Work placements for the unemployed make a lot of sense February 12, 2013 UNEMPLOYMENT remains obscenely high in today’s stagnant Britain, and far too many people – young and old – have been on the dole or on other out of work benefits for far too long. Anything that allows them to break out of their present predicament should be welcome. The government should be able to ask [...]
HSBC to publish regional loan data in new transparency drive February 12, 2013 HSBC will become the first major bank to publish regional lending data on a regular basis, City A.M. has learned, after business ministers called for the industry to become more transparent over the allocation of credit. Despite several state schemes, lending to businesses is falling so ministers are trying to find new ways to put [...]
House prices climb steadily through 2012 February 12, 2013 HOUSE prices chugged upwards steadily during last year, according to official statistics out yesterday. The average UK home was worth 3.3 per cent more at the end of 2012 than at end of 2011, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in its house price index, up from the 2.2 per cent annual growth seen [...]
Regulators fear loan insurance may be at risk February 11, 2013 TOUGHER rules are needed to make sure mortgage insurers are up to the job of protecting banks, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision said yesterday, calling for closer supervision of the insurers. The group called for insurers to build up bigger capital buffers against potential losses as well as extra reserves to keep them safe [...]
House prices edge down in January February 6, 2013 UK house prices inched down 0.2 per cent in January following rises in November and December, according to the latest Halifax house price index. On an annual basis, house values rose by 1.3 per cent, marking the first rise in 27 months, according to the lender. “Market activity has also improved with sales in 2012 [...]
UK house prices tick up in January January 31, 2013 UK house prices edged up in January, boosted by the Funding for Lending scheme, mortgage lender Nationwide said this morning. According to the lender, house values ticked up 0.5 per cent in January, although values were flat year on year, avoiding a decline for the first time since February. The typical UK home is now [...]
New lending scheme fails to boost small businesses January 30, 2013 EFFECTIVE interest rates on new deposits have dived from 3.01 per cent in August, when the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) started to provide banks with cheap funds, to just 2.11 per cent in December, the Bank of England revealed. But the cheaper funds have started to divert cash back into the mortgage market, the [...]
Crest Nicholson plots return to London market January 21, 2013 UK HOUSEBUILDER Crest Nicholson is to return to the stock market nearly six years after it was taken private at the height of the housing market crash. The 50 year-old company, which builds homes mainly in the south of England, said it plans to raise £50m from the listing of new shares to pay down [...]
Timeline: A journey back to the markets January 21, 2013 1963 Crest Homes founded by Bryan Skinner 1968 The housebuilder floats on the London Stock Exchange 1972 Crest buys Camper & Nicholsons, the leading yacht maker, and changes name to Crest NicholsoN 1983 Skinner retires and the company starts to sell-off its non-housing businesses 2005 Stephen Stone appointed chief executive of the company 2007 Crest [...]
Mortgage market is stagnating well below pre-crisis peak level January 21, 2013 MORTGAGE lending barely budged in 2012 despite hopes that the economy could be recovering and government-led efforts to improve credit conditions, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) revealed. Total lending came in at an estimated £143bn for the year as a whole, hardly up on the £141bn recorded in 2011. But the industry body estimates [...]