The real causes of the crisis of 2008 July 1, 2010 FOR all the latest furore surrounding bankers’ bonuses and the rest, we have yet again lost sight of how the crisis actually began, and politicians and regulators’ central role in promoting it. There were many factors, of course, with private institutions often behaving foolishly – but sub-prime lending, the crisis’ central catalyst, was promoted by [...]
World trade is continuing to recover July 28, 2010 WORLD industrial production has overtaken its pre-recession peak – that is the key finding from one of the world’s most useful economic surveys, produced monthly by the Dutch Statistics Bureau. The Netherlands are a key hub for world trade; local statisticians are experts at crunching the numbers. Ian Harwood, chief economist at Evolution Securities, is [...]
Bellway urges caution over housebuilding February 5, 2010 HOUSEBUILDER Bellway today said it remains cautious over the prospects for the housing market despite a modest pick-up in sales in first-half trading. The Newcastle-based group sold 2,247 homes in the six months to the end of January, up 12 per cent on the previous year. Its order book stood at £390 million or 2,506 [...]
Go back to school… this time in style July 8, 2010 ESTATE agents love taking on “conversions” – it allows them to market the “authenticity” of a property. But what does a conversion actually offer buyers? One of the advantages, says Anup Pankhania of Jaspar Group, a property conversions business, is that “you’ve got a spectacular spaces you’d never get anywhere else”. He’s referring to features [...]
International Power in GDF merger talks July 19, 2010 BRITISH energy firm International Power (IP) confirmed it had revived merger talks with GDF Energy yesterday, sending its share price soaring. The companies have restarted long-running talks over France’s GDF buying up new shares in IP. Previous talks collapsed in January after the firms failed to agree terms. GDF, already one of the world’s largest [...]
Get more bang for your buck in green, spacious Hackney June 17, 2010 THERE aren’t many areas of London where less than a million pounds can get you an original Victorian house with four bedrooms, close access to three parks, independent shops and a commute under 20 minutes. In London Fields, however, the asking price for such a lifestyle is often no more than £800,000. Despite its trendy [...]
Why unemployment remains so high August 3, 2010 UNEMPLOYMENT in the UK is far higher than most commentators realise. The figures used by economists and the media only include people who are looking for work, thus missing out several million benefit claimants who are on the dole in all but name. The latest official statistics (from last November) reveal that there are 5.87m [...]
Lettings showing signs of recovery as rents increase May 26, 2010 ALMOST a third more landlords saw home rental rates rise in the past three months than those who reported falls, signalling a sharp recovery in the residential lettings market, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). RICS said 30 per cent more of its UK members reported increasing rents in the three months [...]
Uncertainty to keep US and UK bond yields at their low levels July 4, 2010 SINCE the start of April, yields on US, UK and German government bonds have only been going one way and that’s down. Surprising as it might seem, they are all perceived to be relative safe havens as fears of a double-dip recession escalate and the Eurozone debt turmoil appears to rumble on. On Friday, a [...]
Strong US profits good for recovery July 22, 2010 TWO major stories have been dominating market sentiment this week. The first was the run-up to the Eurozone bank stress tests; we will know results this afternoon but few are convinced of their rigour. It won’t quite be a whitewash but many Club Med banks will be let off too easily. The second story has [...]