FTSE 250 Results Round-up – 27/02 February 27, 2013 Barratt Developments, the residential property development company, released results for the six months to December (results) with profits increased by 113.4 per cent to £46.1m. Chief executive Mark Clare said that: Although we remain cautious as to whether the thaw in lending conditions will be sustained, improvements in mortgage lending and the success of the [...]
The hawk and the dove give their verdict February 21, 2013 Confusing Bank policy is failing to contain persistently high inflation MONETARY policy in the UK is becoming increasingly confusing. When the Bank of England assumed responsibility for setting interest rates in 1997, it was given a clear objective – keeping inflation on target at a low target level (retail price index, excluding mortgage interest payments [...]
HSBC to publish regional loan data in new transparency drive February 12, 2013 HSBC will become the first major bank to publish regional lending data on a regular basis, City A.M. has learned, after business ministers called for the industry to become more transparent over the allocation of credit. Despite several state schemes, lending to businesses is falling so ministers are trying to find new ways to put [...]
US stocks slide as downgrades pull back gains February 4, 2013 US stocks slid yesterday, giving the S&P 500 its worst day since November, as renewed worries about the Eurozone crisis caused the market to pull back from recent gains. Shares of McGraw-Hill shed 13.8 per cent to $50.30, their worst daily percentage decline since the October 1987 market crash, after news the US Justice Department [...]
Mortgage market is stagnating well below pre-crisis peak level January 21, 2013 MORTGAGE lending barely budged in 2012 despite hopes that the economy could be recovering and government-led efforts to improve credit conditions, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) revealed. Total lending came in at an estimated £143bn for the year as a whole, hardly up on the £141bn recorded in 2011. But the industry body estimates [...]
Mortgage lending forecast to rise by nine per cent January 21, 2013 Mortgage lending will hit £156bn this year as lenders face fewer funding pressures, the Council of Mortgage Lenders said today. This marks a jump of nine per cent from last year’s £143bn total, and £141bn the year before that, according to figures released today. Bob Pannell, chief economist at the CML, said today that it [...]
Houses prices set to remain flat during 2013 December 6, 2012 HOUSE prices are set to remain flat in 2013, Halifax bank said yesterday, as weak economic growth and pressure on household finances continues to constrain demand. It also announced that the price of an average UK home rose by one per cent month-on-month to £160,879 in November. “We expect continuing broad stability in house prices nationally [...]
Why Britain’s housing market has escaped the disasters of the 1990s November 22, 2012 DESPITE economic woes, the British housing market is holding up reasonably well. According to the Office for National Statistics, house prices in September were 1.7 per cent higher than a year earlier in nominal terms, and only 2.5 per cent down on their 2008 peak. Of course, there are qualifications. Higher prices are mainly confined [...]
Mortgage loans see Funding for Lending boost November 20, 2012 MORTGAGE lending climbed to an 11-month high in October, according to data out yesterday, as the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) entered its third full month of activity. Gross mortgage loans hit £12.9bn in October, data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) showed, up 13.3 per cent on September, and up 4.2 per cent [...]
Babies born today can expect a long expensive future November 15, 2012 BRITAIN faces many challenges, but none more daunting than our ageing society and the financial challenges it will create for future generations. There were 807,766 live births in the UK in the past year, and the Office of National Statistics (ONS) predicts that one in three will live to be 100 years old. Today there [...]