Monday, February 28, 2005 
Daily Mail: Lib Dems plan top rate tax hike Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy today confirmed his party's plans to abolish council tax and introduce a new 50 per cent top rate of income tax for high-earners.
Reuters (US): Income Falls, Core Inflation Picks Up U.S. consumer spending was unchanged in January, a government report showed Monday, and a sharper-than-expected pickup in inflation sparked fears the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates faster than expected.
This is Lincolnshire: House price fall of 1.5 per cent 'among worst' Homeowners in Lincoln saw the value of their property fall by 1.5 per cent in the last six months, according to a survey out today.
Sky News: Property Price Falls Slowing Down Prices on property sold via the internet are falling at their slowest rate since last August, according to online seller Hometrack.com.
ThisisLondon: New buyers back for houses New buyers are returning to the housing market confident that interest rates have peaked, according to a study published today. The number of buyers registered with property website Hometrack jumped 28.5% last month.
ShareCast: US week ahead: All eyes on jobs for rate clues With another busy week ahead, dealers will be looking hard for hints as to where inflation and interest rates are heading after last Friday’s GDP data showed strong growth during the fourth quarter.
Guardian: HSBC hits record profits HSBC today reported 2004 profits of $17.6bn (£9.1bn), a record for a UK bank, boosted by an increase in consumer borrowing and by its US acquisition.
BBC NEWS | Northern Ireland | House prices continuing to rise The decade-long growth in house prices in Northern Ireland is continuing, according to the latest figures.
Datamonitor: UK consumers confident to keep on borrowing despite rising personal debt New Datamonitor research has revealed that consumer borrowing via credit cards, motor and retail finance deals, overdrafts and unsecured personal loans (i.e. outstanding balances) has risen to GBP4,004 per average UK adult at the end of 2004.
Top News Article | Reuters.co.uk House prices have fallen for the eighth consecutive month in February, property research company Hometrack says, leaving the annual gain at just 0.3 percent, the lowest in the survey's 3-1/2-year history.
Sunday, February 27, 2005
This is Money: Pay later with a Euro home loan Plans for a single European mortgage market could allow borrowers to default on home loans for six years before they faced repossession.
The Independent: Springtime sellers awake to a different world The weather has yet to catch up but it looks like the start of the spring housing rush is already upon us.
Sunday Herald: Buy-to-let - the end of the dream David Taylor couldn’t bear to hand over his hard-earned cash to a pension fund investment firm. The 40-year-old Glaswegian had built up a successful private detective agency and he wasn’t about to let a stranger take control of his life savings only to find out 25 years later that the money had barely grown, or worse still, had disappeared altogether.
Saturday, February 26, 2005
The Advertiser (AUS):Nervous wait on interest rates The Hellewells are typical of the many South Australian families who hope the financial experts are wrong and that interest rates won't rise this week.
The Independent: Call to cut stamp duty burden on first-timers Halifax, the UK's fifth largest bank, has written to MPs and members of the Scottish Parliament, warning that first-time buyers in 98 per cent of the UK's constituencies are now paying stamp duty, compared with just 13 per cent of constituencies a decade ago.
Friday, February 25, 2005
Guardian Unlimited Money | Credit and debt | Mortgage lending hits new low Further evidence of a cooler housing market emerged today when figures showed approvals for house loans at their lowest level in six years.
FT.com / World / UK - Bank official's comments fuel rate rise expectations The Bank of England may need to raise interest rates sooner rather than later in order to choke off the danger of rising inflation, according to Rachel Lomax, the Bank's deputy governor for monetary policy.
This is Money | Mortgages | Six-year low for mortgages: THE number of people taking mortgages to buy homes dropped to its lowest level for six years in January, giving a strong signal that the UK property boom is over.
Reuters.co.uk: First-time buyer drought could slow market Fewer first-time buyers entering the market spells trouble for the liquidity of the housing market as a whole, the Council of Mortgage Lenders said on Friday.
BBC NEWS | Business | UK economy tops growth estimates The UK economy expanded faster last year than previously estimated, the Office for National Statistics has said.
