Average price tag on a home fell by £905 in July as house sales slow July 17, 2023 The average price tag on a home coming to market fell by £905 or 0.2 per cent month-on-month in July, according to new data. Rightmove, which released the figures, said rising mortgage rates are biting, with house sales now lagging behind the more “normal” market seen before the coronavirus pandemic, in 2019. While buyer demand [...]
UK inflation to fall to lowest level since March 2022 but Bank of England still tipped to hike interest rates July 17, 2023 UK inflation is on course to drop to its lowest level in over a year, but lingering underlying price pressures will heap expectation on the Bank of England to keep on hiking interest rates, new figures out this week are tipped to show. The rate of price growth in Britain is expected to have dropped [...]
FTSE finance chiefs: Rates, inflation and growth squeeze C-suite confidence July 17, 2023 Ratcheting up interest rate expectations and intense fears about sticky inflation has hobbled FTSE finance chiefs’ optimism, a closely watched survey out today shows. Confidence among chief financial officers (CFO) of FTSE-listed companies has tumbled over the last quarter, according to consultancy Deloitte. Optimism among money managers at Britain’s largest businesses has eroded to net [...]
Nearly half of tenants struggle to pay rent with millions now facing ‘financial vulnerability’ July 14, 2023 Nearly half of tenants are struggling to pay their rent, with millions now spending more of their disposable income on renting costs than homeowners. As the cost of living crisis has led many landlords to up the costs of rent, some 21 per cent of tenants report spending a higher proportion of their disposable income [...]
Wall Street winning streak continues as US inflation continues to fall way past UK July 14, 2023 Wall Street’s winning streak barrelled into a fourth day following the latest signal that inflation is easing its chokehold on the economy. The S&P 500 rose 0.8 per cent on Thursday for its highest close since April 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1 per cent , and the Nasdaq composite rallied 1.6 per [...]
Jeremy Hunt on track to ‘obliterate’ fiscal rules as OBR warns of much higher debt bill July 13, 2023 Jeremy Hunt is on track to blow out his financial goals due to the Bank of England hiking interest rates aggressively to bring down sticky inflation, according to new forecasts out today from the UK’s spending watchdog. Payments to investors who have purchased UK government debt are poised to rise more than £90bn above what [...]
Mortgage defaults expected to pick up as rising rates hits borrowers, say lenders July 13, 2023 Banks and building societies expect the level of mortgage defaults to increase over the next quarter as the impact of rising interest rates filters through the economy. In the Bank of England’s quarterly credit conditions survey, lenders reported “losses and default rates on secured loans to households increased in Q2, and were expected to increase [...]
Shares tumble for struggling FTSE housebuilders: ‘The scale of challenge cannot be swept under carpet’ July 13, 2023 The share price of London FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 house builders all took a tumble this morning, as fresh reports highlighting the state of the property market dampened investor confidence. Barratt was the hardest to fall this morning, with its shares sliding 4.67 per cent, as the group reported a 49 per cent decline [...]
Barratt Developments warns a ‘deterioration’ in demand for homes due to rate pain has hit hard July 13, 2023 Barratt Developments has warned a “deterioration” in demand for homes has hit housebuilding hard, as a tumultuous mortgage market continues to pile on misery, with the group’s share price down over four per cent when markers opened this morning. The residential building company said net private reservation rate – the number of people putting their [...]
King’s coronation steers UK economy back into red as GDP shrinks 0.1 per cent in May July 13, 2023 Lost work owing to the additional bank holiday to celebrate the King’s coronation has sent UK economic growth into reverse, official figures out today reveal. UK gross domestic product (GDP) contracted 0.1 per cent in May, a much smaller drop than the City expected and down from a 0.2 per cent expansion in April, according [...]