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April 18, 2008
by Gill Montia
Morgan Stanley, the investment bank, is predicting that UK house prices will fall 15% over the next two years, leaving 1.2 million homeowners in negative equity.
For anyone in negative equity, mortgage debt exceeds the value of their home, making it difficult to move.
Homeowners who fall into arrears with their mortgage payments can be repossessed and left with thousands of pounds worth ...
by Kay Murchie
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Britain's second largest bank, has confirmed it is preparing to raise billions of pounds through a rights issue to improve its financial position.
RBS will raise the money from existing investors through one of the biggest rights issues in corporate history.
Following the news, shares in the bank increased 4% to 380p as analysts ...
by Gill Montia
The UK's mortgage famine has led Taylor Wimpey to warn of difficult times ahead for the house building group.
In a trading update, the company reported that since January, its order book for new homes has declined 26% in value compared with the same period of 2007.
In a previous update last month, a 20% fall was announced and the revised figure ...
by Kay Murchie
The world’s largest stockbroker, Merrill Lynch, has announced it is to axe 4,000 jobs worldwide with up to 400 of its 4,500 London staff facing redundancy.
The job cuts are as a result of poor risk management for Merrill's over-exposure to bad sub-prime mortgage debt.
Merrill also announced heavy losses from the first quarter of this year. The bank said ...
by Kay Murchie
Earlier this week, analysts at JPMorgan said due to the fallout from the US sub-prime mortgage crisis and the credit squeeze, job losses London's City financial district could be around 40,000.
Yesterday, Swiss bank UBS announced it is to axe 900 staff at its City headquarters on Liverpool Street. The banking giant is the biggest casualty of the credit squeeze with losses ...
April 17, 2008
by Kay Murchie
The new chairman of UBS has been criticised by Luqman Arnold, who runs the UK-based investment fund Olivant, and is the former chief executive of UBS.
The Swiss investment bank has been the biggest casualty of the credit squeeze so far and its new chairman, Peter Kurer, has been subject to heavy criticism by Mr Arnold who has purchased a 0.7% ...
by Gill Montia
Housing charity, Shelter, has published a report that highlights just how difficult it has become for first-time buyers to get a foot on the property ladder.
Affordability is the main issue: the average price of a home has risen over 200% in the past ten years, while the average income in the UK has increased by 53%.
According to the ...
by Gill Montia
Halifax and Abbey have increased interest rates on their short-term fixed-rate mortgages.
The Halifax has upped rates on its two-year fixed and two-year tracker mortgages by 0.5% (in the case of the tracker the rise will apply to new customers only).
The UK's largest mortgage lender has excused itself by saying that the cost of borrowing money on the wholesale money markets ...
by Kay Murchie
Wall Street bank, JPMorgan Chase, announced a 50% fall in its first quarter profits as the bank was hit by a $5.1 billion (£2.5 billion) sub-prime write-down.
Revenue for the first quarter fell by 11% to $16.9 billion, marginally ahead of analysts who were expecting turnover at $16.8 billion.
America's third biggest bank, which bailed out its rival Bear ...
April 16, 2008
by Elaine Frei
Europe’s markets were higher on Wednesday, with the FTSE Eurofirst 300 adding 1.65 percent to 1,302.78 while the CAC-40 was up 1.56 percent to 4,855.1 in Paris, the IBEX was 1.71 percent higher to 13,637.6 in Madrid, and the Dax gained 1.79 percent to 6,702.84 in Frankfurt.
In London, the FTSE 100 added 2.36 percent to 6,046.2 while the FTSE 250 gained ...
by Gill Montia
Interest rates are not the only reason that mortgage costs in the UK are continuing to rise.
According to a report by online mortgage broker, Mform, the average fee charged for the most competitive three-year fixed-rate deal has risen 96% in year.
In March of last year borrowers could expect to pay a fee of around £578 for such a loan but ...
by Kay Murchie
Yesterday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown met with bank chiefs from Lloyds, Barclays, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Nationwide as the City struggles with fallout from the US sub-prime crisis and the credit squeeze.
