Mortgage Strategy
31 August 2009

  • 60 seconds with.....Linda Will

    1 Sep 2009

    Do building society chief executives and directors get paid too much? It’s as difficult to run a building society as it is to run any other type of bank or financial institution. These organisations need staff that are competent to take them forward and you have to pay the going rate to get that sort of experience and quality.

  • A sunny view of crunch opportunitities

    1 Sep 2009

    I have just returned from a holiday in Florida and while I was there I was struck by some of the similarities in the ways our two countries are coping with and adapting to the recession. But I was more impressed with the ingenuity of the US when it comes to looking at every challenge as an opportunity.

  • Abbey staff misconduct comes to light

    4 Sep 2009

    Abbey has revealed that it sacked one staff member and disciplined another in 2007 for booking customers onto mortgage rates that had been withdrawn.

  • Ambition is still the driver

    1 Sep 2009

    Steve Haggerty, the force behind the spectacular growth of HML, moved on to head Skipton but now he’s back in the hot seat at a competitor of HML’s. John Murray asks him if he’s still setting high targets

  • AMI proposes the wrong kind of solution to market puzzle

    1 Sep 2009

    Having had the wrong kind of summer (too wet), in train operating terms we are set for the wrong kind of autumn with the wrong kind of leaves (too sticky), while according to nutrition experts we Brits are continuing to eat the wrong kind of food (too fatty).

  • AMI to expand equity release committee

    3 Sep 2009

    The Association of Independent Financial Advisers and the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries is widening its existing equity release standing committee to encompass all issues related to the retirement market.

  • An energy idea too far

    1 Sep 2009

    That crafty bunch in the Labour Party are at it again. The government is planning to increase Council Tax and Stamp Duty for millions of homes that are not energy-efficient.

  • Applications up 55% at Mortgageforce

    2 Sep 2009

    Mortgageforce has seen a 55% increase in new applicants in the last six months.

  • AR numbers are not falling, they've gone independent

    1 Sep 2009

    I read Paul Day's network review (Mortgage Strategy August 24) with interest and am surprised so many appointed representatives are still tied to networks.

  • As usual, it's one rule for banks and another for brokers

    1 Sep 2009

    I read with interest your star letter entitled 'Fraud can be a problem with direct products too' (Mortgage Strategy August 17) and I agree with comments made in the letter.

  • AToM recruits Phil Hearn

    1 Sep 2009

    All Types of Mortgages has recruited Phil Hearn, former national account manager at GE Money Home Lending to develop its Refer Direct Introducer business.

  • August house price rise heralded as an indication that the worst is over

    1 Sep 2009

    House prices rose for the fourth month in a row in August, leading some experts to conclude we have seen the bottom of the market.

  • Banks slow to cut the cost of fixed rate products

    1 Sep 2009

    Lenders are showing continuing reluctance to cut fixed rates despite a fall of some 3% in the cost of funding on the swaps market.

  • Behaving bankrupt

    1 Sep 2009

    Industry professionals have long warned consumers of the perils of get-rich-quick schemes but it seems nobody told Men Behaving Badly star Neil Morrissey, who is reportedly £2.5m in debt after attempting to run a luxury hotel chain.

  • Big tipper

    1 Sep 2009

    We've all seen the movies where a bank robber has a carefully prepared plan and a wing man waiting in a car to whisk the thief away once he's done the deed. Or the ones where a tough guy jumps into the nearest car, chucks out the driver and races off at dangerous speed.

  • BoS agreed to port my client's deal only if she went direct

    1 Sep 2009

    We arranged a case with Bank of Scotland in 2008. The client has a £156,000 mortgage with BoS and is currently enjoying a pay rate of 0.99%, which expires in April 2010.

  • Britannia and CFS dump lawyers to get cover

    1 Sep 2009

    The merged business of Britannia and The Co-operative Financial Services is dropping 3,600 solicitors from its conveyancing panel to qualify for mortgage fraud insurance cover.

  • Britannia and CFS to drop 3,600 solicitors

    1 Sep 2009

    The merged business of Britannia and the Co-operative Financial Services is dropping 3,600 solicitors from its conveyancing panel to qualify for fraud insurance cover.

  • Brokers qualify for government loan guarantees

    1 Sep 2009

    The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has made it clear to the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries that brokers are eligible for the government's £1.3bn Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme.