Top News Article | Reuters.co.uk Prime Minister Tony Blair, preparing for an election expected in May, has said he will raise the hourly minimum wage by 20 pence, or 4.1 percent, from October.
Realty Times (US): My Rate Prediction It took me a few days to decide whether to write this column. I've been burned before and of course, no one can predict where interest rates are headed so I certainly won't do that. But it's possible, interest rates are getting poised to get real high, real fast.
Swiss Info: Home building reaches new high Business is booming in Switzerland’s property market. About 47,000 homes will be completed this year – more than at any time in the past ten years.
This is Money: Mortgage lending hits six-year low The number of people taking mortgages to buy homes dropped to its lowest level for six years in January, confirming that the property boom is well and truly over.
The Herald: Lomax strikes hawkish tone on rates Rachel Lomax, a deputy governor of the Bank of England, struck a hawkish tone on interest rates in Liverpool yesterday when she highlighted the need for the monetary policy committee to be "pre-emptive".
Telegraph : Minimum wage 'will increase to £5 plus' Tony Blair and Gordon Brown will announce today that the national minimum wage - introduced after Labour came to power in 1997 - will break the £5-an-hour mark later this year.
Thursday, February 24, 2005
BBC NEWS | Business | Oil prices reach new high at $52 Oil prices rose to more than $52 a barrel on Thursday despite better-than-expected figures for US oil inventories.
The Motley Fool UK: Mortgages Consume 20% Of Our Income Are you one of the lucky people whose homes have increased in value by two or three times in the last few years?
Cambridge News: Price rises for homes slow down Cambridgeshire has seen one of the UK's smallest increases in house prices over the last year.
BBC NEWS | Politics | Lib Dems target first-time buyers The Liberal Democrats have unveiled plans to build 100,000 new "affordable" homes on publicly owned land.
Move Channel: More first time buyers set to pay stamp duty Ninety per cent of first-time buyers are likely to pay stamp duty on their homes by 2008, according to Alliance & Leicester Mortgages.
Mortgage Introducer: Fixed rates on the up Moneyfacts report a trend of increasing interest rates for fixed rate mortgages over the last two weeks supporting the thinking that the next movement in base rate will be upwards.
This is Bristol: Mortgages top worries league Mortgage repayments are the number one concern for people living in Wales and the South West of England, new research has revealed.
House prices on the rise again in most areas Property prices are rising again in most areas outside the South East, according to TEAM, the multi-listing network of independent estate agents.
Guardian:To the village of hate with an olive branch On Saturday a crowd gathered in the small Breton village of Bourbriac. Angry at the number of French houses being snapped up by the English, they burned estate agents' brochures and demanded 'Brits out'. So in the spirit of the entente cordiale, Stephen Moss set off on a one-man peace initiative
CNN Money: Mortgage applications fall Applications for U.S. home mortgages fell last week as a drop in home purchasing activity offset a marginal increase in refinancing, amid rising in interest rates, an industry group said Wednesday.
Forex Rate: Gold - The Weekly Global Perspective That was the week that was, Gold Market action.But this week was a better week...
Forex Rate: Gold - The Weekly Global Perspective That was the week that was, Gold Market action.But this week was a better week...
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
BBC NEWS | Business | Fed warns of yet more rate rises US interest rates look set to keep rising after the Federal Reserve said the current 2.5% level may be too low to keep inflation in check.
Telegraph | Property | Spot the difference: If there is going to be a property slump, one of the first places you might expect it to show is on the fringes of Docklands in London.
Guardian: Minutes show pressure building for rate rise The prospects of a rise in interest rates strengthened today as Bank of England minutes disclosed that a policy maker voted to raise borrowing costs earlier this month.
Times Online: Gently does it A snap of wintry economic conditions has reminded us that a rise in interest rates is not the certainty that some believe.
Telegraph: Bank shy over rate rise as inflation grows The Bank of England yesterday played down the chances of a rise in interest rates before the general election, even though its own forecasts show inflation is to rise much faster than expected.
BBC NEWS | Business | Bank voted 8-1 for no rate change The decision to keep interest rates on hold at 4.75% earlier this month was passed 8-1 by the Bank of England's rate-setting body, minutes have shown.
