Mortagage lending falls in August September 20, 2010 Gross mortgage lending fell six per cent year-on-year in August to £13.3bn, the Council of Mortgage Lenders has said. That was the lowest August total since 2000 and represented a drop of 14 per cent from July. The figures chimes with other surveys in showing a cooling in the housing market following a sharp recovery [...]
Set your trades on firm foundations September 19, 2010 HOUSE asking prices fell again today, dropping by 1.1 per cent – that is £2,474 – over two points in the house price spread better’s mind. But those tempted by the news on page one should not rush into a trade before taking a moment to contemplate the make up of the index. Today’s figures [...]
Halifax shocks bears with rise in house prices September 8, 2010 HOUSE prices rose for the second month running in August, mortgage lender Halifax said yesterday, confounding expectations for a fall though it still expected house prices to stagnate overall this year. House prices rose 0.2 per cent in August, Halifax said, which, coming after a 0.7 per cent rise in July, had helped to reverse [...]
FSA fines and censures two mortgage brokers for fraud August 31, 2010 THE FINANCIAL Services Authority (FSA) has banned one mortgage broker and fined another for committing “reckless business practices”, which it said led to false and misleading mortgage applications made to lenders. Ngozika Louise Ogboru, who ran Harrow based JN Finance UK, has been banned by the financial watchdog after it found that advisers at her [...]
Weak housing loans point to a price slump August 31, 2010 JUST 48,700 mortgages were approved in July, according to data published yesterday by the Bank of England, raising fears that the UK housing market is at best drifting sideways and at worst heading for a double-dip recession. Although the small rise was better than the dip to 46-47,000 that the market had expected, economists were [...]
FTSE gains ground as mining shares are lifted by US data August 31, 2010 BRITAIN’S top shares closed up yesterday as miners gained on firmer US economic data which eased investor anxiety on the global economic recovery, while ARM Holdings jumped on renewed takeover talk. The FTSE 100 gained 23.66 points, or 0.5 per cent at 5,225.22, adding to the 0.9 per cent gain on Friday, as UK traders [...]
Bank lending to individuals stays weak August 24, 2010 MORTGAGE lending dropped to a five-month low in July with just 33,700 home loans approved, taking the annual percentage decline to 18.5 per cent, the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) said yesterday. Tighter lending conditions combined with subdued demand for home loans pushed mortgage approvals down last month. This is despite recent calls for the banks, [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 19, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES ACCOUNTING ISSUES MAR CONNAUGHT SELL OFF PLANS Accountancy issues at Connaught are expected to have affected more than just the beleaguered property service group’s social housing maintenance division, according to people familiar with the matter. The development may affect the ability of Connaught to sell off parts of its business, which is one [...]
Bank lending to UK businesses remains weak August 19, 2010 NET lending to British businesses fell for the fourth month in a row in June while mortgage approvals slumped to their lowest level in over a year last month, figures from the Bank of England showed yesterday. In its Trends in Lending report, the central bank showed that the net monthly flow of lending to [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS August 19, 2010 LOYALTY DOESN’T ALWAYS PAY Shopping around for a cheaper quote for your car insurance really does pay off, according to research from Which?, the independent product-testing and consumer campaigning champion. It surveyed nearly 2,500 consumers and found that more than a third accepted their original car insurers’ renewal quotes because they “couldn’t be bothered to [...]