UK wealth inequality is widening as climbing house prices due to quantitative easing drive home ownership down – Standard & Poor’s February 10, 2016 While quantitative easing (QE) may have helped to stabilise the UK economy, it has also led to a wider gulf between rich and poor, according to Standard & Poor's (S&P) – and it has also pushed home ownership even farther out of reach for younger people. QE has exacerbated wealth disparity by boosting financial asset and [...]
London house prices: First-time buyers using help to buy to purchase London properties could face trouble if the bubble bursts February 10, 2016 When markets are in turmoil, the natural inclination is to turn to safer assets – and what, in our collective wisdom, is safer than houses? People always need a place to live, the rationale goes, and they always find a way to pay. But rather than taking a big punt on housing, many hedge funds [...]
Interest rate hike more unlikely as Bank of England’s Sir Jon Cunliffe signals lending restrictions February 9, 2016 The Bank of England is likely to tighten lending restrictions rather than raise interest rates if the growth rate of credit exceeds that of GDP, a Bank official has said. Sir Jon Cunliffe said: “Given the vulnerability that already exists and the powerful drivers in the UK, particularly in the housing market, if credit began again to [...]
UK rental prices: Why landlords aren’t to blame for the housing crisis February 5, 2016 Landlords aren't exactly flavour of the month right now. For many critics of the UK private rental market, it's landlords who seem to be presiding over a broken and unjust system, fleecing tenants out of their hard-earned cash while keeping property prices at the insanely high levels that price them out of home ownership. It’s [...]
As annual house price growth rises to 9.7 per cent, should the Bank of England hike rates to rein in housing costs? February 5, 2016 Andrew Sentance, senior economic adviser to PwC and a former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, says Yes. High house price inflation is one sign of the financial imbalances which are building up in the UK economy on the back of very low interest rates, which also risk fuelling a new wave of [...]
UK house price growth speeds up in January as buy-to-let stamp duty hike looms February 4, 2016 House price growth sped up in the year to January, new data showed this morning – suggesting buy-to-let investors are trying to sneak in those transactions before new stamp duty rules are introduced in April. The annual figure was up from 9.5 per cent in December and nine per cent in November, according to Halifax's house [...]
UK house prices: The UK needs a million more rental homes in the next five years February 2, 2016 The UK needs more than a million new rental homes by 2021, a new report has suggested. The government has a target to build 400,000 new affordable homes for sale over the course of this parliament – but that's ignoring the needs of renters, the research, by Savills, suggests. Sluggish economic recovery, low interest rates – [...]
Cherie Blair’s firm Omnia leads legal battle against government’s buy-to-let tax February 1, 2016 Cherie Blair is set to challenge the government in court over controversial tax relief changes for buy-to-let landlords, arguing that it breaches human rights. Omnia Strategy, the law firm founded by the wife of former Labour Prime Minister Cherie Blair, has sent a letter to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) on behalf of landlords Steve [...]
UK house prices: Mortgage lending rose unexpectedly in December February 1, 2016 The rush to sneak that house purchase in before interest rates rise continues apace: figures published by the Bank of England this morning showed mortgage lending jumped unexpectedly in December, beating analysts' expectations. Mortgage lending for house purchases rose to 70,837 in December, up from 70,424 in November. That was against analysts' expectations of a modest fall, [...]
UK house prices: London Help to Buy is a thing now – but experts warn it could inflate risks (and only help high earners in the first place) February 1, 2016 Callooh callay, London's own Help to Buy scheme has launched this morning, the government's scheme to give first-time buyers a lift onto the housing ladder. The new scheme effectively doubles the help being given out previously, as the government makes loans of up to 40 per cent available for first and second-time buyers on new [...]