House price slump is already upon us August 30, 2011 HOUSE prices remain overvalued in Britain, locking out many aspiring buyers. Of that there is no doubt. But it is also the case that average prices have fallen far more than is usually understood; the single biggest reason why so many younger people cannot enter the market is because they have to put down much [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 30, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES DISPUTE ERUPTS OVER CONTROL OF LIBYA’S $65BN SOVEREIGN FUNG A dispute has erupted over control of Libya’s $65bn (£40bn) sovereign wealth fund, as the national transitional council attempts to maintain stability in the nation. Several NTC members have contested the authority of Mahmoud Badi, who is probing corruption at the Libyan Investment Authority. HONG [...]
BofA shares slide on fresh lawsuit fears August 30, 2011 BANK of America Merrill Lynch saw its shares fall again yesterday over a backlash against its plan to settle $8.5bn (£5.2bn) of mortgage disputes. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which manages failed US banks, and dozens of other investors objected to BofA’s plan to resolve huge claims from investors sold subprime bonds by mortgage lender [...]
Mortgage approvals pick up but consumer loans lose pace August 30, 2011 LENDERS approved the highest number of mortgages since May 2010 last month, but growth in consumer borrowing slowed more severely than expected, according to Bank of England figures. The Bank said 49,239 mortgages were approved in July, rising from an upwardly revised 48,500 in June. Gross lending secured on dwellings stood at £11.3bn last month, [...]
Cheaper long-term mortgages are back August 30, 2011 MORTGAGE rates are plummeting. Interest rates on gilts and swaps – those things that indicate the price of fixed-rate mortgages – have been heading downwards for some time and look to set to stay there. Now lenders seem to have caught on and have started dishing out the goods. Last week, Chelsea Building Society launched [...]
Mortgage approvals up but borrowing weak August 30, 2011 Lenders approved the highest number of mortgages since May 2010 last month, but unsecured consumer borrowing was unexpectedly weak, Bank of England figures showed. Separate figures showed the Bank’s preferred money supply gauge – M4 excluding intermediate other financial corporations – picked up to show growth of 0.6 per cent on the month, after a [...]
BofA sells half of CCB shares August 29, 2011 BANK OF America is selling half of its holdings in China Construction Bank to a group of unidentified investors for $8.3bn (£5.1bn), in a deal which marks the troubled bank’s latest efforts to shed assets and boost capital. The US bank, which owns the highly renowned investment bank Merrill Lynch, declined to name the purchasers [...]
Halo effect: Sage of Omah invests $5bn in buffeted Bank of America August 25, 2011 BILLIONAIRE investor Warren Buffett rode to the rescue of America’s biggest lender yesterday with a $5bn (£3bn) investment in the beleaguered Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA). Buffett’s investment provides a much-needed vote of confidence in BofA, which has seen its share price halve this year as it has fought to convince investors it had [...]
Gloomy American data fuels recovery doubts August 18, 2011 SHOCKINGLY negative economic data rattled markets in New York yesterday, adding to an ultra-bearish day for equities. Claims for US unemployment benefits rose; home sales dropped; inflation picked up; and a Philadelphia factory index collapsed to worse than a two year low. The gauge of factory activity in the Mid-Atlantic region fell off a cliff, [...]
Mortgage lending slows in UK August 18, 2011 The rate of UK house-buying is set to fall again in the next few months, experts warned yesterday, after new data showed the faltering recovery in UK mortgages ground to a halt in July. Bob Pannell, chief economist of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), said Britain had been hit by the effects of the [...]