New fears house bubble may undermine recovery September 9, 2013 PLANS to pump up the housing market could undo the UK’s progress towards sustained economic growth, economists warned yesterday after the chancellor welcomed the recovery. George Osborne yesterday said the return to growth vindicated his decisions to stick with the deficit reduction plans, and insisted he is working to improve living standards. Analysts praised the [...]
Osborne has defeated Ed Balls – but UK’s economy still fragile September 9, 2013 WITH the economy finally growing much more quickly, it is no surprise that the chancellor chose yesterday to show off about it. He is certainly right to be celebrating having seen off Labour’s Ed Balls, whose strident opposition to modest cuts and claims they would inflict permanent havoc are no longer credible. Osborne is also [...]
Winners and losers from the great bond market crash of 2013 September 5, 2013 DON’T say you weren’t warned. The great bond market crash is upon us and it has further to go. The cost at which the US, UK and some other governments can borrow is shooting up, with the 10-year gilt and the 10-year Treasury bond both breaching the symbolic 3 per cent yesterday. Mark Carney and [...]
Number of first time buyers up by 45 per cent September 5, 2013 THE NUMBER of first time buyers has swelled as the housing market begins to rebound, with LSL Property Services suggesting a 45 per cent increase in the 12 months to July. There were 26,100 people buying homes for the first time in July, up by over 8,000 through the year, with LSL’s figures suggesting that [...]
UK economy continues to accelerate – but dangers loom large September 3, 2013 ECONOMISTS can be divided into two groups: the overly optimistic, and the overly pessimistic. Even less helpfully, they keep changing category, in tandem with the economic cycle. Few saw the recession coming and were subsequently forced to slash their forecasts; most underestimated the depth and duration of the crisis; and today most are being caught [...]
Why UK recovery could rescue the great British banking sector sell-off September 2, 2013 ROLL up, roll up. Britain’s banks are up for sale. This month and next, the Lloyds privatisation will compete for attention with Barclays’s £5.8bn rights issue. Then there’s the initial public offering triplets: Williams & Glyn, Virgin Money and TSB – all set to hit the market with aplomb. And that’s before RBS has turned [...]
Demand for houses rises as Help to Buy takes flak September 1, 2013 DEMAND for housing continued to rise through August, as warnings over the sustainability of chancellor George Osborne’s Help to Buy scheme continued to roll in. According to Hometrack data out today, demand continued to rise last month, with 1.1 per cent more buyers registering with agents, and a 0.4 per cent hike in prices from [...]
Experts worry funding is not raising lending September 1, 2013 BANK lending to businesses and households edged up in July, raising hopes that the flow of credit is at last improving on the back of initiatives like the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS). However, analysts have warned that the FLS’s impact is negligible so far. “The scheme has succeeded only in ensuring credit flows tread [...]
Wall St The Week Ahead: US awaits wave of new statistics September 1, 2013 WALL Street is braced for a wave of economic reports this week, including the August jobs report, which might prove decisive in finding whether the economy is strong enough for the Federal Reserve to dial back its bond purchases in mid-September. However, The US market is closed today for Labor Day. Anxiety about the Fed [...]
House prices continue to rise on Help to Buy scheme August 30, 2013 House prices are up again in August, by 0.6 per cent. That's in line with analyst predictions, and slightly lower than last month's 0.9 per cent growth (release). Nationwide's figures are provided on a seasonally adjusted basis, while nominal average house prices have actually dropped slightly, down from £170,825 to £170,514. £311 isn't a discount [...]