  • BTL demand increasing as supply slows

    2 Sep 2009

    Enquiries for buy-to-let mortgages have increased by nearly 50% since August 2008, whilst available products have diminished by over 70%, shows research from price comparison site moneysupermarket.com shows

  • Builders have not turned into kind philanthropists

    1 Sep 2009

    If I hear anyone say the words 'green shoots of recovery'' one more time I will be physically sick because, like you, I'm at the sharp end of the property market and I know things are still mighty tough.

  • Builders need firm credit foundation

    1 Sep 2009

    With house prices now starting to rise again we are at the point when bargains are going to disappear.

  • Calls for more detail in FSA network register

    1 Sep 2009

    There have been renewed calls for the Financial Services Authority to individually register mortgage brokers, following Mortgage Strategy’s publication of the network league table last week.

  • Cattles to close 30 Welcome branches

    3 Sep 2009

    Cattles is to close 30 of its Welcome Financial Services branches placing 510 staff into consultation.

  • Claims cases can drag on for two years

    1 Sep 2009

    Financial claims cases introduced by brokers could take up to two years to complete, says Carl Wright, director of Cartel Client Review.

  • CML figures add to signs of confidence

    1 Sep 2009

    Figures published by the Council of Mortgage Lending on gross lending in July point to further evidence of growing confidence in the housing market.

  • Cor blimey

    1 Sep 2009

    It doesn't take a genius to work out that the financial world is in trouble. We need a solution and we need it fast.

  • Coventry puts equity release lending on ice

    1 Sep 2009

    Coventry Building Society has suspended new equity release lending, forcing the lender to pull its popular lifetime mortgage that has no early repayment charge.

  • Coventry suspends new equity release business

    1 Sep 2009

    Coventry Building Society has suspended new lending on its equity release range as a result of the high cost of long-term funding.

  • Customers must be protected from greed of big banks

    1 Sep 2009

    In this day of heightened awareness of Treating Customers Fairly, I wonder if any sane person would consider the following circumstances to be fair.

  • Darling predicts UK economy to turn at end of year

    4 Sep 2009

    The chancellor Alistair Darling has predicted that the UK will turn at the end of the year and that we will see a global recovery in 2010.

  • David Murphy joins Buildstore

    1 Sep 2009

    BuildStore has appointed David Murphy, former head of national accounts at BM Solutions as its sales and marketing director for its financial services division.

  • Director fined for failing to inform the FSA of warnings about adviser

    1 Sep 2009

    A director of an IFA firm has been fined £17,000 by the Financial Services Authority for failing to disclose warnings the company received about an adviser it was recruiting.

  • Distressed commercial sales rise around the world

    1 Sep 2009

    Three-quarters of the countries surveyed by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors have seen an increase in distressed sales in the commercial property market.

  • Diversity is a key virtue in partners

    1 Sep 2009

    Partnerships are so vitally important in this business that we sometimes take them for granted or are unwilling to consider an alternative if we have worked with a company for some time.

  • Don't lend value to conspiracy theory

    1 Sep 2009

    We recently saw the 40th anniversary of the Apollo moon landings though of course there remain those who are convinced that Armstrong et al were actually sitting in a Dunkin' Donuts on Cape Canaveral the whole time.

  • Doublethink on dual pricing

    1 Sep 2009

    The Letters pages of Mortgage Strategy continue to be inundated with tales of woe from brokers about lenders' dual pricing. There is an argument that dual pricing is a necessary evil and advisers understand that in most cases lenders are not doing it to cut out brokers but to manage lending volumes and maintain a branch presence.

  • Earl Shilton pulls all of its products

    1 Sep 2009

    Earl Shilton Building Society has withdrawn all its mortgage products until further notice.

  • Enquiries soar at CAB

    4 Sep 2009

    As the Citizens Advice Bureau service turns 70 today it has revealed that it is handling 9,300 new debt problems and 8,000 new benefit problems every day.

  • Ensure you hang up on cold calling

    1 Sep 2009

    I met the Financial Services Authority last week and the topic of express consent came up in our discussions.

  • Estate agents accused of unfair tactics on advice

    1 Sep 2009

    Brokers have accused estate agents of using underhand tactics to ensure mortgage advice stays in house.

