US existing home sales increase at fastest rate in three years August 21, 2013 More homes than expected were sold in the US in July, according to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) (release). Existing home sales – which are completed transactions including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.39m in July – up from a downwardly revised [...]
US weekly mortgage applications index falls to two year low August 21, 2013 The Mortgage Banker’s Association's index for US mortgage applications fell to a two-year low last week, it was revealed today. Mortgage applications in the week to 16 August fell by 4.6 per cent, following a 4.7 per cent fall the week before. The index hit 450.4 from 471.9 the week before. The weekly purchase index [...]
Look ahead to Federal Reserve minutes for clues of QE taper timing August 21, 2013 Ishaq Siddiqi, market strategist, ETX Capital: Taper blues continue to curb enthusiasm to build risk across equity, commodity and forex markets Wednesday. US Treasury 10-year note still elevated at 2.82% but off two-year highs seen this week. FOMC meeting minutes to steal the show later with many in the market viewing the report as a [...]
Emerging markets suffer on worries over Federal Reserve tapering August 20, 2013 JITTERY investors sent markets into a spiral yesterday on fears the US Federal Reserve could announce plans to slow down the pace of money printing as soon as tonight. India led the emerging markets down as stocks plummeted and the rupee hit record lows. Brazil’s markets dropped fast enough to put fundraising bids on ice, [...]
Persimmon builds on improving sentiment with jump in profits August 20, 2013 AN IMPROVING housing market, a pick-up in mortgage availability and a rise in consumer demand have helped to boost Persimmon’s profits and margins in the first half. Britain’s largest housebuilder by market value yesterday reported a 40 per cent jump in underlying pre-tax profits to £135.3m in the six months to 30 June, compared to [...]
How Britain can take advantage of a global growth in digital industries August 20, 2013 MOST new jobs are not created by established big businesses adding a few people here and there, or by the many smaller firms that are happy to stay small rather than take a risk and expand. Our future prosperity depends on a relatively small number of rapidly growing firms: high growth “gazelles”. So if we [...]
Surging market sees mortgage choice boosted August 19, 2013 THE UPSWING in housing market activity has let to a sharp rise in the number of mortgage products, with variety back up to 2008 levels. There are now over 10,000 mortgage products available in the UK again, the first five-figure result seen for nearly five years, with a third more on offer than there were 12 [...]
Buyers flock to market but supply shortage hits sales August 18, 2013 IN THE year to July, the number of first-time buyers in London rose by an astonishing 109.1 per cent. According to information released today by estate agent Haart, there has been a 27.9 per cent rise in new buyers across the country, and a 60.3 per cent increase in London alone. Despite this surge in [...]
London housing bubble inflates further August 16, 2013 LONDON house prices soared to more than 12-times the average income in June, official figures showed yesterday, as economists warned the boom could prove unsustainable. Government policies to keep interest rates low and help first time buyers onto the property ladder are pumping up a bubble, analysts said. The average price in London shot up [...]
Homebuilder confidence beats expectations August 15, 2013 Confidence among US housebuilders rose unexpectedly in August, according to data from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The NAHB’s housing market index measures home sales and expected home building in the future, and rose to 59 from 56 the month before. Analysts had expected to see a slight fall to 56. Paul Diggle, [...]