The UK’s equity release market held steady in the final quarter of 2009, taking into account seasonal factors. According to industry body, Safe Home Income Plans (SHIP), volumes declined by 1.9% on the previous three months while the value of the average advance showed a 4% increase. With more homeowners seeking flexible deals, the number [...]
Mortgage lending by Britain’s High Street banks strengthened slightly in December, although the end of the stamp duty holiday is likely to have prompted a surge in completions before the New Year. The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) reported net lending of £3.5 billion during the month, up from £3.4 billion in November and showing an [...]
Ethical bank Triodos reported a record year for its UK operations in 2009, with lending and commitments growing by 73%. During 2009 the bank loaned nearly £250 million to organisations in the UK delivering social, environmental or cultural benefits. Bevis Watts, the bank’s head of business banking, said the surge in lending for 2009 was [...]
Lenders approved an estimated £13.7 billion in home loans during December, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported. Gross lending showed a 14% rise on November and the figure was also 3% up on December 2008. Furthermore, the rise put the annual comparison in positive territory for the first time since October 2007; however, [...]
The Federal Statistics Office has today revealed that the German economy, which is Europe’s largest, contracted by a record 5% in 2009 – the first time in six years the economy had shrunk and the deepest since World War II. The record contraction was due to a slump in demand in exports and investment. In [...]
Last year saw a steep rise in reported mortgage fraud, new research from BDO has revealed. During 2009 mortgage fraud accounted for 18% of all reported fraud and 27% of fraud in the UK finance and insurance sector. The accounting firm’s spokesman, Simon Bevan, comments: “It may have become more difficult for the person on [...]
Despite the doom and gloom in 2009, London’s FTSE added 22% over the course of the year – the biggest annual gain since 1997. Similar gains were seen in Europe with Germany’s Dax gaining 23% and France’s Cac added 22%. The FTSE 100 hit a low point in March 2009 of 3512 but ended 2009 [...]
Potential first-time buyers on average earnings can now afford to buy a home in nearly four out of 10 regions of the UK, the Halifax has reported. According to the lender’s research, 39% of the UK’s local authority districts are accessible to those wanting to buy their first property, compared to 6% when the housing [...]
The Bank of England has published new figures indicating that during the third quarter of 2009, UK homeowners paid around £4.9 billion off their combined mortgage debt. Over the past six months, the credit crisis, recession, fear of negative equity and low savings rates have prompted mortgage borrowers to raise their stakes in their homes. [...]
Direct Line wants to put a dampener on Christmas by telling people not to leave gifts under the Christmas tree. Peace, good will, and festive fun with the family are anathemas to the insurer, which would prefer we spent our Christmas worried about thieves. According to Direct Line, the age-old tradition of leaving presents under [...]
In its November 2009 Housing Market Survey, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) reports that prices continue to rise, despite a modest increase in the number of properties coming up for sale. According to the research, a net balance of 35% of chartered surveyors agreed that prices were increasing, up from 34% in October. [...]
The Bank of England’s quarterly report covering the autumn of 2009 shows householders’ disposable incomes after tax, housing costs, loan payments and utility bills having fallen by an average £100 per month over the past year. Manual workers, many of whom have been hit by reduced working hours, saw their disposable incomes depleted by between [...]
New research from Halifax has revealed that the Nation’s children are receiving an average £6.24 a week in pocket money. In 2009, pocket money support for offspring aged between eight and 15 has increased by 11p on a year earlier, despite the recession. However, the average is significantly down on the £8.37 a week handed [...]
Low interest rates throughout 2009 have helped some people put more money aside into savings, a financial expert has claimed. Darren Cook, spokesperson for Moneyfacts.co.uk, said low interest rates have decreased mortgage payments for homeowners, increasing their disposable income, which can be used for savings. “If you look at people that had existing mortgages before [...]
Just 15% of Brits have put aside money to pay for Christmas, according to research published this week. Seven in ten (71%) plan to pay for Christmas using their regular monthly income, while 14% will put their Christmas spending onto a credit card. Nearly five million Brits are still paying off debts from last year’s [...]
