First-time buyers benefit from falling deposits February 2, 2010 FIRST time buyers have been given a boost after new figures showed that the availability of mortgages is on the rise. The number of deals is up 20 per cent compared to the start of the year, according to financial information service Moneyfacts. The increased has been driven by the thawing of the mortgage market [...]
Sherry and mince pies leave people £52m deeper in debt February 1, 2010 BRITISH consumers embarked on a festive spending splurge in December, running up credit card debts and using their overdrafts. Overall borrowing outstripped the amount being paid back for the first time since June, according to the Bank of England. Credit card use was the main force driving unsecured consumer leverage up by £52m over Christmas [...]
Think-tank: the price of homes to jump 20pc January 31, 2010 HOUSE prices are set to rise by a fifth in the next four years as mortgage availability improves and interest rates stay low, although 2011 is expected to be tough, a survey showed. Average prices should grow more than six per cent in 2010 before slowing next year and then rising again in 2012 and [...]
There’s money to be made in London bricks and mortar January 31, 2010 ONLY a year ago, property prices were plummeting across the country. But news on Friday from mortgage lender Nationwide that UK house prices surged 1.2 per cent this month – the biggest monthly rise since August and a number that beat expectations of a meagre 0.3 per cent gain – was cause for optimism. The [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 28, 2010 Earth Capital Partners The green investment advisory firm, chaired by ex-Man Group boss Stanley Fink, has appointed Bosworth Monck, Gabriel Montana and Richard Smith to its sustainable agriculture and forestry investment team. Monck, pictured, will head up the team and previously held roles as chief executive of Ibis Asset Management, chief operating officer of hedge [...]
FSA outlines measures to protect mortagage borrowers in arrears January 26, 2010 THE Financial Services Authority (FSA) yesterday outlined new rules to help protect mortgage borrowers who get into arrears with their home loan payments. The City watchdog is proposing to stop lenders charging heavy fees for customers who miss payments as well as making action to repossess homes only a last resort. Last year the FSA [...]
Bradford & Bingley liquidation cleared by European Union January 25, 2010 EU REGULATORS yesterday cleared the liquidation of failed British bank Bradford & Bingley after a request from UK authorities, which broke up and partly nationalised the lender nearly two years ago. Hit by a sharp rise in funding costs during the credit crunch, Bradford & Bingley sold its savings business and branch network to Spain’s [...]
We must learn from financial history January 24, 2010 SPEAKING to this newspaper last night, Lord Myners, the City minister, points out that banks’ proprietary trading and investments in hedge funds and private equity were “in no way central” to the problems which led to the global financial crisis. I agree: Barack Obama’s plan to ban banks with retail arms from those activities – [...]
B&B, Rock on cusp of bad bank merger January 24, 2010 PART-nationalised lender Bradford & Bingley is on the brink of receiving the go-ahead from the European Commission for its package of UK state aid, in a move that will pave the way for a merger of its toxic mortgage book with Northern Rock’s bad bank. A marriage of Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock’s bad [...]
Mortgages: Lending to home buyers and businesses picks up January 21, 2010 GROSS mortgage lending in December showed annual growth for the first time since October 2007, the Council for Mortgage Lenders (CML) said yesterday. Total lending reached £13.7bn last month, a three per cent rise on December 2008 and a 14 per cent gain on November. Paul Samter, economist at the CML, said: “Evidence suggests that [...]