  • Everyone's a winner for Lazenby

    1 Sep 2009

    When Chatroom learnt that Kent Reliance was to sponsor Charlton Athletic FC as well as its local side Gillingham we thought this might present chief executive Mike Lazenby with something of a loyalty dilemma.

  • Exact appoints head of business development

    3 Sep 2009

    Exact has appointed Malcolm Larmouth as its head of business development.

  • Fahim Antoniades joins Mortgage Centre IFA

    4 Sep 2009

    Fahim Antoniades, former partner at Quantum Money has joined London-based Mortgage Centre IFA as group director.

  • First-time buyers up 36% in August

    3 Sep 2009

    The National Association of Estate Agents Monthly Market Survey for August shows the number of first-time buyers increased by 36% in August.

  • FSA fines broker for failing to prevent insider dealing

    2 Sep 2009

    The Financial Services Authority has fined Mark Lockwood, a former trading desk manager at a retail stockbroking firm, £20,000 for failing to observe proper standards of market conduct.

  • FSA withdraws approval of network head

    2 Sep 2009

    The Financial Services Authority has withdrawn the approval of Steven Moorley, director of Premier Network Group for poor controls over appointed representatives.

  • Fury as FSA says it's OK for lenders to cut out brokers

    1 Sep 2009

    The Financial Services Authority has sparked an angry reaction by saying it's OK for lenders to reject brokers' mortgage applications without offering an explanation.

  • Good things can come out of bad times

    1 Sep 2009

    The credit crunch has been depressing but recently I've been thinking about how much the financial landscape has changed in the past two years and trying to figure out if anything good has come of it.

  • Gross lending rose 26% in July

    1 Sep 2009

    Gross mortgage lending rose 26% in July to £16bn, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

  • Halifax could close 300 agency counters

    1 Sep 2009

    Halifax has revealed that it is considering closing up to 300 of its agency counters, with 26 already set to close across the UK.

  • Halifax unveils affordable housing range to smooth first-timers' path

    1 Sep 2009

    Halifax has launched a range of shared equity and shared owner-ship products to be distributed ex-clusively through brokers in a bid to boost access to the housing market.

  • Handle Northern Rock with care

    1 Sep 2009

    Mutuals are worried that plans to split up Northern Rock could result in continuing distortion of the mortgage and savings markets, according to Adrian Coles, director-general of the Building Societies Association

  • Helping to cut debt misery

    1 Sep 2009

    Recent research shows that lenders could provide products that help individuals manage their finances more responsibly, allowing them to avoid the perils of excessive indebtedness, says John Murray

  • Home Buyer Systems offers back office help

    1 Sep 2009

    Home Buyer Systems has launched a mortgage and GI sales administration system designed for both broker and direct products, called mi-Zone.

  • Home of Choice sees completions rise in July

    1 Sep 2009

    Home of Choice saw the highest volume of mortgage completions for six months in July - an increase of 46% compared with June.

  • Homes sold more quickly in August

    1 Sep 2009

    Hometrack's monthly house price survey shows the average time properties are on the market is coming down, while 92% of sellers are achieving the asking price.

  • Honest advertising will appeal to clients

    1 Sep 2009

    The Advertising Standards Authority recently banned an advertisement from a sale-and-rent-back company which made claims such as "the simplest way to avoid repossession is to sell your home" and "one telephone call is all that's needed to solve your problems".

  • House builder reports half-year loss of £8.6m

    1 Sep 2009

    Bovis Homes has reported a £8.6m loss for the first six months of 2009 and says house prices have plummeted to £160,400, compared with £196,700 in the first six months of 2008.

  • Housing remains our biggest asset

    1 Sep 2009

    With state borrowing going through the roof chancellor Alistair Darling must have breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics which show that at the end of 2008 the total value of this country was £6.95trillion.

  • HSBC offers 1.99% mortgage

    2 Sep 2009

    HSBC has launched a 1.99% mortgage on a two-year discount rate - available to customers with a deposit of 40%.

  • Increase in business confidence may herald the end of recession

    1 Sep 2009

    Business confidence has risen for the first time in two years, leading to forecasts that the UK may pull itself out of recession this quarter.

  • Inflation stalls below government target at 1.8%

    1 Sep 2009

    Annual inflation remained below the government's 2% target in July, holding firm at June's level of 1.8%.

