House price rises limited to the south October 16, 2011 HOUSE prices in the south are now over twice as high as elsewhere in England and Wales, according to asking prices collated by Rightmove. Asking prices in southern regions have shot up by 4.7 per cent this month, wedging an even bigger gap between housing costs in the south compared to further north. In London [...]
Ireland eyes mortgage debt restructuring August 22, 2011 The Irish government is likely bring in legislation to restructure mortgage debts for thousands of troubled loanholders as it does not have the resources to fund a significant debt forgiveness programme, a junior minister has said. Ireland’s ruling coalition has promised to examine ways to ease the burden on mortgage holders struggling to cope with [...]
Ireland eyes mortgage debt restructuring August 22, 2011 The Irish government is likely bring in legislation to restructure mortgage debts for thousands of troubled loanholders as it does not have the resources to fund a significant debt forgiveness programme, a junior minister has said. Ireland’s ruling coalition has promised to examine ways to ease the burden on mortgage holders struggling to cope with [...]
Markets slip as Italy debt crisis deepens November 9, 2011 Dramatic political changes at two of the Eurozone’s crisis-ridden economies initially boosted world stocks but markets went into reverse as it became clear that Italy’s debt woes were escalating. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said late yesterday that he would step down after parliament passes budget reforms. Greece, meanwhile, was working create a consensus government [...]
Ireland mulls plan to write off €6bn of mortgages August 21, 2011 IRELAND is considering plans to write off up to €6bn (£5.25bn) worth of mortgage debt in a bid to boost the economy, the country’s housing minister said yesterday. A government committee is to consider a proposal to relieve households left in negative equity by a fall of around 50 per cent in residential property prices, [...]
Economic woes hit Lloyds sale September 8, 2011 THE UK’s growth slowdown could significantly reduce the price that Lloyds can get for the branches it is selling, City A.M. has learned. At least two of the three bidders – the Co-operative Financial Services, NBNK and Sun Capital – are concerned that the state of the economy will make Lloyds’ forecasts about the assets’ [...]
Economic woes hit Lloyds sale September 8, 2011 THE UK’s growth slowdown could significantly reduce the price that Lloyds can get for the branches it is selling, City A.M. has learned. At least two of the three bidders – the Co-operative Financial Services, NBNK and Sun Capital – are concerned that the state of the economy will make Lloyds’ forecasts about the assets’ [...]
David Cameron is to call for moral capitalism: He needs to tackle moral hazard first November 7, 2011 IT IS widely expected that the Prime Minister is going to start calling for a more moral form of capitalism. I have a simple test of whether a politician is trying to debate, or avoid, tough policy questions – I ask myself whether anybody would disagree with the opposite of what the politician is calling [...]
Let’s agree we’ve had enough of consensus November 10, 2011 IT’S A curious thing that people welcome the end of one consensus by calling for another. On the New Statesman blog this week, Owen Jones wrote “the old neo-liberal consensus is crumbling” and argued this was the moment for Ed Miliband to establish a “new political consensus”. It seems to be the creed of the [...]
Cheaper long-term mortgages are back August 30, 2011 MORTGAGE rates are plummeting. Interest rates on gilts and swaps – those things that indicate the price of fixed-rate mortgages – have been heading downwards for some time and look to set to stay there. Now lenders seem to have caught on and have started dishing out the goods. Last week, Chelsea Building Society launched [...]