Interest rates inch down in third month of Funding for Lending November 29, 2012 INTEREST rates on new secured loans edged down in October, the third month since the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) began, data revealed yesterday, but rates on unsecured loans rose. The average interest rate on new secured loans edged down from 3.77 per cent to 3.74 per cent last month, the Bank of England said. [...]
Highest number of first time buyers in London since 2009 November 26, 2012 TEN thousand first-time buyers took out a mortgage in London during the third quarter of the year, according to Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) data out yesterday. The figure was the highest on the CML’s records since the fourth quarter of 2009, yet its research also revealed significant barriers to getting on the property ladder [...]
Why Britain’s housing market has escaped the disasters of the 1990s November 22, 2012 DESPITE economic woes, the British housing market is holding up reasonably well. According to the Office for National Statistics, house prices in September were 1.7 per cent higher than a year earlier in nominal terms, and only 2.5 per cent down on their 2008 peak. Of course, there are qualifications. Higher prices are mainly confined [...]
Banks are pressing the BBA to consider a trade group merger November 20, 2012 SEVERAL UK banks want their trade association to consider merging with other industry groups as part of a radical re-think of the British Bankers’ Association’s (BBA) structure and finances. The BBA used to be able to charge for the use of Libor data, but the association has lost that multi-million pound revenue stream since the [...]
Paragon profits soar as bigger lenders cut back on buy-to-let November 20, 2012 MORTGAGE firm Paragon increased profits by 22.5 per cent in the last 12 months, according to full-year results published yesterday. The specialist buy-to-let and consumer finance group reported record pre-tax profit of £95.5m, up from £80.8m in the previous year. Paragon benefited from bigger lenders cutting back credit, allowing it to expand. The results allowed [...]
Mortgage loans see Funding for Lending boost November 20, 2012 MORTGAGE lending climbed to an 11-month high in October, according to data out yesterday, as the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) entered its third full month of activity. Gross mortgage loans hit £12.9bn in October, data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) showed, up 13.3 per cent on September, and up 4.2 per cent [...]
Official data shows house prices slid into decline in September November 13, 2012 HOUSE PRICES started to slide going into September, ending a six-month run of unbroken expansion, official data revealed yesterday. The UK’s average house price slipped 0.2 per cent between August and September, the data from the Office for National Statistics showed, as even London’s housing market came under pressure. London house prices dived some 1.2 [...]
Persimmon positive on future growth despite tough market November 13, 2012 HOUSEBUILDER Persimmon yesterday warned that the housing market continues to be challenging with mortgage availability the key constraint, but it was optimistic of future growth. In a third quarter update, the group said weekly sales rates were around four per cent higher on the previous year, down slightly from the five per cent reported in [...]
Surveys reveal housing sector activity boost November 12, 2012 THE UK’S ailing housing sector has begun to show signs of life, according to two widely-regarded reports released yesterday and this morning. Interest in residential properties from potential buyers grew at its fastest rate for nearly three years in October, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) revealed this morning. The number of agreed sales [...]
Bill Clinton’s affordable housing ideology caused sub-prime crisis November 11, 2012 MANHATTAN’S US Attorney is wrongly suing Bank of America for mortgage fraud against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the American mortgage giants. The complaint asserts that Bank of America, and its predecessor Countrywide, implemented a loan origination process called “Hustle” – designed to process loans at high speed and without quality check points. Strangely, Fannie [...]