  • Keep employees on your side

    1 Sep 2009

    Maintaining effective employee engagement is particularly important in a difficult market and its effect on business performance should not be underestimated, says Rachel Fawcett, chief of human resources at HML

  • L&G says brokers are still gloomy about Q3

    1 Sep 2009

    A poll of 115 members of Legal & General's network has revealed that less than half of mortgage advisers think business will get better in the present quarter while 15% think it will get worse.

  • Leeds seminar for Pink and BDS members

    1 Sep 2009

    Pink Home Loans will begin the next round of its quarterly seminar programme for Pink and BDS members in Leeds on September 8.

  • Leeds ups rates on two and five-year fixed deals

    1 Sep 2009

    Leeds Building Society has raised its two and five-year fixed rates by up to 0.5% and 0.46% respectively.

  • Lenders proven to be more powerful on dual pricing than government and FSA

    1 Sep 2009

    Having read the August 24 issue of Mortgage Strategy it has made me realise that no-one in the government or the Financial Services Authority is taking any notice of the mountain of evidence and opinion coming from advisers still working in the mortgage industry.

  • Lender's staff bear brunt of public anger over variable rate rise

    1 Sep 2009

    Staff at Permanent TSB, one of Ireland's largest mortgage providers, have been abused and spat at according to their union, in an angry public reaction to the lender's decision to raise its SVR.

  • Lenders will look to short-term products

    1 Sep 2009

    Lenders are today far more constrained by lending on fixed rate products than they were back in the 1990s. There is a much wider array of other higher costs facing lenders including capital holding requirements, wholesale funding and retail deposits.

  • Lending activity in Scotland headed towards calmer waters in Q2

    1 Sep 2009

    Lending activity in Scotland began to stabilise in Q2 2009, mirroring the trend across the UK.

  • Lloyds group to cut jobs as it merges GI divisions

    1 Sep 2009

    Lloyds Banking Group is to cut around 200 jobs from its general insurance division as it merges the Lloyds TSB and HBOS GI businesses into one.

  • Lloyds takes top spot in mortgage lending league

    1 Sep 2009

    Lloyds Banking Group has emerged top of the Council of Mortgage Lenders' table of the largest mortgage lenders in 2008.

  • Look out for trouble in store

    1 Sep 2009

    Lenders with exposure to the fragile commercial sector should review their portfolios to identify businesses at risk of defaulting, says Peter Gammon, director at Movewithus Asset Management

  • Making sense of price signals

    1 Sep 2009

    Variations between house price indices show that it is dangerous to make overoptimistic predictions for the market, says Gary Styles, strategy, risk and economics director at Hometrack

  • Marketwatch 01/09/2009

    1 Sep 2009

    Swaps fell significantly for the second week in a row. One-year swaps are now below 1% and two-year swaps are within 0.06% of their all-time low. Two, three and five-year swaps are down some 0.33% on a month ago.

  • Media Spotlight: Rebooting RBS, presented by Douglas Fraser

    1 Sep 2009

    What a difference a year makes. Last October global banking giant the Royal Bank of Scotland was believed to be on a knife edge.

  • Monthly protection could save families

    1 Sep 2009

    As their tan starts to fade the only memory of a summer holiday for some families will be a hefty credit card bill as they count the cost of a fortnight in the sun.

  • Mortgage complaints double over two years

    3 Sep 2009

    The regulator has for the first time today published complaint figures for the financial services industry, with mortgage firms revealed to have received 12,716 complaints in H2 2008, up from 6,837 in H1 2006.

  • Mortgage repayments outstrip new lending

    1 Sep 2009

    The amount people paid back on their mortgages outstripped new mortgage lending for the first time since records began in 1993, show figures from the Bank of England.

  • Mortgage repayments outstrip new lending

    1 Sep 2009

    The amount people paid back on their mortgages outstripped new mortgage lending for the first time since records began in 1993, show figures from the Bank of England.

  • Mortgage Trading Exchange increases market share by 77%

    2 Sep 2009

    The Mortgage Trading Exchange says it has increased its market share of all mortgage transactions processed in the UK by 77% in the past 12 months.

  • Mortgagematch business figures clarification

    1 Sep 2009

    Last week's issue stated that Mortgagematch did around £5m worth of business two years ago, when it should have read around £500m.

  • Mortgages must be remodelled for Generation Y

    1 Sep 2009

    The Economist calls them Generation Y - the 20-somethings who have known only the boom era.

