Default risks keep cost of lending high September 19, 2010 AN INCREASE in financial institutions’ perceived riskiness and their need to shore up balance sheets in the wake of the credit crisis has kept the cost of borrowing high despite the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) slashing headline interest rates to historic lows, the Bank of England will say today in its latest quarterly bulletin. Despite [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: IS THE HOUSING MARKET SLIDE SUGGESTING THAT THE ECONOMY IS HEADING BACK INTO RECESSION? September 19, 2010 HOWARD ARCHER | GLOBAL INSIGHT “The more worried that consumers are, the more reluctant they will be to commit to buying a house. It is notable that surveys have recently been showing reduced buyer interest. Given this backdrop, we suspect that house prices could fall by around 10 per cent between now and the end [...]
The Co-op boss who is on a mission to rejuvenate an iconic organisation September 19, 2010 IT IS EASY to see why Co-operative Group chief executive Peter Marks is so excited about the new £180m head office that will open on a 20-acre site in the centre of Manchester in 2012. The current 1960s 13-storey building across the road seems to be made almost entirely of linoleum and plywood. I have [...]
BUYING September 16, 2010 MANAGING PARTNER AT BLACK BRICK Q.Dear Camilla, there has been a fair amount of negative news in the papers relating to property prices. Do you think prices are going to crash again like they did in 2008? A.With so much conflicting data and house price indices, trying to determine what is happening with house prices [...]
Surge in food prices keeps inflation high September 14, 2010 HEADLINE annual inflation held steady at 3.1 per cent in August as sharp rises in the cost of air fares, clothing and food prices offset softer petrol prices, official figures revealed yesterday. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that inflation rose 0.5 per cent between July and August but that the annual rate remained [...]
Ex-Moody’s analyst sues for defamation September 13, 2010 A former Moody’s analyst, who drew attention to what he considered questionable credit ratings for some of the most toxic securities in the US financial crisis, yesterday sued the company, accusing it of campaigning to discredit him. Ilya Eric Kolchinsky, a former managing director at Moody’s Investor Service, oversaw ratings of pools of debt backed [...]
CML: Lending weak in July September 13, 2010 MORTGAGE lending in July continued to be weak in what is often a strong month, according to the latest figures released yesterday from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). The CML said mortgage lenders issued 56,000 new mortgages worth £8.4bn in July, up slightly on June’s figure of 52,000 mortgages at £7.7bn and 53,000 mortgages [...]
Austerity means cheaper mortgages September 9, 2010 SO the Bank of England, entirely unsurprisingly, kept its base rate unchanged yesterday, as advocated by almost all economists. I, together with a tiny number of dissidents, thought rates should go up, to send a signal to the markets that extreme measures were no longer required and that it was time to start readjusting to [...]
Don’t fritter away your cash on gratuitous advice fees September 9, 2010 MANY a City worker spends her hours turning over millions for institutional or super-rich private clients as a matter of course. But when it comes to managing one’s personal wealth, the right strategy can seem far less clear. The perceived security of an independent financial advisor (IFA) can seem appealing, but the fees of the [...]
PROPERTY NEWS September 9, 2010 HAMPTONS RELEASES IPAD APPLICATION Hamptons International has this week become the first UK residental estate agent to launch an app for the iPad. The app allows you to view high-resolution photos and floorplans for properties and to pinpoint the location of properties on a full-screen map. You can also use GPS to search for properties [...]