A combination of greedy sellers, nervous buyers and unscrupulous estate agents who promise sky-high prices in order to tempt clients, is being blamed for an epidemic of discounting in the London property market, where a third of all homes for sale have had their original asking price slashed

Greeks have been withdrawing hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) from banks in recent days as the prospect of the country being forced out of the European Union's common currency zone

According to the financial information service Moneyfacts, there are 58 deals around at the moment, from 22 lenders. That compares with 29 deals a year ago and just 19 at the start of 2010. But the reality is that very few people are being granted a home loan with just a 5% deposit.

The Bank of England moved the goalposts for inflation once more today as it admitted the headline rate would run above target for another 'year or so'.

A new village of up to 2,500 homes will spring up across the north of Preston in the next 15 years, according to plans unveiled today. Preston Council has revealed it has pinpointed farmland across the north west of the city, including Higher Bartle and a 140-acre spot overlooking a motorway junction. It has also identified other sites across the city, where it will allow house-builders to develop nearly 8,500 new homes.

"The single biggest threat to the recovery stems from the challenges within the euro area, in particular the need to reduce the indebtedness and improve the competitiveness of some member countries. ...As was the case in past Reports, the MPC sees no meaningful way to quantify the size and likelihood of the most extreme possibilities associated with developments in the euro area, and they are therefore excluded from the fan charts. But the threat of these more extreme outcomes is likely to affect economic activity over the forecast period, for example through its effect on asset prices, including the exchange rate, bank funding costs, and confidence; such effects are captured in the MPC’s projections."

An good infographic on Americas property market

In total, six revealed their figures. Together, they sell 30,000 properties a year - but said they have so far completed sales on only FIVE* homes under the NewBuy scheme. *My emphasis

The desperate/cunning scheme to get Greeks to pay property taxes by bundling them with electricity bills didn’t last long. You guessed it, people stopped paying their electricity bills and now it looks like the power company – which had to be bailed out last month – has stopped even trying to collect the levy.

Posted by dill @ 06:13 PM 8 Comments

Water providers with plentiful supplies have been told by the industry regulator to help drought-stricken areas.