  • Movers and Shakers

    1 Sep 2009

    John Bagsahw become Valunation chief executive as MD leaves

  • Mutuals could miss the mortgage boat, says KPMG

    1 Sep 2009

    KPMG Financial Services has raised concerns that mutuals may not be able to take a significant share of the mortgage market as the sector is hit by shrinking profits and funding and capital issues.

  • Mutuals' gross lending peaks in July

    1 Sep 2009

    Gross lending by building societies in July 2009 was £2.1bn, the highest monthly figure this year, but 42% lower than the £3.6bn lent in July 2008.

  • Mutuals' gross lending rises in July

    1 Sep 2009

    Gross lending by building societies in July 2009 was £2.1bn, the highest monthly figure this year, but 42% lower than the £3.6bn lent in July 2008.

  • Mutuals may lose out in the battle for mortgages

    1 Sep 2009

    KPMG Financial Services has raised concerns that building societies may not be able to take a significant share of the mortgage market as the sector is hit by shrinking profits combined with funding and capital issues.

  • Nationalised banks can sustain market

    1 Sep 2009

    I read recently that in Canada auditors and the Mounties have been called in to assess how the Royal Canadian Mint has misplaced $15.3m worth of gold during the 2008 fiscal year.

  • New lending stalls despite rise in approvals as clients pay off loans

    1 Sep 2009

    The rise in house purchase approvals by high street banks is not being reflected in the amount of new lending, figures from the British Bankers’ Association reveal.

  • New secured loans plunge 84% in a year

    1 Sep 2009

    The Finance & Leasing Association says new secured lending business among its members fell 84% year-on-year in Q2 2009.

  • New society bosses need a way forward

    1 Sep 2009

    It's rearrange the deckchairs time for building societies but is this just a harbinger of further consolidation?

  • New-build sector may slow recovery

    1 Sep 2009

    Figures from the British Bankers' Association showing that mortgage approvals were at a 17-month high were welcome news last week.

  • Northern Rock debt downgraded

    1 Sep 2009

    Fitch Ratings has downgraded Nor-thern Rock's subordinated debt following the news that the lender is to delay interest payments to some of its bond holders.

  • Number of prime borrowers in arrears on the up, says Moody's

    1 Sep 2009

    The number of prime borrowers in arrears of three months or more is continuing to rise, as Moody's warns that arrears on prime mortgages are set to deteriorate further.

  • Overseas enquiries rise by 10% at Viva Costa

    1 Sep 2009

    Viva Costa International Mortgages saw a 10% rise in overseas mortgage enquiries in August compared with the same time last year.

  • PMS adds Affirmative to bridging panel

    1 Sep 2009

    Affirmative has been added to PMS's bridging panel and will offer short-term lending, first charge, second charge and commercial bridging products.

  • Predictions about the future are just educated guesses

    1 Sep 2009

    The Met Office's U-turn over the barbecue summer weather forecast aptly illustrates that long-term predictions are nothing more than educated guesses.

  • Problems pile up for Ireland's bad bank strategy

    1 Sep 2009

    The property empire of one of the Irish Republic's largest property developers is on the brink of collapse, which could have serious implications for the government's so-called bad bank rescue plan even before the legislation to establish it reaches the statute book.

  • Repossessions down in Q2 but up year-on-year

    1 Sep 2009

    Repossessions have fallen compared with earlier in the year but climbed 14% since last June.

  • RPS in deal with PTFS to provide rent-back services

    1 Sep 2009

    Personal Touch Financial Services has appointed Peter Beaumont's sale-and-rent-back company to provide specialist support to its appointed representatives.

  • RPS teams up with Zebra Homeloans

    1 Sep 2009

    Residential Property Solutions has appointed Zebra Homeloans to its sale and-rent-back panel.

  • Savills' financial division reports £2m first-half loss

    1 Sep 2009

    The financial services arm of Savills has posted a loss of £2.1m before tax for the six months to June 2009.

  • Scottish lending activity heads towards stability

    1 Sep 2009

    Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders show lending activity in Scotland began to stabilise in Q2 2009, mirroring the trend across the UK.

  • Secured loans sector struggles as lending plunges 84% year-on-year

    1 Sep 2009

    Secured loan business plummeted 84% in Q2 2009 compared with Q2 2008, as lenders continue to struggle to find funding.