No. 10 said the talks were to discuss ways to improve confidence in the housing market and was not a crisis meeting and had been in ...
by Kay Murchie
According to AA Insurance, where you park your car can have an impact on your car insurance premium, especially in a city.
By keeping your car locked in a garage overnight, you can save between 7% (in a rural community) and 35% (in an inner city environment) on your car insurance.
Research from AA Personal Loans has revealed that residential streets are ...
by Kay Murchie
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have established that half of all single pensioners receive an annual income of under £6,000.
The ONS figures, which cover 2005/06, also revealed that 62% of pensioner couples had a total pension income of less than £10,000.
The research is highlighting the need for a private pension as figures from financial advice company Hargreaves ...
by Kay Murchie
Analysts at JPMorgan said as a result of the fallout from the US sub-prime mortgage crisis and the credit squeeze, job losses London's City financial district could be around 40,000. This is double the figure first feared and amounts to one in 10 jobs.
Some companies in the Square Mile and Canary Wharf are grinding to a halt and bankers and support ...
by Kay Murchie
A study by Saga has revealed that 10% of retirees are forced to move house once they stop working.
Saga said as living costs continue to soar, retirees do not have sufficient funds to cover a settled and comfortable retirement. Consequently, retirees are forced to move home or downsize in order to achieve living costs in line with their pension.
The study revealed ...
April 15, 2008
by Gill Montia
Financial website, Fool.co.uk, is continuing to track the psychological condition of so called "recession virgins", as the credit crisis continues.
According to Fool's latest piece of research, around 23% of 24 to 34-year-olds are losing sleep over the prospects for the housing market.
In the past three months, nearly 17% of respondents to the survey said they had been making regular enquiries ...
by Kay Murchie
Wachovia, the fourth-largest bank in the US, is to cut its dividend and raise $7 billion in a share sale after announcing a first-quarter loss yesterday of $393 million.
The bank said its problems were due to the severe deterioration in the US property market and the ongoing credit squeeze.
Furthermore, the bank said it will cut jobs at its trading ...
by Kay Murchie
Despite calls by the Government for mortgage lenders to pass on interest rate cuts to borrowers, nationalised Northern Rock still has not passed on last week’s interest rate cut.
The crisis-torn bank said its standard variable rate (SVR) is still under review after Chancellor Alistair Darling said lenders should do more to help homeowners.
A spokesperson for Northern Rock ...
by Gill Montia
In the first-quarter of this year, Abbey, the Spanish-owned bank, has increased its share of the residential mortgage market to the extent that industry experts believe it is now writing one in six of all new mortgages.
Mortgage brokers are ranking the bank as the UK's second biggest lender (behind HBOS) with a market share of around 17% for new business.
Last ...
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Morgan Stanley, the investment bank, is predicting that UK house prices will fall 15% over the next two years, leaving 1.2 million homeowners in negative equity.
For anyone in negative equity, mortgage debt exceeds the value of their home, making it difficult to move.
Homeowners who fall into arrears with their mortgage payments can be repossessed and left with thousands of pounds worth ...
The new chairman of UBS has been criticised by Luqman Arnold, who runs the UK-based investment fund Olivant, and is the former chief executive of UBS.
The Swiss investment bank has been the biggest casualty of the credit squeeze so far and its new chairman, Peter Kurer, has been subject to heavy criticism by Mr Arnold who has purchased a 0.7% ...
Europe’s markets were higher on Wednesday, with the FTSE Eurofirst 300 adding 1.65 percent to 1,302.78 while the CAC-40 was up 1.56 percent to 4,855.1 in Paris, the IBEX was 1.71 percent higher to 13,637.6 in Madrid, and the Dax gained 1.79 percent to 6,702.84 in Frankfurt.
In London, the FTSE 100 added 2.36 percent to 6,046.2 while the FTSE 250 gained ...
Financial website, Fool.co.uk, is continuing to track the psychological condition of so called "recession virgins", as the credit crisis continues.
According to Fool's latest piece of research, around 23% of 24 to 34-year-olds are losing sleep over the prospects for the housing market.
In the past three months, nearly 17% of respondents to the survey said they had been making regular enquiries ...
