BOOST FOR MORTGAGES November 21, 2011 THE GOVERNMENT will today launch a scheme to encourage first-time buyers to take out 95 per cent mortgages even as new figures show the largest monthly drop in house prices since before the financial crisis. Prime Minister David Cameron and his deputy Nick Clegg will today unveil a plan to “help people get on the [...]
Let’s not go back to sub-prime loans November 20, 2011 THERE are two ways one can address a problem caused by faulty policies: by tackling its root causes – or by addressing some of its manifestations, and risk creating more issues thanks to the law of unintended consequences which plagues all government actions. Regrettably, when it comes to house prices, the government is largely going [...]
Branson’s challenge: change banking November 17, 2011 FOR a man who built much of his empire on the back of Boeing jumbo jets, it was fitting to see Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin pay out £747m for Northern Rock. George Osborne was right to sell the Rock – there was no guarantee that holding on would have engineered a better deal for the [...]
MEGA-BRAND ADDS BANKING TO ITS WIDE RANGING INTERESTS November 17, 2011 VIRGIN MONEY With the purchase of 74 Northern Rock branches, the Virgin Money brand has just got a whole lot bigger. It already has a banking licence, having purchased Church House Trust, a tiny bank, in January 2010. It offers credit cards in conjunction with MBNA; mortgages in a joint venture with RBS-backed The One [...]
UK taxpayers swallow a loss on Rock sale November 17, 2011 THE GOVERNMENT accepted a loss of at least £400m yesterday as it offloaded the bailed-out lender Northern Rock for just over half of the cash it originally put into the bank. Virgin Money paid £747m in cash for the Rock, but promised that it would give the Treasury up to £280m more if it manages [...]
Rent rises start slowing but still exceed incomes November 17, 2011 RENTS hit a new high in October, according to LSL Property Services’ monthly buy-to-let index, published today, though the rate of increase fell to its lowest since February. The average rent in England and Wales rose by 0.2 per cent in October to £720 per month, the index showed. The increase compares with a jump [...]
Barratt stays upbeat due to higher prices November 16, 2011 SHARES in Barratt Developments rose seven per cent yesterday after the housebuilder said it was on track to report a “significant” improvement in its full-year profit, boosted by higher reservation rates and selling prices. The UK’s largest housebuilder said the average weekly number of reservations for new homes rose by 25.9 per cent in the [...]
Real earnings rebound in the United States November 16, 2011 FALLING prices and rising wages are boosting US consumers’ spending power, figures released yesterday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed. Average hourly earnings rose 0.2 per cent from September to October, while the consumer price index fell by 0.1 per cent over the same time period, leading to an overall rise in real wages [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 10, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES EXXON SIGNS KURD EXPLORATION CONTRACTS ExxonMobil has become the first of the “supermajor” oil companies to venture into Kurdistan, in a controversial move that will be seen as a huge vote of confidence in the semi-autonomous region of Iraq but could spark a backlash in Baghdad. Exxon, the largest international oil company, signed [...]
Let’s agree we’ve had enough of consensus November 10, 2011 IT’S A curious thing that people welcome the end of one consensus by calling for another. On the New Statesman blog this week, Owen Jones wrote “the old neo-liberal consensus is crumbling” and argued this was the moment for Ed Miliband to establish a “new political consensus”. It seems to be the creed of the [...]