Bank of England: MPC Minutes released (PDF) Minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee Meeting held on 9 & 10 February 2005.
Credit Man: Eurozone inflation to fall below Bank's target; interest rates set to fall Inflation in the eurozone is likely to finally edge below the 2 per cent target for the first time since April 2004.
Telegraph: Interesting challenges around the corner to the Bank's independence Just how independent is the Bank of England? We will know some time in the next couple of months, because there is a distinct possibility it will have to raise interest rates again, just before a general election.
BBC NEWS | Politics | Brown names 16 March for Budget Chancellor Gordon Brown will deliver his Budget to the House of Commons on 16 March, the Treasury has announced.
Times Business: Wimpey drops part-exchange deals in cost-control drive George Wimpey one of the UK’s biggest housebuilders, said yesterday that it had axed part-exchange deals and other sweeteners designed to lure customers to buy its homes, after delivering yet another set of record full-year results.
Yahoo! News: Inflation to exceed target: Bank of England The Bank of England (BoE) said it expected inflation would exceed its target in 2006, leading analysts to predict a further rise in interest rates.
Times Business: Lower jobless rate 'would raise inflation risk' Allowing unemployment to fall further would raise an unacceptable risk of inflation, the Bank of England’s chief economist suggested last night.
This is Money: Housebuilders struggle to sell The desperation of housebuilders to shifts stock in a slow market has reached a new high, with some knocking 15% off the price of a property to secure a sale.
Interactive Investor: BoE's Barker says cloudy outlook for UK economy prevented Feb rate hike Bank of England rate setter Kate Barker was reported as saying that the uncertain short-term outlook for the UK economy prevented the nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee from putting up interest rates in February.
BBC NEWS | Business | Winter freeze keeps oil above $50 Oil prices carried on rising on Wednesday after cold weather on both sides of the North Atlantic pushed US crude prices to four-month highs.
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Knowledge bites: How is a general election called? Here's some information about the general election process and seeing as it's related to the HPC subject we though we share it with you aswell.
ShareCast: Property transactions fall to year low Property transactions in England and Wales have dropped to their lowest level in over a year, the Inland Revenue has revealed.
Latest Business News and Financial Information | Reuters.co.uk January's marginal increase in house prices, the first rise in eight months, could be a sign recent price corrections are at and end and that 2005 will see gentle gains, the National Association of Estate Agents says.
Western Daily Press: Is another property bubble on the horizon? To read the financial press at the weekend and yesterday, one would assume the housing market slowdown is already over. Already the media is reporting that house prices are rising aggressively, driven by the release of the latest Rightmove figures which show asking prices up 2.3 per cent in February.
Monday, February 21, 2005
Daily Mail: House asking prices 'not realistic' Asking prices rose sharply in the last four weeks, leading to claims that sellers and estate agents are not viewing the market realistically.
The Motley Fool UK: Are Estate Agents & Sellers Being Realistic? A friend of mine was complaining over the weekend that he'd not had a sniff of interest from anyone since putting his house on the market three weeks ago.
NetHousesPrices.com: Win an iPod Take a couple of seconds to complete their survey and you could win a mini iPod.
The Guardian | As demand falls, so will house prices What are we to make of the housing market at the moment? The news was negative all through the autumn - the number of buyers was falling, mortgage lending was collapsing and, as a result, prices were dropping. The great 2004 housing market fall appeared to be on us.
Telegraph | News | High street stores feel the pinch as online sales soar The high street's hold over the hearts and wallets of British consumers is being challenged by a boom in home shopping, research showed yesterday.
BBC NEWS | Business | House asking prices 'unrealistic' Asking prices for UK homes have risen sharply in recent weeks, sparking fears that sellers and estate agents are not viewing the market realistically.
This is Money: House prices leap The property market showed strong signs of a new year recovery, according to a new study, with average asking prices leaping by £4,300 in a month.
Righmove: House Price Index - February (PDF) Sellers remain greedy as asking prices rise sharply by 2.3% taking the average house price to a whopping £193,830!
Sunday, February 20, 2005
BBC NEWS | Business | Consumers drive French economy France's economic growth accelerated in the last three months of 2004, driven by consumer spending, a report shows.