Barratt Developments is to focus on building houses rather than apartments, in response to lenders’ preferences. The group’s chief executive, Mark Clare, says the company will build what it knows it can sell and in the case of apartments, lenders are making life difficult for mortgage borrowers by asking for deposits of 25%. The oversupply [...]
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has cut its forecast for the number of repossessions in 2009 to 48,000. The estimate is substantially down on earlier forecasts of 75,000 in 2008 and 65,000 in June of this year, and the body says the improvement reflects “lender forbearance, government measures and the beneficial effect of continuing [...]
Latest figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) show that in September, one third of first-time buyers benefited from the current stamp duty holiday. There were 6,200 first-time buyer loans for properties priced between the old starting rate of £125,000 and the temporary threshold of £175,000, representing 32% of 19,700 first-time buyer loans approved. [...]
For every property on the market there are five potential buyers looking to snatch it up, new research has discovered. A study by the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) found estate agents had an average of 287 prospective buyers on their books in October. The average number of properties available at estate agents was [...]
M&S Money launches 3% cash ISA
M&S Money has launched an Advantage Cash ISA paying 3 per cent, and which allows transfers in from other ISAs. It can be opened with a minimum deposit of £100 lump sum followed by minimum monthly deposits of £25. The 3% rate is variable, but there is no short-term bonus so the return won’t plummet [...]
Google suspends UK Compare Mortgages site
Google has closed its UK mortgage comparison site which it launched in July last year, after it proved to be less popular than expected. Mortgage comparison sites are designed to allow visitors to compare mortgages quickly and easily without having to visit each lender’s individual site. Google was competing with several well-established comparison sites, including [...]
AA launches ‘black-box’ policy for young drivers
The AA is launching an innovative car insurance policy called Drivesafe which could help younger drivers save up to £850 a year. Younger drivers already pay substantially higher premiums than other motorists and these costs are increasing. A new study by Confused.com suggests insurance costs for younger driver have gone up by 5.7 per cent [...]
ATOL scheme updated to protect online bookers
ATOL, a financial protection scheme managed by the Civil Aviation Authority, is being extended to protect up to six million more holidays a year. The scheme ensures that holiday makers do not lose out financially if a travel company collapses, and that they are not stranded abroad. An increase in the number of holidays booked [...]
Home repossessions lowest for four years
The number of UK homes repossessed fell to 36,200 in 2011, significantly below the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ forecast of 40,000, and lower than 2010 when 37,100 homes were repossessed. With interest rates remaining low and lenders adopting a sympathetic attitude to customers in financial difficulty, repossessions fell to their lowest level since 2007. However, [...]
Monthly pay lasting just 17 days
Workers are running out of money just 17 days after receiving their monthly pay, according to new research by the Halifax bank. This means that the average UK worker spends half the month worrying about money. The study, based on the responses of more than 2,000 adults, found that 10 per cent of workers start [...]
Women disadvantaged by auto-enrolment changes
Government proposals to increase the auto-enrolment threshold to £10,000 could put 1.8 million women at risk of missing out on a pension, the TUC has warned. Under the auto-enrolment scheme, which will be phased in from October, private sector employers will automatically enrol workers between the age of 22 years and the state pension age, [...]
Emergency household repairs company Homeserve is taking longer than expected to get back on track after its operations were suspended last October. The company expected customer numbers to fall by 5% this year but it has increased this estimate to 8% and announced the loss of 200 jobs. It estimates that renewal revenue in 2013 [...]
Sale rumoured for Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks
There is growing speculation that National Australia Bank (NAB) may sell Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank after the Australian parent company announced a strategic review of the two banks’ operations. The Australian economy is performing well and NAB reported strong profits for the final quarter of 2011 but with the UK economy at a virtual [...]
More women experiencing debt difficulties
Women in Debt, which offers female-focused debt advice, has warned that the number of UK women facing serious debt has grown significantly over recent years. The organisation believes that more women will need advice on solving debt problems in the future because they are building up an unsustainable level of indebtedness. Women in Debt’s director, [...]
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