CITY VIEWS: HAVE YOU NOTICED RENT PRICES RISING? May 19, 2011 DANIEL BERRY | ATARAXIA GROUP “I’ve bought a property but I’m still aware that rent has risen across the capital. It’s increasingly difficult to get a mortgage these days with banks less likely to lend money.” RICHARD BAXTER | HISCOX SYNDICATES “Yes, I think rent prices are increasing, but despite rising prices for property in [...]
WOULD YOU CONSIDER BUYING A PROPERTY TO LET? June 1, 2011 HENRY YORKE | MARKETFORM “No I wouldn’t. It’s always going to be a risk buying rather than renting. Demand will be there but if it’s not high enough it could be very hard to cover the cost of the mortgage.” MICHELLE BOYD | CATLIN “Yes. It is the right time to buy now and the [...]
Consumer price inflation in shock jump May 17, 2011 Consumer price inflation jumped more than forecast in April – fuelled by soaring travel costs around Easter and higher duty on alcohol and tobacco, official data showed. The surprisingly sharp rise reinforces the policy dilemma for the Bank of England, keen to keep interest rates low to support a sluggish economy. The UK Consumer Prices [...]
PROPERTY NEWS July 7, 2011 LONDONERS LOVE NORTH AND SOUTH WEST BOROUGHS North and south west boroughs dominate London’s top ten development hotspots, according to research from CB Richard Ellis. Although Kensington and Chelsea has predictably topped the table of London’s residential favourites, the new research reveals that good development prospects are not limited to central locations. Jennet Siebrits of [...]
Pathetic markets want Bernanke to save them August 22, 2011 IT was heady stuff. The price of gold smashed through the $1,900 level in after-hours trading last night, as investors worried about instability and inflation piled into the precious metal. It was not just gold: equities also rose yesterday. Libya helped, of course, but there was one much more powerful reason why stock markets gained ground: [...]
Pathetic markets want Bernanke to save them August 22, 2011 IT was heady stuff. The price of gold smashed through the $1,900 level in after-hours trading last night, as investors worried about instability and inflation piled into the precious metal. It was not just gold: equities also rose yesterday. Libya helped, of course, but there was one much more powerful reason why stock markets gained ground: [...]
GE Capital in £3bn sell-off May 25, 2011 GE CAPITAL is selling its A$5bn (£3.2bn) Australia and New Zealand mortgages books to Pepper Homeloans as concerns rise over a softening of the Australian housing market and the rising cost of funds. GE Capital, which shed part of its Australian home loans portfolio in 2008 when global conglomerates were restructuring their lending arms, said [...]
Inflation hits the poor and pensioners June 13, 2011 INFLATION is harming the UK’s poor and pensioners more severely than people on higher incomes, research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) revealed today. The figures compound worries about further hikes in household energy prices, which will see those on lower incomes holding back on heating their homes, the report warned. Domestic fuel costs [...]
Dovish Bank holds rates again June 9, 2011 THE Bank of England is increasingly expected to anchor interest rates at their historic low for the duration of 2011, prompting lenders to slash the interest on fixed rate mortgages. Two-year fixed rate loans dipped to their lowest cost since the beginning of the year yesterday as Bank rate was held at 0.5 per cent [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 23, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES CHINESE PREMIER DECLARES VICTORY OVER INFLATION Chinese premier Wen Jiabao has declared victory over domestic inflation, saying that the government has successfully reined in price pressures. “China has made capping price rises the priority of macro-economic regulation and introduced a host of targeted policies. These have worked,” Mr Wen writes in today’s Financial [...]