Yahoo! News - Landlord Allegedly Tosses Tear Gas Grenade A landlord in an eviction dispute with a tenant allegedly broke windows at his rental property and threw a tear gas grenade into the residence, police said.
The Observer: Dr Dolittle talks to the analysts Mervyn King is caught between the push of housing slumps and the pull of rising salaries, writes Heather Stewart
Times Online - Newspaper Edition IS IT JUST ME .... or has the boom in house prices made us all a bit too greedy? If you bought a house for £150,000 ten years ago, it could now be worth more than £425,000 – an increase of 183%. It’s not a bad return, especially if you have been living in your investment. House-price inflation is now running at 13.7%, according to the Halifax index. Admittedly, it’s past a peak of 22% last July, but it’s still completely barmy.
Times Online - Newspaper Edition THE number of buy-to-let landlords unable to meet their mortgage payments jumped in the second half of 2004, according to new Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) figures.
Telegraph : The Bank is hedging its bets on rates Is the Bank of England trying to have its cake and eat it? You could be forgiven such ungracious thoughts after the publication of last week's Inflation Report, its quarterly tome on the state of the UK economy.
Saturday, February 19, 2005
The Guardian: Cash surplus boost for Brown Gordon Brown was today on track to meet his borrowing forecasts as government coffers bulged with their biggest cash surplus in five years in January.
Borrowing finance news - Student debt and house prices to rocket Just 18 years from now the average house will cost £600,000 and students will graduate with more than £43,000 of debt, according to a new study.
The Independent: Slide in mortgage lending confirms housing slowdown A sharp fall in mortgage lending and new loan approvals last month has provided fresh evidence of a slowdown in the housing market.
FT.com / Your money - Owners offloading homes on to flooded market Property owners seeking to offload flats and houses are "flooding" the market, according to new figures from the National Association of Estate Agents
FT.com / Industries / Property - Buy-to-let newcomers warned of monthly loss New buy-to-let investors should expect to make a monthly loss on their properties, according to new figures from Savills, the property consultants.
Friday, February 18, 2005
What Mortgage: Sellers flood the market but prices remain steady New participants in the UK housing market increased significantly last month, reveals new data from the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA).
Economist.com : Restrictions on building can help explain why house prices are so dear As house prices have soared in many rich countries in recent years, most observers of the property market have pointed to rising demand as the source of the boom.
Telegraph | Money | Sales growth grinds to a halt on High St A dismal Christmas on the high street meant retail sales stalled between November and January for the first time in 10 years, official statistics showed yesterday.
Find a Property - Kirstie, Phil And Families Reunited Soaring property prices all over the UK have prompted a return of the extended family, with many relations pooling their resources and moving in together.
This is Bradford: Chips are down for quick house sales A Bradford company is set to revolutionise house-buying in the UK with a computerised system. Abode Conveyancing said the new system would speed up the sale of property and would be run in close conjunction with the Government's new home information packs.
Times Online: Local difficulty Today’s muted council tax forecasts demonstrate once and for all that local democracy in Britain is neither local nor democratic.
CNN.com: Bank hints at Australian rate rise The governor of Australia's central bank gave a strong hint Friday that the bank will soon raise interest rates for the first time since December 2003 even though the nation's housing boom has been largely subsiding.
The Guardian: Street wiseWant to know how much next door paid for their house? A new website that tells all is attracting 500,000 visitors a day. Leo Benedictus taps in his postcode and confronts the neighbours with the results ....... more good media coverage for nethouseprices.com
Thursday, February 17, 2005
WHAT MORTGAGE: Stamp duty petition comes to No 10 At 12 noon on 3 March West Bromwich Building Society chief executive, Andrew Messenger, will present Gordon Brown with a petition of over 22,000 signatures.
Sign the petition
Alexa/Amazon Website reviews for housepricecrash.co.uk: We've had some great reviews so far but would like a few more to help boost our search engine rankings and attract more people to the website.
National Statistics: Retail Sales - Jan 2005 (PDF) In the three months to January the seasonally adjusted index for retail sales at constant 2000 prices was level with the previous three months.
