While most families think that their first baby will require more financial outlay than subsequent children, new research suggests that the second child may be more expensive because the family may have to move to a larger house. Families with a second baby on the way are paying an average of £60,000 to move to [...]
According to figures from the Bank of England, Britons increased their financial stake in their homes by £5.8 billion in the first quarter of 2011 – the smallest injection in a year. The figure was much lower than the £7.1 billion in the October to December period in 2010 – which represented the highest since [...]
According to housing intelligence group, Hometrack, house prices in England and Wales fell at their fastest annual pace since October 2009 last month. According to Hometrack, house prices fell by 0.1% on the month and are 3.7% lower on the year. House prices have now fallen for 10 consecutive months, according to the group. Hometrack [...]
Prime Minister David Cameron has stood firm over his Government’s plan to cut housing benefits. The opposition claimed the policy was a “complete shambles” but the PM defended the moves and said: “These are difficult changes but I think it is right.” The proposals include ending the “council housing for life”, which means tenants in [...]
Approval has been given by the Obama administration to help areas affected by the housing bust, as part of a $1.5 billion programme. According to Treasury sources, plans for Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada have received approval. Under the scheme, more than 90,000 homeowners are set to benefit broken down as follows:- California will [...]
Official data has today revealed that US consumer prices fell in April by 0.1% on a monthly basis - the first decline in 13 months. The fall was attributed to declines in petrol, housing, car and clothing prices according to the Labor Department. Petrol prices fell by 2.4%, clothing costs fell 0.7%, while food costs [...]
Reporting on its recent “Future Housing” conference the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) says it expects the UK to see a smaller proportion of homeowners and a higher proportion of tenants, mostly in the private sector, in the years ahead. Changing consumer preferences and affordability pressures will drive the trend. Examining the plight of first-time [...]
A “devastating” second-wave of arrears and repossessions is set to hit the UK within the next two years, according to a leading housing charity. Shelter has called on the government and mortgage lenders to prepare for hundreds of thousands of repossessions as rising unemployment takes its toll on homeowners. Figures release this week by the [...]
More than on in three city dwellers are thinking about moving to the countryside because of the level of crime in their neighbourhood. In a poll by Halifax Home Insurance, 37% of urbanites said criminal activity has prompted them to think about moving to a more rural location. This is compared to just 8% of [...]
First time buyers are paying record deposits as lenders make it even more difficult to take out a mortgage. Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) show that a typical first time buyer now has to put down a deposit of 24% - the highest percentage since records began in 1974. With the average [...]
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 Building Societies Association (BSA) has published the results of its latest Property Tracker survey, which indicate that more people believe that now is a good time to buy a home. Forty-six per cent of those surveyed were, to some extent, positive about making a purchase, compared with 34% in September and 27% in July. [...]
Estate agency, Connells, is selling its 17% stake in Rightmove. The decision by the UK’s second-largest residential property agent is a further ill wind for the housing market, particularly as Connells’ 21 million shares in the website are being offered at a discount on the market price. Connells was instrumental in setting up Rightmove eight [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has reported a sharp rise in the number of people losing their homes because they are unable to keep up their mortgage payments. In the three months to the end of June, repossessions of residential properties rose 71% to 11,054. The figure compares with 6,476 during the same three months [...]
House sales are at their lowest for 30 years. Latest figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) show that in the three months to the end of August estate agents sold an average 14.4 homes, or 1.1 properties per week. The level of transactions is 47% below August 2007 and compares with average [...]
The chief executive of HBOS, which owns Halifax, the UK’s largest mortgage lender, has warned that house prices are unlikely to begin a recovery before 2010. According to Andy Hornby, confidence in Britain’s housing market will not return until banks can raise significant sums on the wholesale financial markets. In addition, house price deflation could [...]
Housing developer, Persimmon, has reported a 30% fall in sales of new homes in the six months to the end of June. The company sold 5,501 new homes during the period, down from 8,002 in the first half of 2007. Blaming the UK’s shrinking mortgage market for plummeting sales, Persimmon has also revealed that the [...]
The Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR) is predicting that house prices will begin a rapid recovery at the end of next year, rising by 30% by 2012. Research undertaken for CEBR by Oxford Economics indicates that a shortage of homes will be the main driver behind a return to property price inflation. In [...]
Hometrack has reported that house prices fell 1.2% in July, declining for the tenth consecutive month. According to the property intelligence firm, the price of the average home now stands at £168,500 or £2,000 less than one month ago. This marks an annual decline of 4.4% that has taken £7,800 off the average house price. [...]
Auto-enrolment could lead to pensions mis-selling
The Pensions Institute has warned that the government’s recently launched auto-enrolment programme could lead to workers being enrolled into poor-value pension schemes. This month employers started to automatically enrol workers aged between 22 years and state pension age into a workplace pension, as long as they earn £8,105 or more. The scheme has started with [...]
Annuity rates plummet due to money-printing
Annuity rates have fallen by 7 per cent in just three months according to MGM Advantage, the retirement income specialist. This means that a 65 year old man with pension savings of £50,000 would receive a retirement income of £2,579 a year from the annuity they purchased with their pension pot, compared with £2,778 in [...]
Barclays follows Co-op in banning sales incentives
Barclays is changing its bonus system for 18,000 branch and call centre staff, following a similar move by the Co-operative bank. Barclays is ending the practice of awarding staff commission for selling financial policies. Like the Co-op, Barclays will now provide bonuses for good customer service rather than for meeting sales targets. Antony Jenkins, who [...]
Co-operative Bank bans sales incentives
The Co-operative Bank has banned sales incentives for its branch staff and replaced them with an incentive system which rewards good customer service with bonuses of up to £400 per quarter. Around 3 per cent of branch staff were offered incentives to sell products. The Co-op plans to introduce the new customer service incentive scheme [...]
UK out of recession economic research institute claims
The UK economy returned to growth in the third quarter according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), marking an end to the double dip recession. The NIESR estimates that GDP grew by 0.8 per cent in the three months ending in September, building on an improvement seen in the three months [...]
Pick up in UK house sales expected
House sales in the UK are expected to improve in the next three months, helped by the government’s funding for lending scheme, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). The Funding for Lending scheme, launched by the government and the Bank of England, makes £80bn of lower cost funding available to lenders to [...]
Barclays expands through ING Direct acquisition
Barclays is acquiring the UK operations of Dutch banking and insurance group ING Direct. Barclays will take on ING UK’s £10.9bn of deposits and its £5.6bn mortgage book, as well as 750 employees and 1.5 million customers. ING, which has its UK headquarters in Reading, is divesting its UK assets to help raise funds to [...]
Frodo Financial launches overdraft service
Frodo Financial, a new financial technology company, has launched an online overdraft system which provides an alternative to a bank overdraft. The new Frodo Flexi account provides a rolling cash-credit facility of between £1,000 and £10,000 that runs alongside a customer’s current account with their existing bank. It offers a 16.9% APR variable interest rate [...]
Security concerns over NatWest mobile banking app
NatWest bank has suspended its Get Cash app which allows customers to withdraw money from a cash machine without a debit card, according to a report by the BBC. Customers request the cash on their mobile and a 6 digit pin is generated which they then enter at the cash money to withdraw funds. However, [...]
UK consumer spending higher in September
Consumer spending increased by 3 per cent in September compared with August, as people spent more on clothes and in hotels and restaurants. The figures, from Visa Europe’s UK expenditure index which is compiled by Markit, represent the biggest increase since May 2009. The increased spending follows improvements in the job market which have boosted [...]
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