Bank of England steps up to push along Co-op Bank rescue plans, amid worries buyers might be shying away from the struggling lender March 19, 2017 The Bank of England's regulatory team has begun making plans of its own for Co-op Bank, as they become increasingly impatient with the troubled lender's sale. The Co-op Bank, which is currently 20 per cent owned by the wider Co-operative Group, revealed last month it was looking for a buyer for the whole of the business. [...]
Buy-to-let bonds could be hit by falling rents in London and the south east, Moody’s warns March 16, 2017 Falling rents in London and the south east could hurt buy-to-let bonds, ratings agency Moody's has said. Earlier this week it emerged rent increases for tenants across the UK have fallen to their lowest since 2013 as prices in London dropped for the ninth month in a row. Average rents in London declined 4.7 per cent year-on-year while [...]
New stamp duty rules annihilated buy-to-let mortgage borrowing in January March 14, 2017 The amount borrowed by prospective landlords fell 16 per cent in the year to January, as strict new rules on buy-to-let homes took their toll. Figures by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) showed would-be landlords borrowed £800m to buy new homes in January, down from £1.4bn the year before, and £900m in December. The [...]
Opinion: The Budget left out property and the housing crisis – but here’s what Philip Hammond should have done instead March 13, 2017 Apart from a nod towards business rates (the devil will be in the Finance Act detail), the Budget was almost a property-free zone. But Mr Hammond missed out on some much-needed blue-sky thinking, especially if the government is going to fix what it calls the ‘broken’ housing system. Here are some things that Spreadsheet Phil [...]
With RICS finding the housing market subdued, should we brace for falling house prices? March 10, 2017 Kay Neufeld, an economist at the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR), says Yes. With infallible regularity, every year a number of property market analysts predict that “this year prices surely must fall”. Most of the time, they are wrong. Looking at market fundamentals, not much has changed in 2017. The demand for housing [...]
Co-op Bank stems losses to £477m but says legacy problems and lower for longer interest rates led to sale March 9, 2017 Co-operative Bank today said legacy issues and low interest rates had dragged on performance and prompted the lender's owners to put the bank up for sale. Although the bank reduced annual losses of £477m from £611m in 2015, it took a further £60m hit from its merger with Britannia Building Society and was slapped with an £82m charge following [...]
Budget 2017: Here’s how the Budget will affect landlords and the buy-to-let sector March 8, 2017 With the housing crisis in full throes, the last few years have been difficult ones to be a landlord – indeed, many have felt punished by measures such as an end to mortgage tax relief and higher stamp duty on buy-to-let homes. The good news for landlords was that today's Budget didn't include any further [...]
Spring Budget 2017 at-a-glance guide: All of chancellor Philip Hammond’s big announcements you need to know March 8, 2017 Chancellor Philip Hammond has delivered his first (and last, thanks to a shift around in dates) spring Budget speech. But, as not everybody has the time to go back and listen to his words of wisdom in full, here's an at-a-glance breakdown of the biggest announcements you need to know: Economics, public spending and politics [...]
Foxtons results: Another dive in profits thanks to London house prices March 8, 2017 Shares in struggling London estate agent Foxtons took a dive today after it admitted London's cooling market pushed down profits last year. The figures Revenues fell 11 per cent to £132.7m in the year to the end of December, Foxtons said today – while pre-tax profits fell more than half, from £41m in 2015 to £18.8m in 2016. Lettings revenue fell one per [...]
Here’s what the property sector is expecting in this week’s Budget – from stamp duty to landlords to luxury homes March 7, 2017 It’s that time of year again: the days are getting longer, the trees are blossoming, and the one-time-only Spring Budget is rapidly approaching – with homeowners and landlords alike steeling themselves for more punishment from the chancellor. The good news is it looks unlikely there will be much to punish homeowners or lower house prices [...]