PROPERTY NEWS February 9, 2012 REPOSSESSIONS TO RISE British mortgage repossessions hit their lowest since 2007 last year but are expected to rise in 2012 due to increasing unemployment, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said yesterday. The CML said the number of home repossessions came in at 8,500 between October and December, down from 9,300 in the previous three-month [...]
Save like a superhero – what to do to protect your children’s future March 28, 2012 COLUMN inches are being racked up, extolling the virtues of getting your child a Junior Isa. And surely nobody could decry a tax wrapper that aims to build a stash of cash for the next generation? However, there is a potential problem – and it’s not the abolition of the £250 cheque the government handed [...]
Save like a superhero – what to do to protect your children’s future March 28, 2012 COLUMN inches are being racked up, extolling the virtues of getting your child a Junior Isa. And surely nobody could decry a tax wrapper that aims to build a stash of cash for the next generation? However, there is a potential problem – and it’s not the abolition of the £250 cheque the government handed [...]
It might be prime time to refinance October 14, 2012 HISTORICALLY low interest rates and government schemes mean that it may make sense, for some borrowers at least, to remortgage their homes. But data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders serves as a stark reminder as to how tight conditions still are. In 2011, £46.6bn worth of remortgages were taken out by borrowers in 375,000 [...]
Bank of England slashes medium-term growth outlook August 8, 2012 The Bank of England has sharply cut its forecast for medium-term growth in Britain’s economy due to worries that factors hurting growth since the financial crisis may be more long-lasting than first thought. In its quarterly Inflation Report, the Bank said that growth in two years time was likely to be around 2 per cent [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 27, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES GORDON GEKKO TELLS WALL ST GREED IS NOT GOOD Michael Douglas is playing a new and unlikely role as spokesman for the US Federal Bureau of Investigation in its war against corruption on Wall Street. The Hollywood actor – famous for his line “greed is good” in the 1987 film Wall Street – [...]
House prices drop for eighth month running January 17, 2012 HOUSE prices in the UK declined again in November, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) revealed yesterday. The index fell 0.3 per cent on an annual basis in November, slower than the 0.4 per cent decrease seen in October and representing the eighth consecutive monthly fall. Meanwhile the typical sum paid for homes [...]
Government announces an end to stamp duty holiday November 29, 2011 THE CHANCELLOR was accused of dealing a blow to first-time buyers yesterday after announcing that the government would not be extending the stamp duty holiday beyond next March. In his Autumn Statement yesterday, George Osborne said that duty land tax relief “has been ineffective” in increasing the number of first time buyers entering the market. [...]
BSkyB’s rivals scheme over new live football rights deals August 22, 2012 Word that ITV might be interested in showing live Premier League matches for the first time ever is fascinating. If the unlikely move occurred, ITV would bring elite football back to a broader audience after more than 20 years of having it shown exclusively live on pay-per-view television. Not everybody would be cheering from their [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 22, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES RUSSIAN LINK IN FRAUD CLAIM A $150m fraud allegedly attempted by a former fund manager at Threadneedle Asset Management is linked to a trade in more than a billion Argentinian warrants by former staff at Otkritie, the Russian financial services group. Threadneedle confirmed on Tuesday that a former trader had been dismissed in [...]