The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has published its latest predictions for the near future of the UK economy. And the CBI reckons that the UK will avoid a second consecutive quarter of contraction in GDP, and thus the technical definition of recession. Other bodies such as the BDO, and many commentators, still believe that [...]
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has announced that house repossessions in the UK fell to the lowest level in four years – basically since the economic and housing market downturn kicked in. The number of repossessions was slightly less than the CML had estimated for 2011, standing at 36,200. The CML had guessed towards [...]
The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has warned that poor decisions when it comes to taking out pensions can pile years onto a worker’s probable retirement age. A new report published today indicates that the wrong choice of annuity could cut the potential income produced by up to a quarter, meaning years more at [...]
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has just produced its annual report on the UK’s credit industry. And the headline news is that while UK consumers have been paying down their unsecured debts for the last three years, the average household still owes £7,900. Throughout 2011, consumers paid on average £355 off their household debt. That’s not a huge [...]
The Bank of England could receive powers to more effectively regulate the mortgage market, and dictate the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio lenders can offer. Such is the latest thinking from George Osborne, announced yesterday in a second reading of the Financial Services Bill in the Commons. Osborne said that the bill offers a part of the [...]
The Halifax has released its latest House Price Index report. And the news for January is that the price of the average house in the UK rose by 0.6%. That’s the first rise recorded since October 2011, with house prices in the quarter to January being 0.9% lower than the previous three months (and 1.8% [...]
AWD Chase de Vere has been a trusted source of independent financial advice for over 40 years. In this article they tackle the dilemma faced by everyone trying to generate income in the current low interest environment: The UK Bank of England Bank Rate (formerly Bank of England Base Rate) has remained at just 0.5% [...]
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has come out pushing for tax cuts this year. The think-tank organisation joins Nick Clegg who last week publicly threw his weight behind delivering a higher personal tax allowance – the initial chunk of your wage that isn’t taxed – in a swifter time-frame than the coalition is currently [...]
Nationwide has just released its latest figures estimating the performance of the UK housing market in January. And 2012 is off to another slight dip, with prices falling by an average of 0.2% across the country. That leaves the price of the typical house at £162,230, which is slightly more than the Halifax and Land [...]
