Housing market holds up well despite Bank of England rate hikes August 8, 2022 The UK property market is still running hot despite the Bank of England’s rapid interest rate hike cycle, according to research by City A.M. House purchases dipped around four per cent in June compared to December when the Bank’s first rate rise landed, dropping to 95,420 from 99,560, according to HMRC data. Governor Andrew Bailey [...]
This week’s rate rise: Brits face immediate jump in interest payments of £1.67bn August 6, 2022 With the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee confirming its base rate will rise by 0.5 per cent to 1.75 per cent, UK households face an immediate increase in interest payments of £1.67bn. UK households are currently paying £24.1 billion annually in interest payments on floating rate debt that are likely to be immediately impacted by [...]
Bank of England’s interest rate rise at noon: Brokers and agents across the City give their two cents August 4, 2022 The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, and the rest of the monetary policy committee will hike interest rates 50 basis points today at 12pm. The main reason? Living costs are up 9.4 per cent over the last year, crimping households and businesses and threatening to plunge the UK economy into recession. Energy [...]
Sunak launches fresh attack on Truss’s tax cut plans warning Brits will face higher mortgage payments August 4, 2022 Ahead of the Tory leadership hopefuls next debate in their quest to become prime minister, Rishi Sunak launched a fresh attack on Liz Truss’s plans for tax cuts. The former chancellor said his Foreign Secretary rival in the Tory leadership race would further drive up interest rates, raising mortgage payments, with her plans. His warning [...]
Nervous homeowners on edge as mortgage rates hit highest level since 2016 with market fading fast August 2, 2022 The latest Bank of England data found last week that net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals decreased to £5.3bn in June, from £8bn in May. Approvals for house purchases, an indicator of future borrowing, decreased to 63,700 in June, from 65,700 in May, which is below the 12-month pre-pandemic average up to February 2020 [...]
Brits struggle to cut back as inflation eats into budgets August 1, 2022 Brits are struggling to find any more areas of spending to cut back on to keep their finances above water, a new survey published today reveals. Over one in 10 households will have nothing else to slash from their budgets when the October energy price cap hike lands, according to a survey by Legal and [...]
Areas near 2012 London Olympics continue to see economic boost after a decade July 29, 2022 A decade after the London Olympics, areas nearby the event are continuing to feel positive economic impacts. Stratford’s E15 district has seen its economic vitality index score grow by nearly a quarter, according to analysis firm Evaluate Locate, some 15 per cent higher than the average rate seen across the rest of the country. The [...]
Hefty £1.5bn trading error legal charge erodes Barclays profits July 28, 2022 A £1.5bn legal charge for a trading error has eroded British bank Barclays’s profits, it announced today. Hefty litigation and regulatory costs to deal with selling too many financial products dealt a major blow to Barclays’s first half earnings. Pre-tax profits dropped by a quarter to £3.7bn in the six months to June, down from [...]
We should question the mandate of the Bank of England – not its independence July 28, 2022 ONE OF the most surprising things to come out of the race to replace Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party has been the space the Bank of England has taken up in the discourse. One unsuccessful candidate argued the government should have more oversight of the Bank’s activities and current frontrunner Liz Truss [...]
Lloyds profits top City’s expectation on higher interest rates July 27, 2022 Higher interest rates have lifted Britain’s largest mortgage lender Lloyds’s profits above the City’s expectations. Net interest income, the difference between what a bank charges borrowers and pays depositors, surged 13 per cent over the first six months of the year to £6.1n, Lloyds said today. That boost hoisted the lender’s pre-tax profits to £3.66bn, [...]