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 [...]
Why interest rates predictions have suddenly shifted July 11, 2017 Pressure is building for interest rates to be raised in the UK following a surge in inflation to a five-year high. Why are there fresh calls for rate rise? The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee (MPC) is tasked with keeping inflation at around 2% in the years ahead. But the consumer prices index (CPI) [...]
Are car loans a slow-motion car crash? June 29, 2017 The car industry understandably attracts a lot of attention in the financial press. Although the sector is small compared to giant sectors like financials and technology, cars are culturally relevant in a way that banks are not. The auto industry is involved in areas of exciting technological change, such as electric cars and autonomous driving. [...]
London is now one of the five cities with the lowest house price growth in the UK April 28, 2017 London is now one of the five cities with the lowest house price growth in the UK, and has been overtaken by a slew of regional cities such as Manchester, Birmingham, Portsmouth and Leicester. In March, house price growth in London was just 4.9 per cent, according to Hometrack. Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol, the top [...]
UK and London house prices: The disastrous new tax on buy to let landlords is really a tax on tenants April 6, 2017 Theresa May stood on the steps of Number 10 Downing Street last summer and pledged to help those “just about managing” families and build “a country that works for everyone”. After a divisive referendum campaign and a period of political turmoil, it was a reassuring message. Tackling Britain’s housing crisis was quickly identified as one [...]