Rates for Help to Buy unveiled October 8, 2013 Mortgage rates for the controversial Help to Buy initiative have been unveiled. RBS announced that it would be offering two and five-year fixed rate contracts at 4.99 per cent and 5.49 per cent respectively. Halifax is offering a two-year fixed rate of 5.19 per cent. The governments scheme will see taxpayers on the hook for [...]
Virgin Money is the fourth lender to join Help to Buy October 7, 2013 VIRGIN Money yesterday became the fourth bank to sign up for the Help to Buy Scheme, which from today will offer state guarantees to homebuyers. It joins RBS, Lloyds’ Halifax brand and challenger bank Aldermore in offering mortgages with deposits worth as little as five per cent of the home’s value. However, new figures on [...]
It could be worse for Carney October 7, 2013 WHILE Bank of England governor Mark Carney faces problems convincing markets to accept his forward guidance scheme, new historical evidence suggests he may be getting off lightly. Newly released diary pages from Margaret Thatcher’s economic adviser Alan Walters claim that Bank governor Gordon Richardson “got a boll***ing” for raising the benchmark interest rate while she [...]
Why discretionary government action can often lead to contradictory policies October 7, 2013 WITH breakfast news littered each morning with groups demanding funds or interventions from politicians, it’s hard not to conclude that appetite for all-acting government is returning – perhaps explaining Ed Miliband’s recent radicalism. But using discretionary government actions to try to solve every negative outcome or demand creates problems, not least in that it leads [...]
CNBC Comment: Fresh concerns for America’s housing market October 7, 2013 BEN Bernanke and the US Federal Reserve have done all that mere mortals can do to repair the housing market post-financial crisis, but despite tarting up the mortgage industry like Cinderella for the ball, buyers are not jumping into the golden carriage to attend the best party ever staged. How can this be, when house [...]
Row escalates as Help to Buy policy launched October 7, 2013 CRITICS of the government’s Help to Buy policy rounded on the scheme yesterday, accusing it of risking another property bubble. Speaking to the BBC Sunday Politics, Jonathan Portes, head of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, said: “The main impact of this scheme will be to push up house prices. Who loses? People [...]
Cameron must now translate his vision into concrete action October 2, 2013 THERE is, of course, a place for soundbites. David Cameron’s speech yesterday had those in spades; some were even pretty good. The Prime Minister spoke up for the profit motive, for enterprise, hard work, improved standards in education and called for a land of opportunity. He defended business from the vicious attacks of Ed Miliband, [...]
Cameron needs growth gazelles to bring life to his land of opportunity October 2, 2013 IN HIS speech to the Conservative Party conference yesterday, David Cameron told the audience that the government’s great project was to make Britain a land of opportunity. He argued that Conservatives should see their mission as building a Britain where humble dreams like owning your own home or starting your own business are within the [...]
Why the clouds surrounding the banking industry may be starting to shift October 2, 2013 YOU COULD forgive me for being a little nervous at the prospect of the party conference season. Bankers have hardly been flavour of the month at these political jamborees in recent years. And at all three parties’ annual get togethers, there have previously been vocal elements unafraid to let rip at our industry – at [...]
US politicians need to grow up before growth is shut down October 1, 2013 IT is time for Americans to decide: do they want to be a social democracy, Eurozone style, with high levels of tax and public spending, or do they want to be a small state society, with low taxes and low levels of public spending? The partial government shutdown and the political warfare between Barack Obama [...]