Credit scheme eats away rates on mortgages February 11, 2013 THE HOUSING market switched up a gear as 2013 began, several sets of data have revealed. Credit costs for a range of mortgage types plunged yet again, according to Bank of England data, suggesting that the government and Bank ’s Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) has driven funds back into the housing market. The average [...]
Retail banks aren’t safe: Politicians fool themselves to think otherwise February 11, 2013 YESTERDAY, RBS’s chief executive Stephen Hester appeared before the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, just days after his bank’s £390m fine for involvement in Libor manipulation. In the face of scandals like these, the political debate about structural banking reform has intensified. Last week, George Osborne committed to forcibly breaking up banks if they do [...]
Mortgage aid schemes help housebuilder Bellway grow February 7, 2013 HOUSEBUILDER Bellway said yesterday demand for its properties is rising, helped by new sales outlets and the government’s NewBuy mortgage scheme for first-time buyers. The firm said it completed sales on 2,597 homes in the six months to the end of January, a rise of 5.8 per cent on last year. The average price has [...]
Markets cheer bumper profits at Hargreaves February 6, 2013 FINANCIAL adviser Hargreaves Lansdown was the FTSE’s biggest blue chip riser yesterday after reporting record revenue and profit for the second half of last year. However it warned a new government initiative to boost lending would compress revenue margins for the outfit over the rest of this year. The company, co-founded by Peter Hargreaves and [...]
UK house prices propped up by lending scheme February 6, 2013 THE HOUSING market has sprung back to life in recent months, Halifax said yesterday, while citing the UK government’s lending initiative. Prices dipped 0.2 per cent in January when compared to December, the company said. Yet a three-monthly measure of house prices – used to iron out month by month fluctuations – rose at its [...]
US mortgage requests jump February 6, 2013 US MORTGAGE applications climbed in the last week of January, despite increasing interest rates, data showed yesterday. Seasonally-adjusted loan application volumes increased 3.4 per cent in the week ending 1 February, the Mortgage Bankers Association said. Unadjusted mortgage applications were some 16 per cent higher that week than during the same seven days a year [...]
House prices edge down in January February 6, 2013 UK house prices inched down 0.2 per cent in January following rises in November and December, according to the latest Halifax house price index. On an annual basis, house values rose by 1.3 per cent, marking the first rise in 27 months, according to the lender. “Market activity has also improved with sales in 2012 [...]
S&P agency faces suit over ratings February 4, 2013 RATINGS giant Standard & Poor’s yesterday said it faced a civil lawsuit from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) over grades it gave prior to the credit crunch. Shares in McGraw-Hill, S&P’s parent company, collapsed 13.8 per cent to hit $50.30, their worst fall since the October 1987 crash. Shares in rival Moody’s also fell [...]
US stocks slide as downgrades pull back gains February 4, 2013 US stocks slid yesterday, giving the S&P 500 its worst day since November, as renewed worries about the Eurozone crisis caused the market to pull back from recent gains. Shares of McGraw-Hill shed 13.8 per cent to $50.30, their worst daily percentage decline since the October 1987 market crash, after news the US Justice Department [...]
The retail funding myth – why the investment banks aren’t to blame February 4, 2013 BANKS used retail deposits to gamble on the investment banking casino!” That is the common perception of the cause behind the 2007-2008 financial crisis. The popular belief is that retail deposits, instead of being used to fund “safe” traditional retail lending like mortgages, were used to fund high-risk derivatives trading on the international capital markets. [...]