Lenders fear bubble if UK does not get more houses October 8, 2013 MORTGAGE lenders yesterday warned house building levels are still dangerously low, as the government’s new Help to Buy scheme launched with the backing of five banks, including HSBC. The scheme gives a government guarantee to buyers with a small deposit saved up, making banks more willing to lend and increasing the range of mortgages on [...]
Any Other Business – 12/08 August 11, 2013 ■ If you’ve ever fancied your own private jet, now would be the perfect time to buy. According to business aircraft manufacturer Beechcraft, 20.8 per cent of the light and midsized private jet market in the UK is currently up for sale, with 19 per cent on the market across Europe. Anything over 10 per [...]
There’s no point in a financial services Trip Advisor unless reputation matters August 22, 2013 ONCE again, a major mis-selling scandal has broken out, with 13 high street banks and credit card issuers facing a £1.3bn redress bill for mis-sold card protection policies. No amount of financial regulation seems to stop the flow. Until 1986, there were no mis-selling scandals. The sales of financial products were regulated by contract law [...]
Boris wants to keep property tax in London February 5, 2013 BORIS Johnson will tonight call on the government to let London retain the tax charged on property sales in the capital, so he can use the money to stimulate housebuilding in the capital. The Mayor will tell the Chartered Institute of Housing that if City Hall took control of all the stamp duty receipts raised [...]
Mortgage rates fall to new low with state aid February 21, 2013 MORTGAGE interest rates dropped to their lowest level ever in February, new figures showed yesterday, six months after the Bank of England started offering banks cheap funding in an effort to boost lending to the private sector. The average five-year fixed mortgage costs just 4.14 per cent, according to finance research site MoneyFacts. That is [...]
Ignore the cranks: Orthodox economics can account for the 2008 financial crash October 30, 2013 ONE OF the more annoying false memes of recent years has been the notion that standard corporate finance models have not worked in or since the 2008 financial crisis, and that no orthodox economics account of that crisis has been offered. As someone who implements standard finance models, and has written orthodox economics accounts of [...]
Ignore the cranks: Orthodox economics can account for the 2008 financial crash October 28, 2013 ONE OF the more annoying false memes of recent years has been the notion that standard corporate finance models have not worked in or since the 2008 financial crisis, and that no orthodox economics account of that crisis has been offered. As someone who implements standard finance models, and has written orthodox economics accounts of [...]
UK house prices back in black at end of January January 31, 2013 HOUSE prices swung back into growth in January, according to Nationwide’s latest house price index. Prices grew 0.5 per cent over the first month of 2013, the data showed, so that the index was back to almost exactly the same level as during January 2012. This marks the first time in 11 months the annual [...]
Mortgage loans jump back after September dip December 12, 2012 MORTGAGE lending bounced back strongly in October, according to industry figures released yesterday, yet analysts remain unconvinced that the government’s Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) is delivering a sea change in the housing market. The total number of loans for house purchase climbed 13.8 per cent to 49,500, data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 09 September 2013 September 8, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Capital warning from bank reformer The chief architect of Britain’s post-crisis regulatory reforms believes banks’ capital levels should be double the level recommended two years ago by the government-appointed commission that he led. Sir John Vickers told the Financial Times that in a “blue-skies” world banks’ core tier one capital ratios would now [...]