City brings forward bets on Bank of England rate hike to this week October 31, 2021 The Bank of England will hike interest rates this week to hose down runaway inflation, according to several grandee City investment banks. JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and Santander have all brought their bets on when the Old Lady will increase borrowing costs to this Thursday’s rate setting meeting. The strengthening bets have been driven [...]
Millions face swelling mortgage bill as lenders brace for rate hike October 29, 2021 Households across the UK face swelling mortgage costs on top of higher tax bills and an increasing cost of living. Several of Britain’s big players in the mortgage market lifted interest rates on their products immediately after the budget this week in anticipation of a looming rate hike from the Bank of England. HSBC, Barclays [...]
Reserve release boosts Lloyds profits October 28, 2021 The release of reserves set aside to deal with an expected wave of pandemic-induced defaults boosted Lloyds’ profits. Profit before tax at Britain’s biggest mortgage lender in the three months to September climbed around £1bn compared to the same period last year. Lloyds’ bottom line was raised by the release of over £80m in reserves [...]
Santander beats forecasts following strong UK performance October 27, 2021 Spanish bank Santander smashed profit expectations for the third quarter driven by robust lending activity in its mortgage unit. The lender pulled in more than £1.4bn in pre-tax profits in the year to September, up nearly 400 per cent. Over the same period last year, profits were just £299m. A red hot UK housing market, [...]
TSB turns down ‘£1bn merger approach’ from Co-Operative Bank October 24, 2021 Co-operative Bank’s £1bn-plus offer for TSB has been rebuffed by its Spanish owners. Sabadell’s board decided to reject the offer at the end of September. The deal would have created a high street lender with 340 branches and over eight million customers, according to Sky News, which first reported the acquisition attempt. This would encompass [...]
House sales surged by more than two-thirds in September October 21, 2021 There were 160,950 residential transactions last month, considerably higher than last year, but the market is expected to slow following the stamp duty holiday stimulus. The provisional seasonally adjusted estimate of UK home transactions in September was up 68.4 per cent on September 2020, according to HMRC figures. There was a 67.5 per cent leap [...]
UK banks’ earnings season is tough one to call October 20, 2021 Wall Street’s biggest banks have reaped the rewards of a booming deal environment, the release of loan loss reserves and swelling deposits. Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and JPMorgan all flexed their muscles as they kicked off US earnings season last week. Now, it is the turn of their British pretenders, starting tomorrow with the [...]
Energy efficiency requirements may slow housing market October 19, 2021 The housing market may be stalled by government plans to require buyers to improve their new homes’ emergency efficiency under their mortgage terms. Property Mark, the trade body that represents letting agents, said the requirements – which have yet to be set out in detail – could initially deter people from moving homes. Mortgage lenders [...]
Energy efficiency requirements may slow housing market – CityAM : CityAM October 19, 2021 The housing market may be stalled by government plans to require buyers to improve their new homes’ emergency efficiency under their mortgage terms. Property Mark, the trade body that represents letting agents, said the requirements – which have yet to be set out in detail – could initially deter people from moving homes. Mortgage lenders [...]
4.5x borrower’s earnings: ‘Risky mortgages’ rising fast, mostly in Wandsworth, Walthamstow and Croydon October 18, 2021 South London is the UK’s hotspot for high-risk mortgages – with more than 6,300 mortgages written at 4.5 times the borrower’s earnings or higher in the last year, according to new research shared with City A.M. this morning. Bank of England guidance says mortgages are considered ‘high-risk’ if they are lent at 4.5 times the [...]