2008
06-11-2008: First Time Buyers Struggle to Find Larger Deposits
Despite falling house prices First-Time Buyers (FTBs) are having to find larger deposits, stumping up an average of £19,000 compared to just £14,500 a year ago.
29-10-2008: Mortgage Approvals Stabilise at Historic Lows
Today's announcement by the Bank of England that new mortgage approvals for house purchases totalled 33,000 in September, a 1,000 increase from their August low, may provide a little comfort for all those with a vested interest in the housing market.
01-09-2008: Government GDP Growth Rate Versus Reality
The last couple of weeks have seen a myriad of headlines expressing a fear of recession, asking will we go in to recession and, if so, when the recession will start. Rather than asking the when and if, why aren’t they asking how the when and if are calculated?
27-08-2008: Buy-to-Let Stats Hide Surge in Bad Debts
At first glance the statistics on buy-to-let mortgage numbers, arrears and repossessions would seem not that bad. However, closer inspection would suggest that the BTL sector is deteriorating ... and fast.
22-08-2008: Shush: GDP Contracts Most in 27 Years
Revised GDP growth figures put reduced quarter-on-quarter GDP growth to zero, reducing the year-on-year growth rate to 1.4%. The problem is that those figures apply Government's preferred method of calculation, which uses the GDP Expenditure Deflator. A deflator which appears to have most of the inflationary things taken out.
12-08-2008: Relocation, Relocation Credit Crunch Special
Are you a home owner who has been affected by the current Credit Crunch yet desperately need to move house?
08-08-2008: Is the Secular Bear in Homeownership Under Way?
The number of mortgages fell 95,000 in the last 12 months. The first ever yearly fall. Has a new era of declining homeownership has begun? Is secular bear is here?
08-05-2008: A Warning from Tiberius
It is said that Tiberius counselled his regional commanders by saying, "boni pastoris est tondere pecus non deglubere". It is of a good shepherd to shear his flock, not to flay them. Advice the current Government is sorely in need of heeding.
08-05-2008: Rates Unchanged: More Wait and See
Base rates were left at 5% as the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting culminated with the “disciples of dither” deciding to do absolutely nothing.