UK housing market surges in busiest month in 10 years August 17, 2020 Brits have turned to home-buying to fill the summer holiday void post-lockdown as the UK housing market’s “mini-boom” accelerated in August. Rightmove’s latest house price index released today reveals the highest number of monthly sales in more than 10 years in August. It is up by 20 per cent on the previous high, and with [...]
Metro Bank agrees £12m deal for Ratesetter in lending push August 3, 2020 Metro Bank will snap up peer-to-peer lender Ratesetter after agreeing a £12m sale it hopes will push it into more profitable banking avenues. The challenger bank will pay an initial £2.5m, it said today, and another £9.5m over the three years following the completion of the deal, based on performance criteria. Daniel Frumkin, Metro Bank’s [...]
Bank customers may need longer-term crisis support, says FCA July 31, 2020 The City watchdog has said Britain’s lenders may need to consider introducing “sustainable forbearance” for customers who will struggle with loan repayments after coronavirus relief measures end in the autumn. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a “call for input” to determine what measures may be needed once repayment holidays introduced during the pandemic [...]
Lloyds swings to loss as it sets aside extra £2.4bn for bad loans July 30, 2020 UK banking giant Lloyds swung to a £600m pre-tax loss for the first half of the year today as coronavirus cost it an extra £2.4bn. The provision for loan losses was bigger than the £1.5bn analysts had anticipated. It took total provisions for the first half of the year to £3.8bn. Read more: Barclays braces [...]
Virgin Money reports dip in customer demand due to coronavirus July 28, 2020 Virgin Money has reported a dip in customer lending in the third quarter as demand for mortgages and personal loans fell due to the pandemic. However, the lender said it had not yet seen a spike in credit losses linked to coronavirus. The figures Virgin Money reported a 2.7 per cent drop in personal lending [...]
Mortgage searches skyrocket following Sunak’s stamp duty holiday announcement July 25, 2020 Mortgage searches have jumped 29 per cent over the last two weeks, after chancellor Rishi Sunak’s announcement of a reduction in stamp duty sparked potential homebuyers into action. The chancellor earlier this month unveiled an immediate stamp duty holiday for homes sold for up to £500,000 in England and Northern Ireland until 31 March next [...]
Stamp duty holiday: Top London areas for potential property tax savings July 8, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak is today expected to announce a stamp duty holiday in a bid to reinvigorate the UK housing market following the coronavirus lockdown. The announcement is expected to raise the stamp duty threshold from £125,000 to £500,000, according to reports. Experts have said that buyers searching for properties in more expensive areas could [...]
Lloyds chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio to step down next year July 6, 2020 Lloyds chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio will step down in 2021 after a decade at the helm, the bank said this morning. The lender also announced the appointment of industry veteran Robin Budenberg as its new chairman, who will take over from Lord Norman Blackwell next year. Read more: FCA puts UK banks on notice on [...]
UK mortgage approvals plunge to record low as coronavirus hammers economy June 29, 2020 UK mortgage approvals fell further to hit a record low in May as the coronavirus pandemic continued to hit the housing market, according to the latest Bank of England figures. Some 9,300 new loans for houses were approved last month, down from April’s 15,900. Economists polled by Bloomberg had been expecting 25,000 approvals for May. [...]
DEBATE: Will a fall in house prices be good for young people? June 26, 2020 Will a fall in house prices be good for young people? Matthew Addison, chief executive at StepLadder, says YES. Given that we still aren’t building enough homes to satisfy demand as a nation, it is incredibly important for this finite supply to be allocated in a way that works equitably. This hasn’t been the experience [...]