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Wednesday, August 27
Mortgage lending figures give some hope
by
bewarethesharks
on Wed 27 Aug 2008 16:29 BST
The number of new mortgages agreed by leading banks edged higher last month, raising hopes that the worst of the drought in the home-loans market may have passed. A total of 22,448 loans for house purchase, rather than remortgaging, were approved by banks during July. Although this was still a ... more » Friday, August 15
Councils push to become mortgage lenders
by
bewarethesharks
on Fri 15 Aug 2008 15:50 BST
NLGN has been campaigning for local authorities to be able to offer financial support to those affected by the credit crunch. It hopes this would stave off repossessions and evictions, prop up the housing market to prevent remortgage difficulties and support first-time buyers to buy locally. Currently, the NLGN is ... more » Wednesday, August 13
Credit crisis halfway over "at best"
by
bewarethesharks
on Wed 13 Aug 2008 15:18 BST
A year-long credit crisis may be only halfway over and defaults of prime mortgages and problems at U.S. bond insurers are expected to exert a drag on future bank earnings, Standard & Poor's said on Wednesday.
Defaults and late payments for mortgages known as Alt-A securities and prime mortgages are ... more » Friday, August 1
Picturesque second homes come onto market as property prices fall
by
bewarethesharks
on Fri 01 Aug 2008 13:32 BST
Slumping house prices are rejuvenating the property market in picturesque locations as city dwellers sell off their second homes, according to estate agents. In recent years houses in many fashionable rural and coastal areas have become so popular as investments that very few changed hands. But the economic downturn over ... more » Wednesday, July 30
HSBC latest to cut mortgage rates
by
bewarethesharks
on Wed 30 Jul 2008 13:13 BST
HSBC has become the latest mortgage lender to cut its rates following a drop in wholesale funding costs. The group is reducing its two-year fixed rate mortgage by 0.31%, while longer term fixed rate loans are being cut by 0.16%. It is also cutting the booking fee ... more » Sunday, June 8
Banks are only as safe as houses
by
bewarethesharks
on Sun 08 Jun 2008 16:49 BST
As mortgage lenders struggle to shore up their balance sheets, a new crisis may be on the way from the buy-to-let market House prices are already falling by more than 25 per cent a year. That is the figure the experts at M&G have come up with by extrapolating the ... more » Thursday, June 5
Abbey increases mortgage rates and Egg quits mortgage business
by
bewarethesharks
on Thu 05 Jun 2008 14:44 BST
Wednesday, June 4
Bank of England unlikely to cut interest rate, despite pleas
by
bewarethesharks
on Wed 04 Jun 2008 17:43 BST
Homeowners face further worry today as the Bank of England is set to resist calls for a cut in interest rates, despite a fall in house prices and mounting evidence of a sharp slowdown in the economy. The Bank is expected to decide that rising inflation means that it must ... more » Tuesday, June 3
Mortgages: Nationwide raises rates
by
bewarethesharks
on Tue 03 Jun 2008 16:39 BST
Nationwide building society announced today it was increasing the cost of its fixed-rate mortgages by up to 0.3%. The changes, which come into force tomorrow, wipe out some of the rate reductions made by the lender last month. The group is increasing the rate of its best two-year fixed-rate mortgage ... more » Friday, May 30
Negative equity fears soar after record slump in house prices
by
bewarethesharks
on Fri 30 May 2008 19:05 BST
Thousands of homeowners were plunged into negative equity this month as house prices slumped by £5,000. The cost of an average home fell by 2.5 per cent during May, the biggest monthly decline since records began in 1991, figures from the Nationwide Building Society show. House prices have fallen by ... more » Sunday, May 25
House prices fall as buyers 'go on strike'
by
bewarethesharks
on Sun 25 May 2008 18:36 BST
House prices falls are accelerating as home buyers "go on strike", according to the latest analysis of the housing market. The average house is now worth 1.9 per cent less than a year ago, a report from Hometrack will say today. This is the largest fall recorded so far by ... more » Wednesday, May 21
UK buy-to-let market shut to 'short-term' players
by
bewarethesharks
on Wed 21 May 2008 14:30 BST
Specialist mortgage lender Paragon has indicated that the era of making a quick kill on the buy-to-let market is over, as the credit crunch makes the market tougher for speculative landlords. Chief executive Nigel Terrington said: "Short-term players - the type that buy off-plan in city centres - they are ... more » Thursday, May 15
Bank of England dashes hopes of interest rate cuts amid inflation threat
by
bewarethesharks
on Thu 15 May 2008 09:42 BST
Hopes of early relief for homeowners in the form of lower interest rates were dashed by the Bank of England today as it forecast inflation could reach 4pc in the months to come. Governor Mervyn King effectively signalled an extended period of stagflation, as the high interest rates needed to ... more » Wednesday, May 7
Cash injection has not cut cost of borrowing
by
bewarethesharks
on Wed 07 May 2008 15:37 BST
The Bank of England's £50 billion cash injection into the mortgage market has so far not made any difference to the cost of borrowing, the head of the UK's biggest building society said yesterday. Graham Beale, chief executive of Nationwide, told The Times that a response to the facility "has ... more » Thursday, May 1
Abbey trims some mortgage rates
by
bewarethesharks
on Thu 01 May 2008 11:11 BST
Abbey, owned by Spain's Santander is trimming some fixed and flexible mortgage rates as it tries to lure new customers in the face of a credit crisis and deteriorating outlook that have seen rivals retreat.
