Crosby review fails to please industry July 30, 2008 Property industry experts yesterday sharply criticised the government commissioned Crosby report on the crippled state of the mortgage market for failing to take immediate action to relieve the problem. In his interim report, published yesterday afternoon, Sir James Crosby, the former boss of HBOS, said the mortgage markets would remain jammed another three years, possibly [...]
Price website offers half of future profits August 28, 2008 Moneysupermarket.com, the price comparison website, will increase its dividend payout ratio to 50 per cent of all future profits. The bold move was revealed yesterday alongside interim results, and was welcomed by shareholders in the firm, who saw their investment dramatically decrease because of last year’s flotation. The interim dividend is held at 1.3p per [...]
Brown’s £1bn home market rescue gets a cool response September 3, 2008 Critics have rounded on prime minister Gordon Brown’s housing market rescue package saying it will do little to reverse the worst housing slump in 18 years. From today the government has scrapped stamp duty for a year on homes worth less than £175,000 as part of a package of measures designed to revitalise the flagging [...]
Freddie Mac posts fourth loss in a row August 7, 2008 Freddie Mac, the US mortgage giant whose near-collapse led US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to introduce emergency rescue measures for banks, announced losses of $821m (£421m) in the second quarter yesterday. It was the company’s fourth successive loss, as increasing numbers of homeowners failed to make loan repayments in the worst US housing slump since [...]
Lenders hope for boost from Crosby July 28, 2008 The crumbling housing market is holding its breath for the publication of the Crosby review tomorrow into the funding struggles facing British banks, amid speculation that the government is working on a new mortgage debt swap plan to help soften the effects of the credit crunch. Sir James Crosby, the former HBOS chief executive and [...]
Abbey grabs lending lead July 30, 2008 Abbey is poised to topple Halifax as the UK’s top lender of new mortgages after revealing first half results today that showed the Spanish-owned bank now writes one in three new mortgages in Britain. As rival lenders withdrew mortgage deals from the perilous credit market, Abbey’s share of new lending rocketed to 35 per cent [...]
Taxpayers to fund further Rock bail out August 6, 2008 The taxpayers is to provide Northern Rock with £3bn in financial support after falling house prices and problem loans pushed the struggling state owned lender into a £585.4m loss for the six months to June. Northern Rock executive chairman Ron Sandler yesterday announced that the bank would enter into a debt for equity swap with [...]
Nationwide merger will suit all sides September 8, 2008 Nationwide’s merger with The Derbyshire Building Society and The Cheshire Building Society, which was confirmed yesterday, will see it stretch its lead at the top of the list of UK mortgage lenders. The tie-up will hand the building society an extra 95 branches to add to the 900 retail locations it already operates, reinforcing its [...]
TUC calls for tax reforms September 8, 2008 The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called for a new higher-rate tax bracket for those earning over £100,000, putting it on a collision course with Conservative leader David Cameron. The TUC’s statement, made in advance of its annual conference which begins tomorrow in Brighton, contrasts sharply with a newspaper interview given by Cameron at the [...]
MPC vote split three ways July 24, 2008 A surprise three-way split between Bank of England rate setters left economists guessing whether an interest rate rise was on the cards. The minutes of July’s Monetary Policy Committee rate contained the word inflation 54 times, which is higher than the average, according to Lehman Brothers, highlighting the MPC’s concerns about cost rises. Seven members [...]