"The International Monetary Fund called on Britain's government on Wednesday to do more to speed up slow economic recovery, hinting that the country might be able to afford to borrow more to fund investment". Meanwhile...Christine Lagarde jets back to Paris to be questioned over Tapie payout, you couldn't make it up! Maybe Christine is lining herself up for a job in the EU?

Barratt Homes already seeing the benefits of taxpayers money ... nice one George!

'In words that will underline his status as a monetary activist and fuel speculation that he will try to relaunch quantitative easing (QE) when he arrives in the UK, Mr Carney applauded Japan’s “bold policy experiment” to boost dramatically its own QE programme. He said: “Europe can draw lessons from Japan on the dangers of half measures... Europe remains in recession. Deep challenges persist in its financial system. Without sustained and significant reforms, a decade of stagnation threatens.”'

Posted by hpwatcher @ 09:19 AM 13 Comments

The latest poll of Morgan Stanley's top clients from across the world says it all … Just a quarter expect a return to trend growth. Some 57pc think there will be no escape from the "twilight" conditions afflicting the western world, and 20pc expect an full-blown global recession. That is a remarkably bearish set of views. Yet the same investors are overwhelmingly bullish on stocks and property. This schizophrenic exuberance seems entirely based on the assumption that QE and central bank largesse will keep the game going, flooding asset markets with liquidity. Indeed, 80pc think the ECB will cut rates again, and half think it will have to swallow its pride and join the QE club in the end.

People across Scotland are to be helped on to the housing ladder with a £120 million funding boost announced today by Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. The funding will be available over the next two years to both first time buyers and existing homes owners who are buying a new build home. Buyers who successfully apply to use shared equity will be able to purchase a home by paying a majority share in it, while the Scottish Government pays the remaining amount under an agreement with the buyer. As well as helping house buyers the scheme will stimulate the construction industry, creating growth within the house building sector.

Not content with the usual splash of Farrow and Ball and smell of coffee, a Stanmore homeowner has decided to offer an unusual enticement to potential buyers of his six bed house. The black Bentley GTC Mulliner-edition convertible, with 19,500 miles on the clock and a full service history, will be handed over to the buyer of the house, named The Bentley, which is located in Bentley Way and backs onto the Bentley Priory Nature Reserve. Can you see a bit of a theme emerging here?

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reports that UK house prices went up by 2.7 per cent in March. This follows a 1.9 per cent rise in February and reinforces the view borne out by recent housing market surveys that the property market is improving.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) reports that gross mortgage lending went up by 4.3 per cent in April to £12.1 billion.

"The UK's inflation rate fell to 2.4% in April, according to the Office for National Statistics, down from 2.8% in March". "Inflation as measured by the retail prices index (RPI) fell to 2.9% in April, from 3.3% the month before". So far this month everything has been manipulated from horse race winners to oil prices.

House prices have shot up so far that buyers must earn more than £62,000 - twice the UK's average salary - to afford the average asking price of quarter of a million pounds. New figures show that vendors are asking an average £249,841 - nine times the typical salary in the UK of £26,500. With mortgage firms typically lending a maximum of four times people's salary, borrowers on the UK's average wage could only obtain a mortgage of just over £106,000 - far below the new average asking price.

Posted by hpwatcher @ 08:18 AM 8 Comments