Freddie Mac posts fourth loss in a row August 7, 2008 Freddie Mac, the US mortgage giant whose near-collapse led US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to introduce emergency rescue measures for banks, announced losses of $821m (£421m) in the second quarter yesterday. It was the company’s fourth successive loss, as increasing numbers of homeowners failed to make loan repayments in the worst US housing slump since [...]
Taxpayers to fund further Rock bail out August 6, 2008 The taxpayers is to provide Northern Rock with £3bn in financial support after falling house prices and problem loans pushed the struggling state owned lender into a £585.4m loss for the six months to June. Northern Rock executive chairman Ron Sandler yesterday announced that the bank would enter into a debt for equity swap with [...]
A year on from Northern Rock, what next for mortgages? August 4, 2008 The question of whether the government can rescue the mortgage market is now being asked by its own advisers, as if the mortgage market can be sorted out in some kind of a vacuum, detached from the rest of the banking sector. I can understand ministers want to stabilise house prices, and that making more [...]
HBOS looks to raise private funds for help August 4, 2008 HBOS has asked investment bank UBS to raise a private investors’ fund to help it offload £400m of investments, as it looks to prop up its balance sheet and cut back on investments in troubled times for the banking sector, it emerged yesterday. The UK’s largest mortgage lender has called on UBS to create a [...]
Banking tragedy fails to lift market players August 4, 2008 You could say the UK banks reporting season is turning into a comedy of errors but perhaps a Shakespearean tragedy would be more apt. It was an awful first act for the sector last week but the drama will reach its crescendo this week as we await downbeat numbers from HSBC, Barclays and RBS. The [...]
More pain for homes August 1, 2008 The clouds gathering over the housing market darkened yesterday when Britain’s biggest building society reported the biggest annual drop in house prices since records began. Mortgage lender Nationwide said property values were now 8.1 per cent less than last year ago, almost a £15,000 decrease. The average cost of a home in Britain is now [...]
Abbey grabs lending lead July 30, 2008 Abbey is poised to topple Halifax as the UK’s top lender of new mortgages after revealing first half results today that showed the Spanish-owned bank now writes one in three new mortgages in Britain. As rival lenders withdrew mortgage deals from the perilous credit market, Abbey’s share of new lending rocketed to 35 per cent [...]
Crosby review fails to please industry July 30, 2008 Property industry experts yesterday sharply criticised the government commissioned Crosby report on the crippled state of the mortgage market for failing to take immediate action to relieve the problem. In his interim report, published yesterday afternoon, Sir James Crosby, the former boss of HBOS, said the mortgage markets would remain jammed another three years, possibly [...]
Lenders hope for boost from Crosby July 28, 2008 The crumbling housing market is holding its breath for the publication of the Crosby review tomorrow into the funding struggles facing British banks, amid speculation that the government is working on a new mortgage debt swap plan to help soften the effects of the credit crunch. Sir James Crosby, the former HBOS chief executive and [...]
London hardest hit as house prices suffer further falls July 28, 2008 Fresh evidence that the housing market is continuing to deteriorate emerged today as an influential survey revealed prices fell for the tenth month in a row – with most of the declines hitting London. House prices fell a further 1.2 per cent in July, compared to a 1 per cent fall from June, according to [...]