Nationwide says house price slump unlikely November 23, 2010 Nationwide Building Society, Britain’s second-biggest mortgage lender, reported a 26 per cent jump in first-half profit, and said it did not expect big house price falls despite signs of property market weakness. Nationwide, which publishes a closely watched monthly house price survey, said major price falls were unlikely in 2011 because continued low interest rates [...]
Freddie Mac loses $4.1bn November 3, 2010 MORTGAGE buyer Freddie Mac yesterday posted a narrower loss of $4.1bn (£2.5bn) in the July to September quarter. The government-controlled mortgage buyer also asked for an additional $100m in federal aid, substantially less than the $1.8bn it sought in the second quarter. Freddie Mac’s third-quarter loss attributable to common stockholders works out to $1.25 a [...]
Mitigate your currency risk December 9, 2010 THE ONGOING Eurozone sovereign debt crisis might have been disastrous for most Europeans, but for some Brits, it must have provided welcome relief. Thanks to European worries, the pound has rallied by nearly 6 per cent against the euro in little more than a month. For many pensioners living abroad on sterling denominated pensions, or holiday [...]
Mitigate your currency risk December 9, 2010 THE ONGOING Eurozone sovereign debt crisis might have been disastrous for most Europeans, but for some Brits, it must have provided welcome relief. Thanks to European worries, the pound has rallied by nearly 6 per cent against the euro in little more than a month. For many pensioners living abroad on sterling denominated pensions, or holiday [...]
What the other papers say this morning February 8, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BRUSSELS URGED TO END BIG FOUR DOMINANCE Four international accountancy networks have taken the unusual step of jointly calling for changes to the audit market in Europe and arguing that regulatory intervention is needed to dilute the power of the profession’s biggest operators. BDO International, RSM International and Grant Thornton International, the world’s [...]
Limassol Marina is a slice of nautical heaven January 20, 2011 EVER wanted to take your superyacht through Cyprus en route to Africa or the Middle East but been discouraged because there was nowhere to berth it? Soon that will no longer be a problem, thanks to the completion of the new £350m Limassol Marina, a luxury collection of waterside villas, residences and moorings that can [...]
Home-builders ramp up incentives to lure hard-up first-time buyers December 2, 2010 HOME-BUILDERS have always offered buyers deals, but some are more valuable than others. Take, for example, the West Bromwich Building Society’s offer in 2004 of a free Rover car worth over £7,000 – a year before the car-maker went into administration. The downturn has left house-builders with new-builds sitting empty all over the country, and [...]
Inflation now a real problem for UK December 14, 2010 IN the long-term, we are all dead – or so claimed John Maynard Keynes. True, of course, but only in a meaningless kind of way, as yesterday’s dangerously high UK inflation figures demonstrate. For ages now, the Bank of England has been justifying its failure to meet its inflation target in the short-term by repeatedly [...]
Inflation now a real problem for UK December 14, 2010 IN the long-term, we are all dead – or so claimed John Maynard Keynes. True, of course, but only in a meaningless kind of way, as yesterday’s dangerously high UK inflation figures demonstrate. For ages now, the Bank of England has been justifying its failure to meet its inflation target in the short-term by repeatedly [...]
House prices to surge in 2014 if Bank of England intervenes November 9, 2010 HOUSE prices are set to rise by only 2.2 per cent next year as they are squeezed by falling disposable income and higher unemployment as a result of public sector cuts introduced by last month’s comprehensive spending review, a report will say today. The latest forecast from leading economic consultancy the Centre for Economics and [...]