The Spanish economy has finally emerged from recession after experiencing growth of just 0.1% in the first quarter of 2010, ending a run of seven consecutive quarters of contraction. A report from the country’s central bank said: “The information available indicates a return to weak growth in the first quarter in an environment characterised by [...]
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply/Markit construction PMI index grew in April at its fastest rate since September 2007 – prior to the economic downturn. The index jumped to 58.2 in April, up from an unrevised 53.1 in the previous month. Any reading above 50 indicates growth within the sector. The growth was attributed [...]
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply/Markit construction PMI index surged in March for the first time in over two years as housebuilding picked up. The index jumped to 53.1 points in March, up from 48.5 the previous month and the first month the index has enjoyed growth since February 2008. Any reading above 50 [...]
The Commerce Department has revealed a fall in housing starts for the month of December but building permits rose. According to the Commerce Department, construction of new US homes fell 4% during the month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 557,000 properties. The fall was primarily due to bad weather which hit most of [...]
The Chartered Institute of Planning & Supply(CIPS)/Markit purchasing managers index revealed a marginal rise in UK construction activity to 47.0 in November, from 46.2 in October. Any figure below the 50 mark represents a contraction but November’s reading represents the highest since August as the rate of decline slows and new order volumes saw an [...]
According to the Commerce Department, construction of new US homes plunged 10.6% in October to an annual rate of 529,000 properties – the lowest level since April. Analysts had expected the rate to exceed the 600,000 mark. The decline in construction was led by a fall in demand for both single-family and multi-family occupancies. Meanwhile, [...]
The Chartered Institute of Planning & Supply(CIPS)/Markit purchasing managers index fell to 46.2 in October, from 46.7 in September, marking the 20th consecutive month of falls due to a slump in demand for commercial and civil engineering work. Meanwhile, job cuts in the sector also increased at the fastest rate in four months, while input [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed that the UK economy contracted by 0.6% in the April to June period – rather than the 0.7% previously reported and the 0.8% reported prior to that. The latest revision comes as the manufacturing and construction sectors performed better than originally thought and brings further hope [...]
Wolseley, which is the world’s largest supplier of plumbing and heating equipment, has today posted an annual loss due to the ongoing problems in the housing market. The company, which owns Plumb Center and Build Center in the UK, slumped to a pre-tax loss of £766 million for the year to 31 July, compared with [...]
The Commerce Department has revealed a fall in US housing starts for the month of July ending three months of gains. According to the Commerce Department, construction of new US homes fell 1% in the month to an annual rate of 581,000 properties. However, there was a fifth straight monthly rise in single family home [...]
The US Commerce Department has today revealed that new US housebuilding fell to a record low in April, sending shares down following yesterday‘s rebound. According to official figures, new housing starts fell 12.8% to an annual rate of 458,000 units – the lowest level since records began fifty years ago. On an annual basis, housing [...]
According to Bank of Spain estimates released today, the Spanish economy has shrunk by 1.8 percent in the first quarter and hinted that gross domestic product (GDP) has fallen by 2.9 percent in the last year, even though the Spanish government had, up until recently, said that the GDP decrease would be no more than [...]
The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price index has reported that house prices in the US plunged at a record rate in January compared with the previous year. Prices plunged by 19% and represents the biggest fall since the index commenced over 20 years ago. Meanwhile, the closely-monitored index showed prices fell 2.8% in January compared [...]
A newly formed body is urging the Government to build more than 100,000 affordable homes over the next two years. The 2020 Group, which is chaired by former Government housing adviser, Kate Barker, is arguing that the economy could be kick-started by a building programme on this scale, which would cost in the region of [...]
The price of oil fell to $59.32 a barrel in early trading today, the lowest point since February 2007, amid growing concerns that a US recession will reduce demand. Oil prices reached a high of $147 a barrel in mid-July. Last week, Opec said it would cut its output by 1.5m barrels a day to [...]
A survey has revealed that activity in the construction sector plummeted to a new low during July. The Construction Managers’ Index, which measures trends in the housing, commercial and civil engineering sector, showed that a reading of the industry fell to a low of 36.7 from 38.8 in June, this represented the lowest figure since [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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