Budget 2016: A tax on house purchase is a tax on house building too – which will not help the UK’s housing crisis March 16, 2016 A tax on house purchase is a tax on house building too and could perversely worsen the housing crisis in the long term. Raising taxes is a tried and tested way to discourage activity that the government thinks is bad for us and right now it seems the target is buy to let. Unfortunately the [...]
What George Osborne’s Budget means for you: Five case studies including an entrepreneur, an apprentice and a chief exec March 16, 2016 Accountants from BDO ran the numbers for City A.M. to see the effect George Osborne's 2016 Budget will have on people with a variety of different incomes, living situations and responsibilities. THE BUSINESS WOMAN Catherine Gannon, chief executive at Gannons Commercial Law Gannons Commercial Law continues to perform well as profits and earnings increase on last year. [...]
Buy to let tax changes: Why a landlord exodus remains unlikely March 16, 2016 The growth of buy-to-let has been among the defining characteristics of the post-crisis mortgage market. Council of Mortgage Lenders figures released this month show that lending to landlords accounted for 17 per cent of all new loans in the third quarter of 2015. With rising property prices, meanwhile, property consultants Savills estimated last year that [...]
Berenberg warns investors should be underweight Britain’s big banks, including Barclays, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) March 15, 2016 Analysts at Berenberg have said investors should be wary of Britain’s big banks, amid expectations that mortgage profitability will fall below 10 per cent. “We think interest rates will remain at low levels and, as a result, expect mortgage margins to fall by six basis points per year,” Berenberg’s banks team said in a note [...]
Proposed Basel changes could distort UK mortgage market, warns Council of Mortgage Lenders March 14, 2016 Proposed reforms to financial regulations would have “negative and unintended consequences” for the UK mortgage market, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has warned today. The CML said proposed reforms to Basel rules, a set of global rules adhered to by countries voluntarily, were "unduly harsh" on prime residential and buy to let mortgages. The reforms [...]
Remortgaging activity: Homeowners slow to switch from standard variable rate mortgages to fixed rate mortgages March 12, 2016 Homeowners are failing to lock into low repayment rates by switching from a standard variable rate mortgage to a fixed rate mortgage, research by high street bank Halifax has shown. Although housing transactions in 2014 exceeded the one million mark for a second consecutive year, and fixed rates continue to fall below the standard variable rate, remortgaging activity remains subdued, it [...]
EU referendum: Housebuilders, mid-caps, banks and retail will be the sectors worst-hit by a Brexit, says UBS March 11, 2016 The Brexit debate continues apace – and now UBS Wealth Management has waded in on the argument, pointing out some of the sectors most at risk if the UK votes in favour of leaving the European Union. The good news is fears around Brexit have already been priced into the market, said Caroline Simmons, deputy [...]
Buy-to-let tax changes: A perfect storm for landlords and tenants March 11, 2016 Upcoming tax changes have ignited debate about the role private landlords should play in meeting the UK’s housing needs. Focus has fallen on buy-to-let but, as the Institute for Fiscal Studies, among others, has noted, landlords are taxed much less favourably than home owners. Following last year’s Autumn Statement, which outlined plans for an additional [...]
Aldermore chief executive Phillip Monks says the challenger bank has “plenty of headroom” to grow after posting 88 per cent surge in profits March 10, 2016 Shares in Aldermore Group are down by more than one per cent this afternoon, after spiking earlier today on the news that the British challenger bank had reported a better-than-expected 88 per cent jump in profit for 2015. The bank's chief executive, Phillip Monks, told City A.M. that while the share price moves were "perhaps a little [...]
Aldermore’s share price rises after UK challenger bank delivers record profit as it increases lending March 10, 2016 Aldermore reported better than expected growth in full-year pretax profit as the challenger bank issued more loans and mortgages to SMEs. The bank's share price jumped over 3.5 per cent as markets opened on the news. The figures Aldermore reported profit before tax up by 88 per cent year-on-year to £95m for 2015. The bank delivered [...]