House builder Crest Nicholson reports mixed fortunes with completions up but post-tax profits dented by uncertainty January 17, 2023 British housebuilding firm Crest Nicholson reported an uptick in revenue and completed homes last year despite continued disruption and pressure to supply chains. The firm’s revenue up until October 2022 was up 16 per cent to £913.6m, up from £786m in the pandemic-affected 2021 report. Home completions also increased by 13.6 per cent to 2,734, [...]
Explainer-in-brief: January, another month when you can’t afford to buy a home January 16, 2023 Over the weekend, I received an innocuous looking email. “Dear Elena,” wrote a reader, ” I hope you don’t mind me emailing you. Is there any hope for young people buying their own house?” While I can’t possibly comment on his own individual circumstances, today was not good news: house prices have jumped up again [...]
House prices back on upward march to race past £667,000 in London January 16, 2023 House prices are back on an upward march, sending the cost of the average home in London to over £667,000, a new survey out today shows. Search site Rightmove said today house prices in the capital jumped 0.2 per cent over the last month and 6.1 per cent annually. On a nationwide basis, prices climbed [...]
British retailers cheer Christmas sales, but City analysts warn of coming storm January 15, 2023 Britain’s largest retailers kicked off 2023 strongly last week, posting better than expected Christmas sales, signalling the consumer is holding up a bit better than feared. Tesco’s like for like sales were 7.9 per cent higher, while Marks and Spencer pocketed a 7.2 per cent rise. Sainsbury’s also posted record Christmas sales. Those bumper numbers, [...]
What could a recession mean for the pound in 2023? City analysts have their say January 15, 2023 The pound is on course for another tough year with the UK likely experiencing the worst recession of all major economies, analysts have told City A.M. The risk of sterling tumbling to another record low against the US dollar, as it did last year, is slim, analysts think, mainly due to the low likelihood of [...]
Why UK banks are not going to cause another financial crisis January 15, 2023 UK banks are better prepared to withstand a jump in home loan defaults, cooling fears of a repeat of the financial crisis, analysts have told City A.M. Strict affordability rules implemented after the 2008 banking crash have strengthened lenders’ loan books, meaning they are well insulated from a potential rise in defaults caused by last [...]
First-time buyers spend 39 per cent of take home pay on a mortgage – Nationwide January 13, 2023 Homes for first-time buyers are at their most expensive as a proportion of take-home pay since the financial crisis. The proportion of monthly income that first-time buyers are having to put towards mortgage repayments is returning to levels last seen in the 2008 financial crisis, according to Nationwide. Nationwide, the UK’s third largest lender has [...]
Analysis: A growing economy and falling energy bills, the stars could be aligning January 13, 2023 Britain might narrowly avoid a technical recession, energy prices could be falling , and mortgage borrowing costs might not be as crippling. Sascha O’Sullivan looks at the good news.
Londoners face unprecedented rent increases in 2023 as mortgage rates for landlords skyrocket January 13, 2023 Tenants are struggling this January. Along with the rest of the nation, they’re dealing with a cost of living crisis, driven by rising energy prices, and adding to this pressure is the rising price of rent. Moreover, landlords face unprecedented increases in mortgage rates, forcing them to up the rent. Tenants in London have endured [...]
Taylor Wimpey: Average selling price hits £350,000 as firm shrugs off mini budget housing chaos January 13, 2023 The average selling price for private completions increased six per cent to more than £350,000 according to one of the UK’s largest construction companies. Taylor Wimpey released its 2022 overview today, saying total completions were a shade under last year’s at 13,154, compared to 14, 302. It said of the completions, more than a fifth [...]