Halifax data points to house prices stuck in the doldrums October 4, 2012 HOUSE PRICES slipped in September, according to data released by Halifax yesterday, adding to the evidence suggesting a weak housing market. The average UK house price slipped 0.4 per cent during September to £159,586, the Halifax house price index showed, with analysts putting the decline down to poor fundamentals. “The generally weak economic climate remains [...]
EU reveals new crackdown on biggest banks October 2, 2012 BANKS across Europe will be split by new ringfencing rules, and be forced to hold more capital against mortgages in EU plans outlined yesterday. The new plans are aimed at making banking safer, but lawyers warned they will increase banks’ costs, hitting consumers and the wider economy, as well as causing confusion as they do [...]
Lenders should reflect changes by offering 50-year mortgages October 1, 2012 LENDERS should consider offering mortgages for terms of up to 50 years, according to a report released yesterday by City giant Legal & General. The research compares 35-year-olds today with their equivalent in 1977 and alleges that the financial services industry has failed to keep up with demographic changes. Highlighting increases in intergenerational dependency and [...]
Britain needs more venture capitalism – not a state bank September 25, 2012 HERE is a simple question. What do you think would do more to help the provision of finance for small firms? Vince Cable’s new state bank, which will begin its operations in 18 months’ time, or a radically improved tax system to improve the provision of equity financing and venture capital? In other words, is [...]
We will soon find out whether America’s recovery is real September 23, 2012 FEDERAL Reserve chief Ben Bernanke took aim at the housing market this month, saying it was one missing piston in the economic engine. The Case-Shiller Home Price Index tomorrow will be the economic equivalent of a peek under the US bonnet at the start of the third quarter, with some wondering if the hum of [...]
Crest Nicholson mulls return to stock market September 20, 2012 CREST Nicholson, one of the UK’s biggest housebuilders, is mulling a return to the stock market five years after it was taken over during the housing crisis as it looks to take advantage of returning optimism in the housebuilding sector. A source familiar with the company told City A.M that a flotation was one of [...]
Mortgage lending slips as rents are pushed up to new record September 20, 2012 MORTGAGE lending slipped in August, while tenants were hit by still-climbing rents, two sets of data released yesterday showed. Gross mortgage lending fell one per cent into August, the Council for Mortgage Lenders (CML) revealed yesterday – meaning lending was four per cent lower than August 2011. “The housing numbers are far from strong,” noted [...]
Lloyds first bank to use cheap funds from state programme September 19, 2012 LLOYDS became the first bank to use the government’s new Funding for Lending scheme (FLS) yesterday, drawing down £1bn from the Bank of England. It pledged to lend the money on to businesses and households. However analysts said they do not expect Lloyds’ overall lending to rise, as the bank is still rebalancing in the [...]
Lenders hit by loan maturity September 19, 2012 MILLIONS of interest-only mortgage holders are set to be clobbered as their loans expire over the next eight years, property data firm Xit2 revealed today. Some 1.3m interest-only mortgages will expire by 2020, the data shows, and for over 1m of these – together worth about £116bn – there is no final payment plan, Xit2 [...]
Mortgage lending booms in July as market strengthens September 12, 2012 A JUMP in loans to home movers outweighed a slip in lending to first-time buyers, data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders revealed yesterday, leading to an overall increase in mortgage market lending. There were 30,500 loans made to homeowners moving house in July, up 8.2 per cent from June, together totalling £5.1bn, again up [...]