One in three home sales this year so far ‘have gone to first-time buyers’
There were also signs of first-time buyers increasingly favouring smaller homes, according to Hamptons. Source link
All posts tagged: Bank of England
The race to interest rate cuts has begun. What’s next for mortgage prices?
But as inflationary pressures have eased, the shadows cast last month are lifting and there are signs the market is now finding its feet in a higher mortgage rate environment. In fact, a recent survey from the Family Building Society found that 68% of mortgage advisers have seen demand increase in the past few months. Further falls in mortgage rates will help to boost the market further, but it’s important to remember that this increase in activity comes off a very low base. For example, mortgages for house purchases fell 29% in 2023, so there is a long way to go before we can say the market has recovered. So far this week, several lenders have already started to reduce rates, and there is hope that more will follow suit following the positive inflation data. Source link
Hire for longer at the Bank of England
The Bank of England has hired over 100 new roles to its IT team since the start of the pandemic, growing headcount by more than 20%, according to data obtained by the Parliament Street think tank. The move helped add to a £20 million rise in annual IT costs over the period. Source link
Interest rate cuts are in play, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey says
Mr Bailey said he is increasingly confident that inflation is heading towards the Bank’s target in an interview with the Financial Times. Source link
FTSE 100 outperforms peers and edges closer to all-time high
The FTSE 100 closed 48.37 points higher, or 0.61%, to 7,930.92 on Friday. Source link
Top UK shares boosted after inflation beats forecasts
The FTSE 100 rose 56.12 points, or 0.75%, ending the day at 7,568.4. Source link
Bank of England sold debt without ‘any regard to value for money’ | Politics | News
The Bank of England took a “leap in the dark” when it started selling off Government debt in 2022. An influential group of MPs heard how the Bank is said to have started selling the debt without paying attention to whether the taxpayer was getting good value for money. The Treasury Select Committee said it was important for the Bank’s key decision makers to focus on setting borrowing costs. But it said officials should start exploring how to ensure the pace of so-called quantative tightening (QT) is at least, in part, based on value-fo-money. The Bank told the PA news agency that it would consider the Committee’s findings before responding. The group of MPs said the Bank was the first major central bank in the world to embark on the tightening process, which essentially means selling off the Government debt that it has in order to remove money from the economy. The debt it has sold off is the debt that it started buying in the 2008 financial crisis when the Bank wanted to add …
UK services sector ‘revival’ picks up pace as growth hits eight-month high
Another uplift in business confidence in January provides a signal that elevated levels of geopolitical uncertainty have yet to exert much of a constraint on service sector growth projections for 2024 Tim Moore, economics director at S&P Global Intelligence Source link
Interest Rate Stays Stable – But There Are Signs Change Is Coming
The Bank of England has decided to keep the base interest rate at 5.25%, the same high level it’s been at since August despite falling inflation. However, there were some hints that significant change is coming to our economy in 2024 after years of a gruelling cost of living crisis. The base interest rate – which is the cost of borrowing money – is set by the Bank, and acts as a guide for lenders up and down the country. It is the Bank’s primary means to control inflation – the rate at which prices increase over a 12-month period. Inflation was spiralling out of control at the height of the cost of living crisis, peaking at 11%, until the Bank’s interest hikes finally had an impact. However, inflation was still at 4% in December, which is double the Bank’s 2% target. No-one knows for sure when this inflation versus interest battle will finally conclude, but there were a few keen signs from today’s decision that an end is in sight. What does the Bank’s …
Bank of England told to slash interest rates to give Britain a boost | UK | News
A former minister has called on the Bank of England to play its part in boosting Britain by slashing interest rates today. Sir David Davis, the former Brexit Secretary, urged the Bank’s Governor Andrew Bailey to cut the current 5.25 percent base rate to “help everyone from business owners to mortgage payers”. “The Bank’s imperative right now for our country must be to develop growth,” he said. “We have to have higher salaries and payments for public services. “The Bank’s part of that should be a cut in interest rates to help everyone from business owners to mortgage payers.” And his call was echoed by a host of UK businesses warning of the damage high interest rates were doing to the nation’s economy. David Hannah, group chairman of Cornerstone Tax, said: “To stave off a recession and get Britain buying again, it’s now clearer than ever that the BoE must urgently rethink their macroeconomic strategy. “With inflation nearing its two percent target, policymakers should look towards cutting the base rate by at least half a …