Archive for the ‘Credit crunch’ Category
Sunday, April 20th, 2008
The London postcodes at greatest risk from the housing crisis was revealed today by the Evening Standard. Tens of thousands of home owners across the capital will be plunged into negative equity this year if property prices fall by 20%. People who have taken on huge mortgages compared with the value of their property will owe more than the building is worth. The worst hit would be buy-to-let investors who tried to cash in on the housing boom, according to analysis obtained by the Evening Standard. Below are the top 10 streets and London boroughs most likely to be affected. Find out more at thisismoney.co.uk.
Top 10 London streets most at risk:
Calderwood Street SE18
Erebus Drive SE28
Queenstown Road SW8
Woolwich Common SE18
St Saviours Estate SE1
Glashier Street SE8
Greenhaven Drive SE28
St John’s Estate N1
Great Dover Street SE1
Borough High Street SE1
Risk level by London boroughs:
Click to enlarge
Tags: Buy-to-let, Credit crisis, Credit crunch, evening standard, house price falls, housing crisis, investors, London, Negative equity, thamesmead
Posted in Buy-to-let, Credit crisis, Credit crunch, Debt Management, Finance, Home loans, House prices, Landlord, Mortgages, Negative equity, Property Market, Property Prices | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
Homeowners are facing fees of up to £5,000 to take out a mortgage. A devastating report released yesterday shows that the average cost has almost doubled in a year. Interest rates charged by banks have also gone up. Separate Government figures out yesterday brought further bad news in that house prices are falling at their fastest rate since records began. After all the panic in the mortgage market, people may be tempted to grab the best headline rate deal but the fees must also be taken into consideration. HSBC charges up to £5,000 for its recently introduced ‘Rate Matcher’ deal, which lets homeowners whose current fixed-rate deal is about to expire get the same rate with HSBC for another two years. The mortgage meltdown continued yesterday with the number of deals available falling to just over 4,000 from 15,599 last summer.
Tags: arrangement fees, fixed rate, House prices, HSBC, mortgage, rate matcher, remortgage
Posted in Credit crisis, Credit crunch, HSBC, Mortgages, Property Prices, Re-mortgage | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
Britain’s biggest mortgage lender today defied Gordon Brown’s plea to cut mortgage rates. The Halifax is raising rates on some mortgage offers by 0.5% despite his calling bank chiefs to No10 to urge them to sign up to the Government’s strategy to tackle the global economic turmoil. The Prime Minister was also bluntly warned that a string of building societies could be forced out of the mortgage market by the looming crisis. Mr Brown is said to be prepared to offer banks help to raise funds but wants them to pass on interest rate cuts, do everything they can not to repossess the homes of people struggling to meet their mortgage payments, and to offer loans to first-time buyers. The Bank of England is injecting a further £15bn of liquidity into the markets, taking its total recent support to more than £50bn.
Tags: Bank of England, boe, Gordon Brown, Halifax, mortgage, mortgage rates, Mortgages, prime minister, rate increased
Posted in Credit crisis, Credit crunch, Debt Management, Halifax, Home loans, Mortgages, Property Market, Rate increase | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
Families already struggling to cope with the credit crunch face huge increases in food bills because of global shortages. Costs are rising faster than at any time since 1991 (when there was a recession driven by sky-high inflation and interest rates) and the average shopping bill is likely to go up by £600 a year. Added to the impact of higher charges for mortgages, heat, light, water, petrol and council tax, the average family is likely to have to find an extra £1,500 a year, just to stand still. Worldwide food shortages have been caused by increased demand from countries such as China and India, together with poor harvests linked to droughts and floods. A decision by farmers to turn over their land to the growing of biofuels is also a factor. While biofuels have been presented as the solution to global oil shortages, they are now contributing to a lack of food. Some countries have suffered food price protests, while a number of nations are imposing limits on exports to protect their own supplies. The big question for British shoppers surrounds the extent to which supermarkets and other retailers will pass on the price increases. While profits will suffer if they swallow the rises, sales will inevitably fall if they pass them on.
Tags: biofuel, China, Credit crisis, Credit crunch, food bills, food prices, food shortages, global shortages, India, inflation, oil shortage, retailers, supermarket
Posted in Consumer, Credit crisis, Credit crunch, Finance, Food crisis | No Comments »
Saturday, April 12th, 2008
The Bank of England cut its base rate by o.25% to 5% on Thursday to stop the economy’s slide towards recession. However, relief for home owners was instantly undermined by a new wave of mortgage rate increases from Britain’s biggest lenders. Many lenders are yet to pass on the recent base rate reductions - instead they are busy increasing rates, demanding larger deposits, tightening lending criteria and, in some cases, withdrawing deals from the market altogether. Most of the big lenders, including Halifax, Nationwide, the Woolwich, Cheltenham & Gloucester and First Direct also said within minutes of the Bank’s announcement that they will be cutting their standard variable mortgage rates by the full 0.25%. Both Nationwide and Alliance & Leicester are believed to have been overwhelmed by applications from borrowers coming off cheap fixed deals and want to choke off the demand with yet another big increase of upto 0.35% in less than two weeks. The increases followed similar moves from Woolwich, Halifax and Abbey.
