Autumn Statement 2015: Chancellor George Osborne banks on UK housebuilding boom as experts warn of looming £30bn black hole November 25, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne will vow to double the national housing budget when he presents his five-year spending plan later today, despite new warnings that the Treasury is facing a £30bn “black hole” in its finances. In a statement to parliament combining the Spending Review and the Autumn Statement, Osborne will say that public finances “come down [...]
Budget 2015 summary: Here are all the personal finance pledges George Osborne made today March 18, 2015 There were the usual tears and tantrums as chancellor George Osborne stepped up to the despatch box earlier today, to deliver a Budget speech geared largely towards savers, pensioners and first-time buyers. In the end, it was the "savings revolution" that made the headlines – with new rules on Isas and savings among a raft [...]
A Hong Kong billionaire has bought the most expensive diamond ever auctioned – but who came before him? November 13, 2015 A new jewel has just topped the list of the most expensive diamonds ever sold at auction. The “Blue Moon” was bought this week in Geneva for $48.4m, smashing all previous record diamond sales. Vivid blue in colour and weighing 12.03 carats, it went for the “highest price per carat” ever obtained for any kind [...]
Mortgage loan slowdown may be at an end as house prices predicted to rise March 17, 2015 Mortgage lending dropped again in January, industry data showed yesterday, as the market continued to plateau. But economists think this weak spell could be at an end, with lending set to pick up across the rest of 2015. The month saw 22,400 home movers take out mortgages, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), down [...]
Was George Osborne’s last Budget before the General Election a winner for British savers? March 18, 2015 Iain McCluskey, tax director at PwC, says Yes This was a Budget for those who choose to, in George speak, fix their roof. With returns on savings sitting at miserable lows for most people, the chancellor had to innovate to try and encourage the country to save. He did this by using the Budget to [...]
What happens when you talk markets on Facebook February 16, 2016 What do you do when everyone is active on Facebook except you? You get with the programme. How do you do that? You (naively) say yes to going live for your company on Facebook to “do a little Q&A session on the markets”. What happens then? First you freak out as you discover how “personal” [...]
General Election 2015: Uncertainty hangs over UK mortgage lending data April 14, 2015 The uncertainty surrounding the General Election hit mortgages in February, as lending dropped, with the total number of loans falling one per cent on January’s figure and 16 per cent compared to last year. The figures According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML),a total of 40,600 loans valued at £6.8bn were granted in February, meaning the [...]
General Election 2015: Ed Miliband promises £5bn for 125,000 new homes funded by Help to Buy ISA April 4, 2015 Ed Miliband has promised billions of pounds of funding to build 125,000 new homes over the next five years. The policy, due to be announced by the Labour party today, is based on the Help to Buy ISA revealed by Chancellor George Osborne in the latest Budget and aimed at getting first-time buyers on the [...]
SocGen leads European banks lower at the close as rout resumes on Deutsche, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS share prices and Credit Suisse hits 27 year lows February 11, 2016 Well that didn’t last long. Europe’s bank shares closed down this evening, led by French bank Société Générale after it announced earlier it may struggle to meet its profitability targets this year. The bank, whose share price slumped over 13 per cent in early trading but managed to scale back loses to end the day down just over 12 [...]
Zoopla: Labour win in General Election would be bad for housing April 15, 2015 Zoopla, the online property portal, says that a Labour victory in next month’s General Election would be bad for the housing market. The firm believes that the party’s policies could have a particularly negative impact on first-time buyers. Zoopla say Labour’s proposal to restrict banks and building societies that accept deposits under the new Help [...]