House prices fall 1.4 per cent in April May 9, 2011 House prices fell 1.4 per cent in April, mortgage lender Halifax said. That confounded analysts’ forecasts for a rise of 0.1 per cent, and left average prices in the three months to April 3.7 per cent lower than a year earlier. The average price of a home stood at £160,395 pounds, according to the figures.
INTERIORS May 5, 2011 Tim Hassell DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL LONDON LETTINGS FIRM DRAKER LETTINGS, SPECIALISING IN BELGRAVIA, CHELSEA, KENSINGTON AND PIMLICO Q. I have received an offer on my property from a tenant who has a dog. Should I allow tenants to have pets? A. Generally pets such as dogs or cats can cause a lot of wear and [...]
Bank lending data shows slump May 4, 2011 Lending to consumers and homebuyers rose less than expected in March, Bank of England data showed, adding to evidence of a sluggish economy from the construction sector and falling house prices. A slew of weaker-than-expected data, kicked off by tepid first-quarter growth figures last week, have caused economists to push back their expectations of a [...]
US sues Deutsche Bank for more than $1bn for mortgage fraud May 3, 2011 GERMAN lender Deutsche Bank is to be sued by the United States for more than $1bn (£605m) over alleged mortgage fraud. The Frankfurt-based bank is accused of “years of reckless lending practices” by the US Justice Department. It is also accused of defrauding the federal government by repeatedly lying to obtain insurance guarantees on mortgage [...]
HSBC axes its Russian retail banking unit April 25, 2011 HSBC has become the latest international lender to pull the plug on its retail operations in Russia, as foreign banks struggle to crack the dominance of the country’s state-backed giants. The London-based bank’s exit follows that of Barclays, which quit its Russian retail banking operation last month. Barclay’s boss Bob Diamond said at the time [...]
Wells Fargo hit as drop in its revenues disappoints April 20, 2011 WELLS Fargo, the fourth-largest US bank, posted a decline in revenue sending its shares down 4.9 per cent as a bank known for outsmarting rivals turned in an average performance. Net earnings rose 50.5 per cent, but gains were driven mainly by setting aside less money to cover bad loans. The bank’s loan book shrank [...]
Gross mortgage lending springs back in March April 20, 2011 MORTGAGE lending bounced back in March from the previous month but is still two per cent lower than a year ago, data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) showed yesterday. Evidence of a seasonal recovery for the UK’s housing sector is emerging, as gross mortgage lending rose 21 per cent from £9.3bn in February [...]
Allied Irish Bank’s losses soar in 2010 April 12, 2011 ALLIED Irish Bank is to slash more than 2,000 jobs following annual results yesterday showing that it lost a staggering €12bn (£10.6bn) pre-tax last year due to ongoing toxic property loans. The loss is a more than four-fold increase on 2009. The bank reported an impairment rate of 28 per cent in its property and [...]
Allied Irish loss soars to €10.4bn April 12, 2011 Allied Irish Banks’ full-year loss more than quadrupled to €10.4bn (£9.2bn) in 2010 and the lender said on Tuesday it would axe over 2,000 jobs as it seeks to re-invent itself as a locally-focussed bank. A former stock market darling with international ambitions, AIB has been effectively nationalised and saved from collapse by emergency ECB [...]
Record drop in mortgage debt at end of 2010 April 4, 2011 BRITONS are no longer withdrawing equity from their houses to fuel consumer spending, official data suggests. Outstanding mortgage debt plummeted by £7bn in the final three months of last year — a record fall in debt — the Bank of England revealed yesterday. The figure sharply contrasts with levels of mortgage debt prior to the [...]