UK house prices: Home lending mortgage products reach post-crisis high September 30, 2015 The number of mortgage products on the market for homebuyers to choose from are at their highest level since 2008, as competition among lenders intensifies, new figures show. A total of 15,838 mortgage products were available in August, up 10 per cent on July when there were 14,395 products and the biggest monthly percentage rise [...]
Land Registry: UK house price growth in August at lowest level in two years September 28, 2015 House prices rose by 4.2 per cent year-on-year in August, according to the latest survey from Land Registry. This is the weakest annual pace since November 2013 and compares with an annual growth of 4.7 per cent in July. The average value of all properties across the UK – now £184,682 – was up 0.5 [...]
Demand in US for new homes jumps in July September 24, 2015 New home sales in the US climbed strongly in August, indicating that the housing market is strengthening and that consumers are in a confident mood. Sales rose at an annual rate of 552,000, up 5.7 per cent on July, according to figures released by the commerce department yesterday. The annual rate is now the highest [...]
Mortgage lending shoots up in August hitting a five-year high, BBA figures reveal September 24, 2015 Mortgage lending rose at its fastest rate for five years in august, according to figures published by the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) this morning. Net mortgage lending was £2bn in August, the highest monthly figure since August 2010. Lending has been spurred on by a combination of factors including intense competition between lenders, low Bank of England [...]
The future of the FTSE 100: What next? The quarterly reshuffle has changed the complexion of the leading index September 23, 2015 The Bloodbath continued yesterday as mining shares plummeted further and the FTSE dipped below 6,000 points. Glencore, whose shares fell by 10.63 per cent yesterday, only graduated to the elite index in 2011, but the commodities supercycle has come to a juddering halt, depressing the internationally exposed FTSE. This week also saw one [...]
US home resales cool off in August September 21, 2015 FOLLOWING three consecutive months of gains, the rate of US home resales fell by more than analysts’ forecasts in August, according to data released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) yesterday. The annualised figure was down 4.8 per cent in August from an eight-year high of 5.58m in July. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun [...]
Don’t fear a Fed hike: It’s unlikely to cause chaos September 16, 2015 Slow and steady rate rises mean that tightening policy probably won’t hurt your portfolio THE FOURTH of February 1994 is a day I remember well. Six months into my first job as a macro economist with an institutional fund manager, I got my first experience of how investors and markets react when they are surprised [...]
Mortgage industry says EU rules will offer little benefit and hit lending September 13, 2015 NEW EU rules on mortgages are likely to dampen lending volumes, the industry has warned today. The European Mortgage Credit Directive was likely to depress lending activity, according to 74 per cent of mortgage brokers surveyed by the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA). A similarly high proportion of lenders – 71 per cent – held [...]
The National Living Wage could make eradicating the deficit a three Parliament problem September 10, 2015 Today we have upgraded our forecast for UK GDP growth to 2.6 per cent for this year and next. On the face of it, we should be content with such an outcome, particularly when looking at the economic problems facing the Eurozone and the recent slowdown in China that has reverberated across markets around the [...]
Alternative lenders are a blessing, not a curse, for the retail banking market September 10, 2015 The dominance of the big banks is under threat. A study released this week by the University of Edinburgh Business School, conducted among 200 of the world’s top global experts in credit, has found that three-quarters believe alternative lenders pose a real challenge to banks and traditional lenders. The findings are echoed by a report [...]