Abbey said on Thursday it would cut its two-year fixed-rate mortgage deals by 0.11 percentage ... more » Friday, April 18
Londoners lower prices in bid to sell homes
by
bewarethesharks
on Fri 18 Apr 2008 15:11 BST
House sellers have cut their asking prices sharply in Greater London in a bid to attract buyers, property website Rightmove says today. Prices fell by 0.9% from March to April to an average of £403,545. However, that was still 6.2% higher than a year ago. Rightmove added that prices suffered ... more » Sunday, April 13
A million miss out as mortgages dry up
by
bewarethesharks
on Sun 13 Apr 2008 12:10 BST
The mortgage drought means the number of loans could be halved this year - leaving a million potential homebuyers without the cash to buy a home. Friday, April 11
Mortgage lending 'could fall by half this year'
by
bewarethesharks
on Fri 11 Apr 2008 14:51 BST
Mortgage lending could fall by half this year unless the Bank of England makes more money available to lenders, it was warned today. The chairman of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) , Steven Crawshaw, said despite a slowdown in demand for new home loans, "potential borrowing still significantly exceeds ... more » Wednesday, April 9
Rate cut demanded as property prices slide
by
bewarethesharks
on Wed 09 Apr 2008 15:15 BST
The Bank of England is under intense pressure to cut interest rates again tomorrow after house prices fell by the biggest margin since the early 1990s crash and ministers tried to prevent a spate of repossessions. Gordon Brown insisted that the latest falls — 2.5 per cent, or nearly £5,000 ... more » Monday, April 7
Abbey scraps 100 per cent mortgages: all new buyers will need big deposit
by
bewarethesharks
on Mon 07 Apr 2008 15:13 BST
First-time buyers lacking a sizeable deposit will no longer be able to secure a mortgage deal. Abbey, Britain’s third-biggest lender, is the last big bank to abandon 100 per cent mortgages – loans that cover the entire purchase price of a property. Many lenders are striving to protect margins during ... more » Thursday, April 3
Thousands of families at risk of negative equity
by
bewarethesharks
on Thu 03 Apr 2008 15:52 BST
About 100,000 poeple who bought homes last year with little or no deposit are likely to find themselves in negative equity as soon as September. Mortgage brokers said that borrowers who bought last year with deposits of 5 per cent or less could soon owe more than their property is ... more » Tuesday, April 1
First Direct puts mortgages on hold
by
bewarethesharks
on Tue 01 Apr 2008 11:53 BST
First Direct today became the latest lender to withdraw from the mortgage market, as it pulled out of offering mortgages to anyone other than existing customers. The bank, which is owned by HSBC, said it was taking the "drastic" step after being overwhelmed with applications following recent moves by rival ... more » Thursday, March 6
Bank holds rates at 5.25%
by
bewarethesharks
on Thu 06 Mar 2008 13:42 GMT
The Bank of England left interest rates steady at 5.25% at its monthly meeting today as it balanced a weaker outlook for growth against inflationary pressures from rising food and energy prices. The monetary policy committee had been unanimous in approving last month's interest rate reduction but this time ... more » Tuesday, March 4
NAEA calls for rate reduction
by
bewarethesharks
on Tue 04 Mar 2008 15:41 GMT
The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) is calling on the Bank of England to reduce interest rates to 5% on Thursday. Peter Bolton King, Chief Executive at the NAEA, comments: “There is an ongoing lack of confidence in the housing market and the Bank of England needs to ... more » Tuesday, February 12
UK inflation lower than feared
by
bewarethesharks
on Tue 12 Feb 2008 15:42 GMT
Inflation was lower than feared in January after a sharper than expected fall in the cost of clothing and footwear offset higher food, transport and energy prices. The consumer prices index (CPI) increased by 2.2pc, less than most economists' forecast of 2.3pc, although this was still the biggest increase ... more » Thursday, February 7
Bank cuts interest rates to 5.25%
by
bewarethesharks
on Thu 07 Feb 2008 12:50 GMT
The Bank of England's rate-setting committee has cut interest rates to 5.25% from 5.5% in an attempt to stimulate growth in the But the Bank of England said that growth needs to slow to keep inflation under control. The decision follows recent rate cuts by the ... more » Friday, January 25
Mortgage approvals hit by credit crunch
by
bewarethesharks
on Fri 25 Jan 2008 10:22 GMT
The number of mortgages granted to new home buyers plunged to a record low last month as banks struggled with the credit crunch and potential buyers hesitated in the face of higher mortgage rates. Only 42,088 mortgages were approved for new buyers by banks in December, lower than at ... more » Wednesday, January 23
MPC damps aggressive cut expectations
by
bewarethesharks
on Wed 23 Jan 2008 17:12 GMT
The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee voted eight to one to leave interest rates unchanged last month, according to minutes of the meeting published on Wednesday, while official statistics showed growth slowed slightly less than expected in the fourth quarter. The MPC felt that “the short-run inflation outlook ... more » Tuesday, January 22
Record mortgage lending in 2007
by
bewarethesharks
on Tue 22 Jan 2008 15:18 GMT
Last year saw the strongest gross mortgage lending to date, but the market is weakening, the Council for Mortgage Lenders (CML) has said. CML figures showed gross lending reached £362bn in 2007, up 5% from £345bn in 2006, and above its forecast. However, gross lending was £22.6bn last month, ... more » Wednesday, January 16
Rate cut in doubt as unemployment falls
by
bewarethesharks
on Wed 16 Jan 2008 17:46 GMT
The number of people claiming unemployment benefit fell to its lowest level for more than 30 years, while British average earnings unexpectedly rose in the three months to November. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that average earnings growth, including bonuses, remained steady at 4 per ... more » |
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