Repossessions forecast to rise February 9, 2012 HOUSE PRICES are set to fall in 2012 as unemployment rises and household income stays depressed, according to yesterday’s forecasts from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) and today’s LSL house price index and e.surv mortgage monitor. The weak economic outlook is also set to push up repossessions as more borrowers fail to keep up [...]
End of tax break prompts house price jump April 4, 2012 HOUSE prices sprang upwards last month as first time buyers rushed to beat the expiry of a temporary break on stamp duty, yet the market as a whole remains sluggish. Prices jumped by 2.2 per cent in March, the Halifax reported yesterday, bouncing back from February’s 0.4 per cent monthly decline. Yet the average cost [...]
Wall Street should hold off on the champagne for now April 16, 2012 ON first glance, it’s rather hard to find the good news among all the negative numbers in Citigroup’s latest batch of figures. Headline profits and revenues fell slightly and yet the bank’s share price rose 1.8 per cent yesterday, adding around $1.8bn to its value. The rise is a sign that markets think that normality [...]
The bank branch of the future will do less but better April 22, 2012 RETAIL banks face a daunting challenge: providing profitable personal banking in a climate of cost cutting and digital disruption. A popular strategy is to focus branch staff on selling high value products and services, such as mortgages, while nudging other customers into self-service, online or mobile channels. In theory, this makes branches more profitable with [...]
Moving costs hit a quarter of average income January 26, 2012 ESTATE agents’ fees, mortgage charges and stamp duty have all contributed to a massive jump in the cost of moving house, according to research out today from Lloyds TSB. Since 2001 the average cost of moving has risen by 69 per cent from £5,290 to £8,922, for someone who already owns a home. Agency fees [...]
Latest gadgets and fashionable booze added to ONS list March 14, 2012 THE PRICE of iPads, cans of stout, and packets of foam sweet will all be included in inflation calculations from now on, as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) changes its calculations to reflect evolving spending habits. Every year the official statistics agency updates its list of 18,000 goods and services in an attempt to [...]
CITY A.M. | SHADOW MPC April 4, 2012 ALLISTER HEATH | CITY A.M. “Hold rates. Strong survey data shows the economy has been recovering through the first quarter, firmly eliminating any need for more easing. Indeed, markets are already providing some tightening of their own, putting up mortgage rates and borrowing costs.” SIMON WARD | HENDERSON “Hold rates and suspend gilt purchases. The [...]
Britain’s long-term outlook is suffering as the coalition pursues medium-term gain March 7, 2012 THE government is to be applauded for its attempts to get the medium-term public finances under control. However, its enthusiasm to do so is leading, increasingly often, to decisions that will mortgage the future to the benefit of the coalition. The government seems to have a time horizon of precisely five years. Beyond that, debt [...]
UK and Europe on a collision course March 13, 2012 IT is the elephant in the room, the issue nobody wants to talk about. But the growing, irreconcilable gulf between what UK voters and their continental counterparts want from European integration will eventually become as important a question as the fallout from the economic crisis. The scale of the challenge is laid bare by YouGov-Cambridge [...]
UK and Europe on a collision course March 12, 2012 IT is the elephant in the room, the issue nobody wants to talk about. But the growing, irreconcilable gulf between what UK voters and their continental counterparts want from European integration will eventually become as important a question as the fallout from the economic crisis. The scale of the challenge is laid bare by YouGov-Cambridge [...]