Aberdeen Independent: When will the bubble burst? If house prices crash, all agree, High Street spending plunges too. Economist Roger Bootle, predicting "The year the luck runs out", says the Bank of England will slash interest rates in the next year to keep the good times rolling.
The Independent: Sales are booming for a place in the country House prices may be falling for Mr and Mrs Average, but for the country "set" the housing market is still booming.
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
In2perspective : Essential Summary - Feb 05 This week has seen the publication of two important house price surveys. One from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors the other from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
This is London: Interest rate rise on horizon The Bank of England today left the way open for a further interest rate rise, predicting that inflation will overshoot its 2% target in two years.
The Guardian: Bank hints at rates rise The Bank of England today hinted that its next move on interest rates will be up as it raised its inflation and growth forecasts.
BBC NEWS | Business | UK inflation 'on target' for 2006 UK inflation is likely to hit its 2.0% target in 2006 before heading even higher, the Bank of England has said.
The Guardian: January 'saw rise in properties for sale' The number of properties for sale increased significantly in January, according to data from the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA).
BBC NEWS | Business | Further rise in UK jobless total The UK's jobless total rose for the second month in a row in December, official figures show.
icNewcastle - Hike in rates predicted as sales fail to curb inflation The spectre of another interest rates rise has loomed larger after inflation unexpectedly remained on hold last month.
icBerkshire - Could it now be the perfect time for first-time buyers? Now could be the perfect time for first-time buyers to climb on to the housing ladder as the Express reveals prices have slipped since our exclusive survey in October.
BBC NEWS | Business | Japan economy slides to recession The Japanese economy has officially gone back into recession for the fourth time in a decade.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Scotsman.com Business: Cheaper petrol helps keep inflation in check Inflation stayed on hold last month as easing petrol prices eclipsed higher food costs, official data revealed today.
BBC NEWS | Business | UK inflation rate remains steady The UK inflation rate remained steady at 1.6% in January as higher food and utility costs were offset by lower petrol prices.
Reuters.co.uk: House prices fall at slower rate House prices fell again in the three months to January but at the slowest rate in four months, according to a survey.
BBC NEWS | Business | House prices 'fall at slow pace' UK house prices fell in January - but at a slower rate than in December, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has said.
Monday, February 14, 2005
Daily Mail: House price growth slows Further evidence of slowdown in the housing market emerged today as Government statistics revealed the price of the average home is irsing at rose at its slowest annual pace in 15 months.
BBC NEWS | Business | House prices suffer festive fall UK house prices fell 0.7% in December, according to figures from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Guardian: Buy-to-let loses its shine Enthusiasm for buy-to-let property investments showed signs of fading at the end of 2004, according to a report published today by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
BBC NEWS | Business | Lenders sting borrowers with fees The cost of arranging a mortgage has risen by more than 40% in the past six months, a mortgage broker has said.
Citywire: Arrears rise sets buy-to-let alarm bells ringing The buy-to-let boom is running out of steam according to figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders and some investors are beginning to find themselves in trouble.
BBC NEWS | Business | UK buy-to-let boom 'losing steam' New figures suggest the popularity of buy-to-let mortgages - a key phenomenon of the housing boom - could be waning.
The Guardian: Healthy steps What could be more innocently wholesome than the dear old British bungalow?
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Independent: All the signs show it's looking up for growth. Expect the cost of borrowing to do the same This Wednesday, we'll get an update on the thoughts of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on growth and inflation, when the Bank of England publishes its quarterly Inflation Report. The tone of this will give us the best "steer" on where interest rates are heading over the next few months.
Saturday, February 12, 2005
BBC NEWS | UK | First-time buyers may 'gazunder' A third of first-time home buyers may cut their offer at the last minute, forcing the seller to take less or find a new buyer, a survey has found.
Friday, February 11, 2005
We have successfully upgraded to the latest version of Invision Power Board. You can now carry on posting.
IMPORTANT: We will be taking the Forum down at 08:15pm tonight. We are upgrading to the latest vision of the Invision Powerboard. You probably won't notice any difference but there are quite a few bug fixes in the latest release. We are confident that the forum will be back up and running again tonight but you never know with upgrades, so fingers crossed!!!
