Brexit lurks behind the Bank of England’s sudden hawkishness February 12, 2018 Has the Bank of England developed a bit of a personality disorder? Looking at the mixed signals given by the Bank in the last six months, you might be forgiven for thinking so. The Bank’s Governor Mark Carney has a habit of keeping the markets guessing – something City analysts suspect he enjoys – and [...]
Winter chill on house prices after second consecutive fall says Halifax February 7, 2018 House prices in the UK fell for the second successive month at the start of the year, pulling annual growth to its lowest level since June last year. The 0.6 per cent fall in house prices reported by Halifax came as a surprise to analysts, who had expected the index to edge up in January. [...]
It’s pensioners, not first-time buyers, who should get stamp duty relief January 18, 2018 Stamp duty is in the news again. Earlier this week, Labour’s shadow housing minister, John Healey, called on the government to extend the tax break introduced in the November Budget to first-time buyers who use the shared ownership scheme. Policies that are seen to help struggling first-time buyers always go down a treat from [...]
The first fall in inflation in six months is promising, but there’s a long way to go yet January 17, 2018 Has UK inflation peaked? That was the question everyone was tentatively asking on Tuesday. The truth is no-one knows, not yet anyway. Official figures at least show that Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) fell by 0.1 per cent in December to 3 per cent. That is clearly welcome but it doesn’t suggest we’re out of the [...]
Spot the symptoms, stay sane, and run from the bitcoin bubble December 13, 2017 At the time of writing, the price of bitcoin is almost $17,000. In April, it was $1,000, which means that if you had bought then, you would have made more than seventeen times your investment. Not bad. But, if you’d got in a little earlier, say in January 2016, you would have made over forty [...]
UK house prices just hit their highest on record (again) November 7, 2017 UK house prices hit their highest on record in October, having grown at their fastest since the beginning of the year. The average UK house price rose to £225,826 in October, up 2.3 per cent in the three months between August and October, their fastest rise since January this year. Year-on-year growth hit 4.5 per [...]
HSBC and Barclays throw weight behind green finance projects November 6, 2017 HSBC and Barclays added their weight to the growing area of green finance today, with separate commitments to environmentally friendly schemes. HSBC today said it will provide $100bn in sustainable financing and investment by 2025, with support for “clean energy and lower-carbon technologies”. Unveiling a series of measures on the environment, HSBC announced it will [...]
Bank of England raises interest rates for the first time in a decade November 2, 2017 The Bank of England’s top economists today voted to raise its key interest rate, bringing to an end an extraordinary 10-year period without a hike despite internal dissent about its decision. Seven members of the rate-setting monetary policy committee (MPC), including governor Mark Carney, voted in favour of a 0.25 percentage point hike in bank [...]
Nationwide UK house price index: Annual growth rate picked up in October November 1, 2017 The annual rate of house price growth rose to 2.5 per cent in October, from 2.3 per cent in September, according to the latest Nationwide house price index. Prices went up 0.2 per cent on a monthly basis, down slightly from 0.4 per cent growth in the previous month. Nationwide’s chief economist Robert Gardner said: [...]
London house prices have fallen for the first time in eight years says Nationwide’s house price index for September September 29, 2017 Year-on-year house prices in the capital have dropped for the first time in eight years, according to Nationwide’s latest house price index. Prices in the capital dropped to an average price of £471,761 this month, down 0.6 per cent compared with September last year. That makes London the weakest performing region for the first time [...]