Persimmon is back in black as sales rise March 2, 2010 HOUSEBUILDER Persimmon swung back into profit last year after writing up the value of its landbank by almost £75m. Pre-tax profits came in at £77.8m compared to a £780m loss in 2008 when lower property valuations took their toll as the sector was ravaged by the recession. The UK’s largest housebuilder completed 8,976 homes last [...]
Persimmon back in profit March 2, 2010 HOUSEBUILDER Persimmon swung back into profit last year after writing up the value of its landbank by almost £75m. Pre-tax profits came in at £77.8m compared to a £780m loss in 2008 when lower property valuations took their toll as the sector was ravaged by the recession. The UK’s largest housebuilder completed 8976 homes last [...]
WAITING FOR OBAMA TO CALL THE TOP March 1, 2010 DAVID MORRISON CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT ON 3 March 2009, US President Obama became a stock market guru when he delivered the following to investors: “What you’re now seeing is profit and earnings ratios starting to get to the point where buying stocks is a potentially good deal if you’ve got a long-term perspective on [...]
How to manage your wealth in 2010 March 1, 2010 HASSIUM ASSET MANAGEMENT YOGI DEWAN WE have seen a volatile start ot the new year, but whatever is happening in the markets, some things never change. When choosing what to do with your cash, the first thing to remember is always to focus on long-term wealth preservation. Growth comes a definite second. When managing your [...]
Redrow warns on mortgages February 25, 2010 HOUSEBUILDER Redrow slashed its first-half losses following a pick-up in the number of sales and an increase in prices but warned that a lack of mortgages is still causing problems. Completions climbed 21 per cent to 1,266 for the six months to December with the average selling price of homes rising 3.6 per cent to [...]
Redrow reduces losses but warns over mortgage market February 25, 2010 HOUSEBUILDER Redrow slashed its first-half losses following a pick-up in the number of sales and an increase in prices but warned that a lack of mortgages is still causing problems. Completions climbed 21 per cent to 1,266 for the six months to December with the average selling price of homes rising 3.6 per cent to [...]
Skipton to merge with rival mutual society Chesham February 24, 2010 SKIPTON Building Society is to merge with its smaller rival Chesham, the mutual said yesterday, as it unveiled a bumper rise in annual profits and defended its contentious decision to hike its standard variable mortgage rate (SVR). Skipton said the merger would take its branches from 89 to 92 and gave a guarantee that it [...]
CITY VIEWS: IS IT POSSIBLE FOR HOUSE PRICES TO DIP AGAIN IN 2010? February 23, 2010 MIKE MURTON | TRISYSTEMS “If people sit tight prices will go up because of the lack of available property on the market. It’ll be back to the good old days but not for the good old reasons. Mortgages and mortgage rates are likely to increase as banks pay back their government loans.” SANDRA BOYD | [...]
How a secret rule caused the crisis February 22, 2010 SLOWLY but surely, some economists are beginning to piece together the real causes of the crisis. And as you might imagine, their findings are strikingly at odds with the conventional explanations, which tend to revolve around greed, bankers’ animal spirits and deceit. One brilliant new paper shows how an obscure regulation deliberately encouraged US retail [...]
Mortgage lending at a 10-year low February 18, 2010 GROSS mortgage lending fell to its lowest level in nearly 10 years last month as buyers rushed to complete purchases before the stamp duty holiday ended, the Council for Mortgage Lenders (CML) said yesterday. Total mortgage lending fell 32 per cent to £9.1bn from £13.4bn in December and down 21 per cent on January 2009. [...]