Mortgage Introducer: haart 'disappointed' by no change in rates Russell Jervis, managing director of haart estate agents comments on the decision by the Bank of England to maintain the current 4.75 per cent base rate:
This is Kent: More bad news for first-timers First-time buyers in Sevenoaks look set to fall into a housing black hole amid news of council tax hikes and an affordable homes scheme that will pass the district by.
BBC NEWS | England | Leicestershire | Council plans 'zero' rise in tax A Leicestershire authority has proposed not to increase its council tax bills in April.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Norwich Evening News 24 The number of people selling their homes in Norwich has plummeted, according to new figures.
Vote with your feet and wallets March on LONDON. Join the EIE 12th March 2005
Estate Agency News: 10 to 15 per cent of branches to close A leading estate agency boss is predicting that as many as one in eight offices across the industry could be closed by the end of the year.
BBC NEWS | Business | Bank opts to leave rates on hold The Bank of England has left interest rates on hold at 4.75% for a sixth month in a row.
Times Online: Times MPC votes to keep rates on hold The Bank of England should keep interest rates on hold today but may have to raise them in the months ahead, according to The Times Monetary Policy Committee.
ThisisLondon: Consumer confidence on the up Consumer confidence in the housing market, the security of their jobs and the economy in general is on the rise.
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
BBC NEWS | Business | Premium Bonds get online launch Premium Bonds, which give UK savers the chance to win up to £1m, can now be bought through the internet.
This is Money: Manufacturing and trade stats boost economy The manufacturing sector jumped into recovery at the end of last year, with production levels rising at their highest rate since May 2004.
ThisisLondon: Interest rates 'to be kept on hold' The Bank of England's monetary policy committee kicks off its latest meeting today with interest rates having been held at 4.75% since August last year.
Reuters.co.uk: Manufacturing up in December Manufacturing output rose at its fastest pace in seven months in December and at twice the expected rate, suggesting that a fourth quarter economic rebound was even stronger than first reported.
BBC NEWS | Business | Why estate agents will always win Every job has its perks: car dealers drive fancy motors, tailors are nicely turned out, bankers have tidy finances.
BBC NEWS | Business | New manufacturing job cuts feared UK manufacturing companies fear another 26,000 jobs could be lost in the next three months, a survey found.
ABC online (AUS): Interest rate rise likely The Reserve Bank has warned of a likely increase in interest rates to combat the growing threat of inflation. In its quarterly statement on monetary policy, the bank said inflation would be pushing its acceptable upper limits by next year. The warning came as the Treasurer, Peter Costello, signalled that sweeping industrial reforms would ease the pressure on interest rates.
ThisisLondon: Britain back in the mood for spending After several months in the doldrums, Britain's army of consumers is springing back to life as the impact of last year's interest rate rises starts to wane.
BBC NEWS | Politics | Treasury 'holds back' ERM papers Treasury officials are holding back paperwork relating to Britain's exit from the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) in September 1992, the BBC has learned.
CNN Money (USA): Will housing prices pop? Is the real estate market a dangerously overvalued bubble that needs to pop sooner than later, or is the market for homes strong enough that prices can and will keep rising?
The Independent Online Edition >The Independent: Catch of the day Hull is finally attaining redemption through regeneration, and investors are queueing up to buy while prices are still relatively affordable
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
January car sales down - 4Car News from Channel 4 New car sales in the UK fell by 8.2 percent last month, though 181,474 new cars hit the road nonetheless. This is not so much down to everyone feeling skint after Christmas - most of these cars will have been ordered long beforehand - as representative of general downwards trends after record sales in 2003.
Have a flutter on the interest rate decision.
BBC NEWS | Business | Sales 'fail to boost High Street' The January sales have failed to help the UK High Street recover from a poor Christmas season, a survey has found.
Western Daily Press: Markets suffer a tug of sentiment on interest rates The Uk debate about interest rates has once again been turned on its head. Only a month ago, the markets were confident of seeing an interest rate cut later on in the year.
Sky News: Worry Over Homes Costs People are increasingly concerned about the ability of future generations to afford a home.
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