House prices fall February 1, 2012 House prices fell by 0.2 per cent in January compared with the previous month, according to the Nationwide. The building society, the first to report on January’s prices, valued the average home at £162,228. The annual rate of house price growth slowed to 0.6 per cent in January, from one per cent in December, according [...]
Household finances show signs of life with Londoners’ savings racing ahead February 13, 2012 HUNDREDS of thousands of households are coping better with paying bills and debts than they were late last year, Legal and General’s MoneyMood survey showed yesterday. The number struggling with financial commitments has fallen by 244,000 since the final quarter of 2011, to 1.89m. Of those, 189,000 are in London – down 81,000 on the [...]
FTSE edges up despite retail fears March 23, 2012 The FTSE 100 bounced back in early trading after falls mainly triggered by miners who are fearful of a slowdown of growth in China. However, gains were minimal with the tough climate for UK retailers being laid bare by data from Nationwide today showing that consumer morale is weakening. Blue chip retailer Kingfisher, which owns [...]
FTSE edges up despite retail fears March 23, 2012 The FTSE 100 bounced back in early trading after falls mainly triggered by miners who are fearful of a slowdown of growth in China. However, gains were minimal with the tough climate for UK retailers being laid bare by data from Nationwide today showing that consumer morale is weakening. Blue chip retailer Kingfisher, which owns [...]
Peak fares set to rise in rail savings plan March 8, 2012 THE RAIL network must cut £3.5bn a year from its spending and overhaul ticket prices, transport secretary Justine Greening said yesterday. Setting out the coalition’s plan to shake up Britain’s trains, Greening said above-inflation fare rises on regulated routes will be abolished. But she said she will look into hiking prices on congested peak journeys [...]
Nationwide: flat housing market is going nowhere June 30, 2011 HOUSE prices flatlined in June, with the market seeming to be in the midst of an extended period of stagnation. Prices were unchanged in June after a 0.3 per cent rise in May and a 0.2 per cent drop in April, according to a Nationwide survey released yesterday. “The property market has moved sideways over [...]
Mining gains offset retail weakness March 29, 2012 The FTSE was broadly flat in early trading with a bounce back in the mining sector helping to offset weaknesses among blue chip retailers like Marks & Spencer. Official figures which yesterday saw the UK’s GDP figures revised down have hit investor sentiment while energy stocks are coming under pressure from volatile oil prices. But [...]
Dublin houses down 64 percent January 3, 2012 House prices in the Irish capital fell 16.9 per cent in the last year, according to research out yesterday from property and mortgage advisory firm the Sherry FitzGerald Group. Since their peak in 2006, the average house price in Dublin has fallen 64.2 per cent in real terms, while the average price nationwide has fallen [...]
Greeks strike in face of austerity cuts February 10, 2012 Greek workers are once again striking against their state’s austerity measures – just hours after eurozone finance ministers said Athens needed to make more cuts to convince them to release a financial bailout. Before they release more aid, Greece’s financial backers have demanded parliamentary ratification of the new austerity package this weekend, the identification of [...]
Irish bankers prepare Royal Exchange sale February 20, 2012 THE ROYAL EXCHANGE, one of the City of London’s best-known buildings, is to be sold as part of the winding-down of the wealth management division of the former Anglo Irish Bank. The Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), formed last year by the merger of troubled Anglo and Irish Nationwide, has agreed to sell the real [...]