Mortage lending down 14 per cent in April May 20, 2011 Mortgage lending fell 14 per cent in April compared with the previous month, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). The £9.8bn lent was five per cent down on the same month last year. Seasonal factors, including an extra bank holiday, were blamed for the decline. The CML said Easter falling in April had [...]
Irish Life growth hit by rise in mortgage arrears May 18, 2011 IRISH banking and insurance group Irish Life said a rising number of its mortgage holders were in arrears, pulling its performance down despite steady growth in its saving and investment products yesterday. Its Permanent TSB mortgage bank, which is loss-making and was found to need an extra €4bn (£3.5bn) of capital in recent stress tests, [...]
House prices rise 1.2pc in March May 17, 2011 House prices rose by 1.2 per cent on a seasonally-adjusted basis in March, taking the year-on-year rate of growth to 0.9 per cent, government figures showed. The Department for Communities and Local Government said the average price of a home stood at 205,565 pounds in March. The DCLG data is based on a sample of [...]
Fewer UK mortgages in arrears May 12, 2011 The number of mortgages in arrears has continued to fall this year, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) revealed yesterday. At the end of March 166,000 mortgages showed arrears of more than 2.5 per cent of the outstanding balance, down from 170,000 at the end of last year. While there has been a slight upturn [...]
House prices slide despite more activity May 9, 2011 HOUSE prices continued their decline last month despite increasing signs of the market stabilising, two separate surveys have shown. Prices were down 1.4 per cent in April, the Halifax announced yesterday, while this morning the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) revealed that 29 per cent of surveyors are still reporting falling prices, compared to [...]
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 [...]