency Fitch has said that chancellor George Osborne's mortgage backing scheme Help to Buy will "probably push up house prices" (release). The policy is also unlikely to help with very low housing supply, Fitch says that the "impact on the number of new homes built is less clear". House builders stand to benefit, but [...]
Legal bills drag down Deutsche Bank’s earnings July 30, 2013 GERMAN lender Deutsche Bank saw profits plunge on soaring litigation fees in the second quarter, the institution announced yesterday, while it had to announce further cuts to operations to hit new regulatory capital targets. Net income fell 50 per cent to €335m (£291.5m), despite net revenues rising two per cent to €8.2bn. Corporate banking and securities [...]
Spain’s lenders show recovery in line with healing economy July 25, 2013 THREE Spanish banks reported strong growth in profits in the first half of the year yesterday, as new official data showed joblessness down for the first time in two years. Any economic improvement should help banks, which were hit hard by the recession, as households fell behind on paying their mortgages after the property boom. [...]
Hedge fund in £400m deal for Northern Rock’s bad assets July 24, 2013 NORTHERN Rock’s so-called bad bank has sold £400m of unsecured personal loans, government agency UK Asset Resolution (UKAR) announced yesterday. The better performing loans are going to OneSavings Bank, a lender that is backed by US hedge fund JC Flowers. And the lower quality loans are going to Marlin Financial Group. The combined deals cover [...]
New postcode lending data reveals Britain’s strikingly healthy SME sector July 24, 2013 HOW are businesses in your area doing? Are they building up cash piles, or piling up the debts? Until this week, regional borrowing and saving by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) was a mystery. But thanks to data released from banks for 120 postcode areas, we now know what is happening in each part of [...]
Hooked on help to buy July 23, 2013 THE GOVERNMENT’S commitment to underwrite hundreds of thousands of mortgages is “like a drug” that will artificially inflate house prices, critics have warned. George Osborne yesterday confirmed details of the next stage of his Help to Buy scheme, which will guarantee £130bn worth of mortgages from January 2014. Buyers will need a deposit of just [...]
Pressure rises on banks as they agree to publish local loan data July 23, 2013 BRITAIN’S biggest banks will face even more public pressure and scrutiny as they publish detailed lending figures every quarter starting next year, the Treasury will announce today. The seven largest lenders will make public their business, mortgage and unsecured consumer lending figures, listed by postcode. It is part of a long drive to put pressure [...]
Help to Buy not for second homes, says Osborne July 23, 2013 THE EXTENSION of the Help to Buy Scheme will be closed to second home buyers, the chancellor confirmed today. George Osborne met with lenders and housebuilders at Number 11 to discuss the second stage of the scheme, which enables people to buy new homes with just a five per cent deposit. In addition to the [...]