City A.M. shadow MPC votes 7-2 to hold again December 4, 2013 ALLISTER HEATH | CITY A.M. “Lift rates by 0.25 per cent. Business surveys are heating up and some economists expect one per cent GDP growth in the final quarter of the year – this is no time for emergency all-time-low interest rates. Furthermore, the situation with the housing market, expecially in London, is worrying.” GRAEME LEACH [...]
Help to Buy lifts Persimmon new sales past 3,000 November 6, 2013 HOUSEBUILDER Persimmon said yesterday it has sold over 3,000 homes under the government sponsored Help to Buy scheme, in yet another sign of rising confidence in the housing market. Chief executive Jeff Fairburn said that while 90 per cent of sales were to first-time buyers, growing market confidence was prompting more second and third-time buyers [...]
UK house prices surge to above 2008 levels October 15, 2013 (Office for National Statistics) UK house prices rose by 3.8 per cent in the year to August, exceeding expectations of a 3.6 per cent increase and surpassing its previous peak in January 2008 by 0.3 per cent. The Office for National Statistics reports that house price growth remains stable across the UK, with London prices [...]
London Report: Rio Tinto holds up FTSE despite housing drop November 28, 2013 HeAVYWEIGHT miner Rio Tinto helped keep the FTSE 100 in positive territory yesterday, offsetting weakness in housebuilders after the Bank of England removed a mortgage support scheme. Rio Tinto enjoyed hefty gains in an otherwise subdued session – adding six points on its own to the FTSE 100 – as investors responded bullishly to the [...]
London must learn from New York’s woes and build more homes November 6, 2013 ONE of the perennial myths about this country is that we are somehow uniquely keen on home-ownership and are culturally averse to renting. That’s nonsense: 70.7 per cent of those who live across the EU’s 27 member states are owner-occupiers, against just 64 per cent (and falling fast) in England and Wales. Having risen from just [...]
UK must build 1.5m new homes November 6, 2013 Think tank calls for huge construction drive over next five years THE NEXT government must commit to build 1.5m homes by 2020 to stem an emerging social and economic crisis, according to a report released today. Westminster think tank Policy Exchange has calculated that the UK desperately needs to build 300,000 houses every year between [...]
Taylor Wimpey predicts stable outlook for UK house market July 4, 2012 TAYLOR WIMPEY said yesterday the UK housing market remained “stable” despite wider uncertainty in the Eurozone and the global economy, as it continued to grow sales. In a first-half trading update, Britain’s second largest housebuilder said it sold 5,083 homes in the six months to 1 July, up from 4,707 the same time last year, [...]
What you need to know before the open – 26/11 November 26, 2013 European markets are set to open mixed this morning after Brent prices recovered over the course of yesterday's trading. Prices initially saw a two per cent fall following the announcement of the Iran nuclear deal. Sepulchral start to European opening expected with derisory volumes continuing – FTSE -2, DAX +13, CAC -4 — David [...]
Fastest lift in mortgage lending for five years November 20, 2013 MORTGAGE lending soared to £17.6bn last month as the UK’s housing market continued to heat up, marking the steepest annual jump since 2008. The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) revealed yesterday that gross lending was up nine per cent from September, and an eye-watering 37 per cent higher than in October 2012. The last time it recorded [...]
Watch out for wearable tech at MWC 2014 February 26, 2014 Keep your friends close and your technology closer: the latest wrist-friendly gadgets Mobile World Congress is a phone geek’s dream – a time when the great and good of the mobile industry showcases what we can look forward to for the rest of the year. While recent years have been somewhat thinner on the ground [...]