BUYING August 19, 2010 MANAGING PARTNER AT BLACK BRICK Q.Dear Camilla. I’m thinking about buying a property in London for investment but I keep seeing various contradicting indices and I am very confused. What is happening? A.There are so many indices and they often conflict – for example, the Halifax and Nationwide indices moved in opposite directions in July. [...]
FTSE falls as economic woes hit banks and commoditiesTHE LONDON REPORT August 18, 2010 Banks and commodity stocks pushed Britain’s top shares lower yesterday, with worries over the global economic recovery knocking sentiment and weak volumes exacerbating stock moves as the FTSE 100 remained range-bound. The FTSE 100 closed down 47.68 points, or 0.9 per cent, at 5,302.87 after ending 1.4 per cent higher on Tuesday at 5,350.55 for [...]
Surge in food prices keeps inflation high August 17, 2010 RISING food prices offset a drop in the cost of fuel in July but annual inflation remained stubbornly above 3 per cent in July. The strong inflation figures forced Bank of England governor Mervyn King to pen his second letter of explanation to chancellor George Osborne and to admit that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) [...]
FOREX HAS A NEW ORDER August 17, 2010 IT WAS not so very long ago that the dollar was firmly in favour among currency traders seeking a safe haven from UK political upheaval and the sovereign debt turmoil in the Eurozone. But now the greenback is struggling too thanks to a raft of poor economic data, fears of a double-dip in the American [...]
Inflation falls to 3.1pc August 17, 2010 INFLATION has fallen from 3.2 per cent in June to 3.1 per cent last month, official figures have shown. But the CPI rate is still above the government’s target of two per cent and so Bank of England governor Mervyn King will once again be obliged to write a letter of explanation. Meanwhile the figure [...]
Reposessions are still falling August 12, 2010 THE Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has revised down its forecast for the number of borrowers who either fall behind in mortgage payments or lose their homes through repossession this year. The CML now expects 39,000 repossessions and 175,000 mortgages to end the year in arrears of 2.5 per cent or more, down from its [...]
Mortgage lending jumps in June but volumes stay below pre-crisis levels August 11, 2010 HOME loan volumes picked up in June but still languished at about a third of their pre-financial crisis levels, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). Banks and building societies extended £13.1bn of credit to housebuyers in June, an increase of 15 per cent on May’s figure and seven per cent up on the [...]
UK stocks sag after gloomy news from Bank of England August 11, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index fell sharply to a three-week low closing yesterday, with banks and commodity stocks leading a broad-based sell-off after US and UK central banks voiced concerns over the economic recovery. Technology firm Smiths Group, however, topped the list of a handful of gainers, up 3.9 per cent as traders cited break-up hopes [...]
Fed in rescue bid on fears over growth August 10, 2010 THE US Federal Reserve confirmed fears of a marked slowdown in the world’s biggest economy yesterday as it made its first step towards extending its emergency monetary policy regime in a significant policy shift. The central bank said it would reinvest proceeds from its investments in mortgage-backed securities to buy longer-term government debt in a [...]
NAB happy to maintain status quo in the UK August 10, 2010 National Australia Bank (NAB) yesterday said it was happy with the status quo in the UK and any acquisitions it made there would have to meet its financial criteria. NAB chief executive Cameron Clyne also told analysts there were no immediate plans to change the mortgage rate despite rising funding costs. NAB’s UK operations – [...]