Tags: Abbey, Alliance & Leicester, Bank of England, Cheltenham & Gloucester, First Direct, Halifax, mortages increases, Nationwide, Rate reduced, recession, the Woolwich
Posted in Abbey, Bank of England, Consumer, Credit crisis, Credit crunch, Finance, First-time buyers, HSBC, Halifax, Home loans, Mortgages, Nationwide, Rate reduced | No Comments »
Thursday, April 10th, 2008
Some are questioning whether the financial turmoil has rendered the Bank of England powerless to direct how much the biggest financial names on the High Street charge for credit and pay customers for their deposits. For many, today’s predicted cut in base rate will be meaningless. While banks and building societies have been cutting savings rates, they have also been raising mortgage rates for new borrowers. The only people to benefit would be existing mortgage customers on the track rates which follows the movement of the base rate. The current market turmoil could however be providing banks and building societies with the opportunity to rebuild their profit margins after being hit (at various levels) by the subprime market. Once again, the consumers are paying for the cost of the financial industries’ imprudence.
Tags: Bank of England, banks, base rate, building society, lost control, new borrowers, tracker
Posted in Bank of England, Banking, Credit crisis, Credit crunch, Finance, First-time buyers, Mortgages, Property Market, Rate reduced, Savings, Sub-prime | No Comments »
Thursday, April 10th, 2008
HSBC has offered to match the interest rate of any borrower coming off their fixed rate deals. This will apply to both HSBC customers and those remortgaging. It effectively shields borrowers from the recent increases in the cost of home loans. The Rate Matcher will mean their existing fixed mortgage rates - down to a cut-off point of 4.54% - will continue for another two years. But the deal will only last for five weeks so mortgage borrowers need to act quickly to take advantage. It is only available direct to consumers as the bank does not offer its mortgage products through mortgage advisers. Borrowers can borrow up to a maximum of 80% of their property’s value (20% deposit required) and a fee will be payable depending on the rate fixed. A maximum of £250,000 can be borrowed via the Rate Matcher service, although customers with larger mortgages can take the remainder on a standard HSBC deal. The offer is only available for borrowers whose current mortgage deal runs out before the end of June. The offer is available from 14th April until 18th May. This is a pleasant change from the do-nothing attitude most big lenders appear to be adopting at the moment!
Tags: borrowers, Credit crunch, fixed mortgage rates, HSBC, rate matcher, remortgage, remortgaging
Posted in Credit crisis, Credit crunch, HSBC, Home loans, Mortgages, Property, Re-mortgage | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 9th, 2008
The last 100% mortgage on offer has been scrapped by Abbey following similar decisions by its rivals. Since the credit crunch began last summer, more than 70% of mortgage deals have disappeared. Before Christmas, 33% of lenders offered mortgages of 100% or more. Now the only remaining 100% deals, from Bristol & West and Bank of Ireland, do not qualify as ‘mainstream’ mortgages. They are aimed at first-time buyers and require a homeowner’s parents to guarantee the loan. Typically, today’s buyer must have a deposit of 5% or more. And to secure a competitive deal, 25% is needed, as lenders charge higher rates for those with smaller deposits.
Tags: 100% mortgage, Abbey, axed mortgage deal, last 100% home loan, mortgage deal
Posted in Abbey, Credit crisis, Credit crunch, First-time buyers, Home loans, Mortgages | No Comments »
Sunday, March 23rd, 2008
Several small building societies have been restricting or halting lending as a result of the financial turmoil. With lenders’ funds drying up, higher deposits are being demanded from first-time buyers. The Co-operative Bank now demands a higher deposit by cutting its maximum loan-to-value ratio from 95% to 90%. Bigger lenders, such as the Halifax and the Woolwich, have slightly increased the interest rates on certain tracker or fixed-rate deals, while making other deals available only to those able to put down a 40% deposit. The Cheltenham & Gloucester, part of Lloyds TSB, has also raised the interest rate charged on some deals. More than a million fixed-rate deals, typically lasting for two years, are due to expire in 2008, which will add to demand. As a result, the smaller building societies are withdrawing deals instead of being swamped by demand. Those wishing to move house are being told to act fast on mortgage deals as lenders are changing their deals frequently, sometimes several times a week.
Tags: building societies, Cheltenham & Gloucester, Co-operative, Credit crisis, Credit crunch, First-time buyers, fixed-rate deals, Halifax, higher deposits, Lloyds TSB, mortgage criteria, Nationwide, TSB
Posted in Credit crisis, Credit crunch, Finance, First-time buyers, Halifax, Mortgages, Nationwide, Personal Finance, Property Market | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
Banking giant Goldman Sachs, the world’s most profitable bank, known for having the best-paid employees in the City, admitted its pay and bonuses fund had shrunk by more than a third compared with this time a year ago (and by half so far this year) even though it had managed to avoid the credit crisis by selling off most of its subprime mortgages last spring. Economists warn that if Goldman Sachs employees are suffering, it is likely bonuses for other City bankers could be disastrous this year. This, as well as the 10,000 workers expected to be laid-off in the City this year will have a major impact on the London economy as big-spending bankers tighten their belts. The knock-on effects are likely to be in the property and art markets as well as in London’s restaurants and shops.
Tags: city bankers, city workers, employees, goldman sachs, job axe, pay cuts, subprime, subprime mortgages
Posted in Consumer, Credit crisis, Credit crunch, London, Sub-prime | No Comments »
Click to enlarge