The UK manufacturing sector is showing some signs of improvement after the CIPS/Markit manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 39.1 last month, up from 34.9 in February. Anything below the 50 mark represents a contraction in activity, but the pace of decline last month slowed at a faster rate than economists had predicted by economists. [...]
Official figures from the Land Registry show house prices in England and Wales falling a further 2% during February, taking the annual rate of decline to 16.5% and marking 18 consecutive months of sliding values. According to the data, the average price of a house now stands at £153,862, a level last seen in September [...]
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has released its UK house price statistics for January, based on mortgage completions during the month. The figures show the average cost of a home falling 11.5% since January 2008, to £195,724. However, the decline in prices eased during the three months to the end of January [...]
Numis Securities, the investment banking and institutional stockbroking firm, has predicted the worst outcome yet for the UK property market. Analysts at the firm suggest that house prices could slump by a further 55% as Britian faces a deep recession that could extend throughout 2010. Already 21% below their 2007 peak, Numis estimates that UK [...]
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have revealed manufacturing output in the UK fell for the eleventh consecutive month in January, and shrank at its fastest annual pace since January 1981. According to the ONS, output fell 12.8% compared with a year ago as the downturn continues to have a devastating affect on [...]
The Halifax house price index returned to its usual sombre mood in February, showing a 2.3% fall in the average house price, against a surprise 1.9% monthly rise in January. According to the lender, the value of the average UK residence fell £3,800 during the month to £160,327, a level last seen in August 2004. [...]
The Land Registry has become the latest contributor to depressing statistics on the UK housing market. The body, which reports one month behind other house price commentators, calculates that in January house prices in England and Wales were 15.1% lower than a year earlier. The average value of a home fell 0.8% on December, marking [...]
Property developer Barratt Homes has followed rival Redrow in reporting a substantial loss for 2008. The company blames falling property prices, a shortage of mortgage funding and writedowns on the value of its land bank for a pre-tax loss of £592.4 million, compared with a profit of £192.4 million in 2007. The group’s average selling [...]
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), which represents 98% of the UK’s residential mortgage providers, has reported that gross mortgage lending declined in January, to an estimated £12.4 billion. The total is down 8% on December and 52% year-on-year. Traditionally a slight fall is recorded between December and January, however, last month’s figure is at [...]
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has warned that the UK economy will contract at nearly double the rate previously forecast this year. The organisation said that the deteriorating global economy, together with a rise in unemployment and the ongoing difficulties that UK firms are facing in accessing credit will drive the economy deeper into [...]
The world’s second largest economy has suffered its worst ever decline in 35 years the Cabinet Office said in Tokyo today. In the period October to December, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell 3.3% – the third consecutive quarter in which GDP declined. In comparison, the euro zone suffered a 1.5% decline while the US, which [...]
The latest report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) shows UK house sales continuing to fall in January despite a rise in buyer interest. The average number of sales per estate agency declined to 9.9 compared with 10 a month earlier, establishing another record low for the survey since it began in 1978. [...]
The desperate need for increased mortgage lending has been highlighted by a report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), which is predicting that UK house prices could fall by a further 25% in 2009. Taking into account last year’s 16% decline, the forecast gives a peak-to-trough fall of 40%. The independent consultancy [...]
Nationwide’s latest house price survey offers little cheer to homeowners. According to the building society, house prices continued to fall in January, dropping 1.3% on a month earlier and shaving £2,500 off the value of the average home. The decline was slightly less than December’s, when Nationwide recorded a slide of 2.5%. The annual rate [...]
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported that gross mortgage lending fell to an estimated £12.6 billion in December, down 11% from a month earlier and 47% on December 2007. The monthly figure is the lowest since April 2001, according to CML records, and the Council’s director general, Michael Coogan, comments that December is [...]
Rightmove has reported that the average asking price of a house in England and Wales has fallen by 7.3% over the past year, to £213,570. Average asking prices in January are 1.9% down on December, with the biggest drop recorded in the West Midlands, at 6%. The East Midlands recorded the only increase in average [...]
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported that in November, new mortgage lending continued to fall. The number of new home loans approved fell 17% on October to 33,000 and was 59% below the level recorded in November 2007. The outlook for the next few months is bleak, with the CML predicting that lending [...]
Redrow is the latest UK housebuilder to report a sharp fall in sales during the second half of 2008. The group sold 853 homes in the six months to the end of December, compared with 1,657 during the same period of 2007. The average price of a Redrow property fell to £140,000 declining from £162,700 [...]
The Chesterton House Price Poll of Polls, which is conducted in conjunction with the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), shows that in December, house prices in England and Wales averaged a year-on-year decline of 12.8%. Prices fell in all regions of the UK save Scotland where marginal growth was recorded. The fall is [...]
A new report from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and recovery specialist KPMG, plots a record decline in demand for staff. The key highlights of the Report on Jobs include a record fall in the placement of permanent and temporary staff; a record rise in candidate availability and a continued decline in average wages [...]
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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