Home loans plummet August 27, 2008 Deals for new houses remained close to a record low last month, with approvals for mortgages 65 per cent lower than a year ago. Mortgage approvals totalled 22,448 last month, according to the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), just above June’s series low of 22,369 but almost 12,000 below the average of the past six months. [...]
Triple blow for battered UK economy August 12, 2008 Retail sales and housing market suffer as struggling consumers rein in spending Britain’s battered economy will be dealt a triple whammy today, with fresh evidence that the housing market and consumer spending are continuing to contract and that manufacturers are being hammered by soaring costs. This summer has been the worst on the high street [...]
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 [...]
Despite the gloomy market, investors still have something to cheer about July 3, 2008 Look beyond the doom-mongering, and there is still money to be made in property, says Alex Delmar-Morgan Property is a subject close to the hearts of the British people, and many home-owners have been chuffed over the past few years to see the prices of their properties increasing at massive rates. Surely, though, even the [...]
The shape of things to come August 14, 2008 Government rules on green homes mean that eco-houses are coming. It’s time to get used to the idea, says Alex Delmar-Morgan Nobody denies that if the world heats up, we will have to change the way we live, build and get around. As recently as five years ago, phrases like “global warming” and “carbon emissions” [...]
Housing recession creeping closer as Barratt cuts jobs July 11, 2008 Leading economists predicted yesterday that house prices will fall by 35 per cent by the end of next year, as lender Halifax reported a 2 per cent slump in values last month. Britain’s biggest mortgage lender said that house prices are already 6.1 per cent lower than last June, fuelling fears Britain is heading for [...]
Latest house price fall piles on the misery September 1, 2008 House prices slumped by 0.9 per cent in August, falling for the 11th successive month and adding to the gloom currently surrounding the market. According to the latest national housing market survey from Hometrack, average prices are down by 5.3 per cent on a year-on-year basis, the lowest level since the survey began in 2001. [...]
House price fall takes UK to the brink August 29, 2008 Economy on the verge of crisis as house prices fall at their sharpest rate for 18 years Fresh evidence that Britain’s economy is on the brink of crisis continues to emerge after August house prices fell at their sharpest annual rate in 18 years and retail sales slumped. House prices fell 1.9 per cent during [...]
Darling mulls stamp duty suspension August 6, 2008 The Treasury yesterday refused to deny reports that the Chancellor has plans to temporarily abolish stamp duty on house purchases. Yesterday morning, Alistair Darling took to the airwaves and hinted he may try to jump-start the ailing housing market by bringing forward proposals to suspend stamp duty. Details of the move, which would bring much [...]
HBOS City advisers rights issue storm July 22, 2008 Investment bankers at Morgan Stanley and Dresdner Kleinwort will have breathed a collective sign of relief yesterday when they managed to find buyers for 29 per cent of the HBOS rights issue rump. The whole experience has been an unnerving one for the bank and its advisers, left holding billions of pounds worth of HBOS [...]