According to housing intelligence group, Hometrack, house prices in England and Wales have fallen at their fastest annual pace since October 2009. According to Hometrack, house prices fell by 0.1% in June and are 3.9% lower on the year. House prices have now fallen for 11 consecutive months, according to the group. Hometrack attributes the [...]
Oil prices have fallen further as investors continue to worry about the weak US recovery and Greece’s debt woes. Today, Brent crude for August delivery fell $2.95 to $102.72 a barrel, while US light, sweet crude dropped $1.13 cents to $90.14 a barrel. The US economy continues to struggle amid stubbornly high unemployment and a [...]
The Commerce Department has today revealed sales of new homes in the US fell, suggesting the housing market remains depressed. According to the Commerce Department, new single-family home sales fell by 2.1% in May on a monthly basis to an annual rate of 319,000 units, after two consecutive months of gains. However, despite the fall, [...]
Supermarket giant Tesco has today reported a fall in UK like-for-like sales but said overseas sales remained strong. British shoppers continue to rein in their spending due to economic uncertainty and Government spending cuts which led to a fall of 0.1% in sales for the 12 week period to 28 May – worse than the [...]
Asian shares fell today after the world’s largest economy raised fears of a slowdown. Figures issued in the US yesterday revealed manufacturing activity slowed to its lowest level since September 2009 and was weaker than economists had expected. Furthermore, payroll processing firm ADP said private employers created a less than expected 38,000 jobs last month [...]
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 [...]
The latest house price index from the Nationwide Building Society has revealed a 0.3% rise for the month of May compared with April. The latest fall means house prices are now 1.2% lower than this time last year with the average UK home costing £167,208. Despite the rise, the housing market remains subdued as a [...]
According to Knight Frank LLP, 59% of new-build property in London has been acquired by Asian buyers in the six month period to April. This is up from 48% a year earlier as buyers seek alternatives from rocketing property prices in China and Singapore. The estate agent said Asian buyers are taking advantage of the [...]
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has today revealed the UK housing market remained weak last month. The Institution’s March monthly survey revealed sales and prices were flat, while interest from prospective buyers was waning. However, London appears to be bucking the trend with house prices in the capital rising for a second consecutive [...]
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has today revealed the UK housing market remains weak. However, it appears house price falls are easing. While prices in England and Wales continued to fall last month, it was at the slowest pace since last summer. The Rics revealed 26% more surveyors reported house price falls than [...]
According to housing intelligence group, Hometrack, house prices in England and Wales fell for the eighth consecutive month in February. According to Hometrack, house prices fell by 0.2% on the month – however, this was the smallest decline for six months. On an annual basis, meanwhile, house prices were 2.7% lower in February – the [...]
The Ministry of Finance has today revealed Japan posted its first trade deficit since March 2009 in January, due to slower exports. The world’s third largest economy posted a trade deficit of 471.42 billion yen (£3.52 billion) in January, with exports rising just 1.4% – analysts had forecast a rise of closer to 7%. Meanwhile, [...]
The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) has today revealed a further fall in the number of new mortgages approved by the major banks in January. According to the BBA, the number of new mortgages approved in the month stood at 28,932 – marginally better than December’s levels but 29% lower compared with January 2010. The figures [...]
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has today revealed uncertainty surrounding the economy means buyers and sellers remain cautious. As a result, the housing market has got off to a slow start in 2011 as buyer demand remains weak and supply levels remain low. However, the Institution said new buyer enquiries picked up in [...]
The latest house price index from the Nationwide Building Society has revealed a 0.1% fall for the month of January compared with December. The latest fall means house prices are now 1.1% lower than this time last year with the average UK home costing £161,600. According to Nationwide’s chief economist Robert Gardner, the outlook remains [...]
The Commerce Department has today revealed a rise in sales of new homes in the US for the month of December. According to the Commerce Department, new single-family home sales rose to a better than expected annual rate of 329,000 units, from a revised 280,000 in November. However, on an annual basis, December sales were [...]
A survey has revealed Europe’s powerhouse, Germany, continue to leads the recovery after the economy’s services sector rose to a 55-month high. Early findings from the business survey, Markit’s Flash Purchasing Managers’ Index for the 17-member nation rose to 55.2 in January from 54.2 in December, beating forecasts of a 54.3 reading. The index remains [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today reported UK retail sales were hit by the severe wintry weather in December and rising prices. According to the ONS, retail sales during December were down by 0.8% from the previous month – much worse than expected. It was the worst annual performance for any December since [...]
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has today revealed activity in the UK housing market fell in December as heavy snowfall gripped most of the country during the month. The Institution said new buyer enquiries were down, while new instructions from vendors fell to an 18-month low. Uncertainty surrounding the economy and the ongoing [...]
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has today reported mortgage lending remained weak in November. However, the month is traditionally a quiet one as prospective buyers opt to wait until the New Year to purchase a home. The number of loans approved for those buying a new home remained flat at 44,000 during the month [...]
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
