More pain for homes August 1, 2008 The clouds gathering over the housing market darkened yesterday when Britain’s biggest building society reported the biggest annual drop in house prices since records began. Mortgage lender Nationwide said property values were now 8.1 per cent less than last year ago, almost a £15,000 decrease. The average cost of a home in Britain is now [...]
Slowing sales of broadband August 1, 2008 Growth in sales of broadband connections, which surged in recent years, has peaked and is now slowing rapidly, according to figures released by the UK’s leading broadband providers. Carphone Warehouse yesterday said it had missed its fixed line revenue growth targets, adding just 41,000 broadband customers in its first quarter, compared to earlier forecasts of [...]
London hardest hit as house prices suffer further falls July 28, 2008 Fresh evidence that the housing market is continuing to deteriorate emerged today as an influential survey revealed prices fell for the tenth month in a row – with most of the declines hitting London. House prices fell a further 1.2 per cent in July, compared to a 1 per cent fall from June, according to [...]
HBOS set to report big fall in profits July 28, 2008 Troubled mortgage giant HBOS will announce interim results this week, with profits expected to have fallen more than 50 per cent year-on-year, as investors call for asset sales to offset heavy write-downs. Analysts are forecasting a slump in profits to £1.3bn, due in part to losses related to the US sub-prime mortgage crisis and stuttering [...]
City expects interest rates will be held September 1, 2008 Interest rates are expected to remain on hold this week in spite of a slew of bad economic news that has left the UK teetering on the edge of official recession. Consensus expectations suggest that once again rising inflation will trump dwindling growth for the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meaning interest rates will remain at [...]
London bucks retailer gloom July 21, 2008 Central London retailers are defying the economic gloom, according to figures from the British Retail Consortium. Retail sales in June were 8.7 per cent higher than a year ago, although the rate of growth is weaker than in 2007 when an increase of 11 per cent was reported. Footfall was also higher than in June [...]
It is still not the time to be buying into retail stocks July 31, 2008 The European General Retail sector has fallen by about 25 per cent so far this year. But does this sharp decline in price make retail shares a good buy? We think that there are a variety of reasons to remain wary. The first reason is a depressed outlook for consumer demand. With continued worries about [...]
Barratt close to securing debt deal July 10, 2008 Housebuilder Barratt Developments is today expected to reveal it has managed to renegotiate a refinancing package with its bankers. Barratt, which has £1.7bn debt and a market capitalisation of just £140m, has been negotiating with lenders to extend repayment of £400m debt due in April , as well as agree changes to its debt covenants [...]
Housing recession creeping closer as Barratt cuts jobs July 11, 2008 Leading economists predicted yesterday that house prices will fall by 35 per cent by the end of next year, as lender Halifax reported a 2 per cent slump in values last month. Britain’s biggest mortgage lender said that house prices are already 6.1 per cent lower than last June, fuelling fears Britain is heading for [...]
Fed bail-out move halts market slide July 9, 2008 Ben Bernanke says Fed may continue emergency lending scheme into next year Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke’s announcement last night that he is considering extending its emergency cash lending system for investment banks into next year rescued plunging markets in London and the US. But economists warned that the move signalled that the fall out [...]