The latest house price figures from the Nationwide show the average cost of a UK home falling by an annual 15.9%, in December. During the month values took another 2.5% dip, taking the average cost of a property down to £153,048, or £29,000 less than a year earlier. According to the building society’s index, prices [...]
The Halifax house price index shows the average cost of a UK home sliding a further 2.2% in December. The annual decline now stands at 16.2% taking the average price of a property down to £159,896, compared with £197,074 at the beginning of 2008. The analysis is based on three-month figures but a month-on-month comparison [...]
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported that gross mortgage lending in November stood at around £14.6 billion. During the month, the value of home loans provided by CML members fell 22% on October and 51% on November of 2007. The Council points out that while there is typically a decline in gross lending [...]
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) has published its latest predictions for the UK economy, stating that it expects the economy to enter into a deep recession in the final quarter of the year. The independent institute estimates that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell by 1% in the three months to the [...]
Official figures from the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) show that in October, the average cost of a UK home had fallen 7.4% from a year earlier. The monthly fall stood at 2.5% taking the average cost of a property to £203,539; London remained the UK’s most expensive city with an average house [...]
Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) is predicting that UK property prices will decline by between 13% and 15% in 2009. The international real estate firm expects London to see a steeper than average fall, forecasting a drop in the Greater London area of between 15% and 17%, while in central London homeowners could see 16% to [...]
Halifax has reported a further 2.6% fall in the average price of a UK home, in November. The annual rate of decline now stands at 14.9% (compared with 13.7% in October), with the average cost of a property at £163,605, roughly the same as in July 2005 and down £31,485 over the past 12 months. [...]
The director general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has warned that mortgages will continue to be in short supply into 2009. Speaking at an industry conference earlier this week, Michael Coogan explained that there are many reasons for this, including an overall shrinkage of the UK mortgage market and the difficulties faced by [...]
Mortgage approvals for house purchases fell during October, having seen a slight rise in September. Figures from the Bank of England show that 32,000 new home loans were approved during the month, despite the 0.5% cut in the base rate at the beginning of October. The decline takes the figure below the level seen in [...]
Latest figures from the Land Registry show house prices in England and Wales falling by an annual 10.1%, in October. The average value of a home declined 1.5% during the month, to £165,529, a figure last seen in mid-2006. The Registry compiles its data from completed transactions and therefore lags behind other monitors of the [...]
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) Scotland has reported that loans for house purchases fell to 15,100 in the three months to the end of September. Scotland still continues to support the highest regional share of new UK house purchase lending but the figure represents an 18% decline on the previous quarter and is in [...]
The slide in UK house prices levelled off slightly in November, with the average price of a home declining just 0.4%, according to Nationwide. The fall compares with a 1.3% drop in October and means that house prices are down 13.9% on November 2007, compared with an annual fall of 14.6%, in October. The price [...]
House building figures for the three months to the end of September have been released by the Department of Communities and Local Government. The statistics show that new housing starts in England stood at an estimated 22,200, with the seasonally adjusted figure down 33% of the previous three months and 48% lower than a year [...]
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported that the temporary rise in the stamp duty threshold, to £175,000, benefited 51% of homebuyers during September. In the same month last year, when the threshold stood at £125,000, only 22% of homebuyers escaped the tax. The CML also notes that in September, the number of mortgages [...]
The chief executive of Nationwide Building Society, Graham Beale, is predicting that house prices will continue to fall during 2008/09 and possibly into 2010. Mr Beale is expecting a peak to trough decline of 25%, after which improved affordability ratios will encourage first-time buyers back into the market. The comments came as the UK’s largest [...]
The Land Registry has published house price data for September, showing the cost of the average home down 2.2% (£5,700) during the month, to £168,814. The decline means that house prices in England and Wales have fallen 8% over the year, although the rate of decline accelerated last month, from 4.6% in August. Wales saw [...]
The Halifax has published its house price index for September, showing a 1.3% fall in the average cost of a UK home. The decline brings the year-on-year fall to 12.4%. According to the UK’s largest mortgage lender, house prices fell 5.2% over the three months to the end of September, taking the average price of [...]
Nationwide has published its latest house price index, which shows a 1.7% decline in the cost of the average UK home, in September. The fall brings the year-on-year decline to 12.4% and puts the price of the average property at £161,797. According to the building society, prices have now fallen for 11 consecutive months, although [...]
The Land Registry has published its house price index for August, showing a 4.6% annual fall in the average cost of a home, to £174,439. The monthly decline stood at 1.9%, which compares with a monthly fall of 0.6% in July. The average house price in England and Wales has now returned to the level [...]
HM Revenue & Customs has reported that the number of homes sold in the UK fell to 62,000 in August, a 60% year-on-year decline. The figure sits alongside latest data from the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), which announced yesterday that mortgage approvals for house purchases fell to 21,086 in August, down 63% on August 2007 [...]
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 [...]
About | Privacy | Disclaimer | Resources | XML Feeds | Press Releases | Directory | Contact us