  • Self-cert deals account for just 2% of market

    1 Sep 2009

    Self-cert mortgages now account for less than 2% of the market compared with 10% a year ago, analysis from Evaluate Technologies shows.

  • Smoking may be good for your wealth

    1 Sep 2009

    Worried about what smoking is doing to your health? If so, you might gain a crumb of comfort from the fact that a smoker aged 65 buying an annuity could be better off by around £3,500 a year than a contemporary smoke-free wrinkly who has probably spent half their life on a macrobiotic diet and the rest of the time in a gym.

  • Societies ride the B2L bandwagon

    1 Sep 2009

    Buy-to-let was once celebrated as the next best thing to sliced bread. The money pages of the nationals hailed it as the perfect pension safety net as a particularly nasty bear market seriously damaged pension fund profitability.

  • Speaking up

    1 Sep 2009

    The bridging sector is not sheltered from the economic storm but having a trade body will give it a voice as well as direction, says Adrian Bloomfield, Chief xecutive of the association of short term lenders

  • Sub-prime repossessions fall, but arrears rise

    2 Sep 2009

    Repossessions in the UK sub-prime market decreased in Q2 2009, but delinquencies and losses have continued to rise, says Moody's.

  • Sweeter life

    1 Sep 2009

    With unemployment a sad fact of life for many at the moment it's time to get creative. And one former banker from London has done just that.

  • Teaching brokers the many uses of equity release

    1 Sep 2009

    So what do we think? Have we reached the bottom of the market? It's a question we advisers are asked on a daily basis, usually by clients but also frequently by lenders' representatives.

  • The benefits of being local

    1 Sep 2009

    Stephen Mitcham, chief executive of Cambridge Building Society, provides an insight into the challenges and charms of running a truly local society at a time when bigger players are finding the going tough ST Standfirst

  • The FSA and a New Jerusalem

    1 Sep 2009

    Events recently confused me even more than usual. I’m not thinking about the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Magrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, on compassionate grounds.

  • The great unpopularity contest

    1 Sep 2009

    A recent Treasury Select Committee report is basically a squalid cage fight in which politicians and lenders square up to decide which unloved bunch will be least unpopular with the public after the crunch, says Philip Tebbatt

  • The Real Nationwide House Price Index extends run of monthly increases to six

    1 Sep 2009

    Nationwide’s “Real” House price Index increased by 0.9% in August, down from the 1.6% recorded in each of the previous two months, but still well into positive territory.

  • The summer at a glance

    1 Sep 2009

    It was hardly a barbecue summer weather-wise or in terms of red-hot economic revitalisation, and lenders are no doubt returning from their holidays expecting a few more bumps on the road to recovery.

  • Time to be positive and talk up the market

    1 Sep 2009

    As the sun sets over the summer of 2009 and we head towards autumn, I am confident enough to suggest that the mortgage market has hit rock bottom and one or two green shoots are starting to appear.

  • Time to raise the systems bar

    1 Sep 2009

    Increased regulatory pressure plus rising arrears mean it's time for lenders to get their systems in order and this may not be as expensive or disruptive as they imagine, says Paul Hunt, managing director of Phoebus Software

  • Trade body gets the black hole blues

    1 Sep 2009

    Responding to a reported £5m black hole in the Building Societies Association's final salary pension scheme chairman Graham Beale has sent a letter to members asking them to chip in to get it back on an even keel.

  • Turn students into clients

    1 Sep 2009

    With the new academic year just around the corner, have you tried tapping into the student market? Students are unlikely to want mortgage advice but there might be a host of other areas where you can help and potentially net yourself clients for life.

  • UK GDP fall less severe than thought

    1 Sep 2009

    The UK’s contracted by 0.7% between April and June, slightly less than the previous estimate of 0.8%.This means that the actual level of GDP is 5.5% lower than the same time last year.Construction output is estimated to have fallen by 2.2% while household spending fell by 0.7%.The level of UK’s output has been revised up thanks to revisions in the production and manufacturing industries.

  • US-style flat fee option divides broker opinion

    1 Sep 2009

    The debate over charging fees for advice has been reignited, with opinion divided on whether the US model of a flat fee for advice could work for brokers in this country.

  • Whoops, there goes another deputy chairman

    1 Sep 2009

    The Building Societies Association has lost two chairmen this year but in rather different circumstances, so we can put it down to bad luck.

  • Wrinklies to the economic rescue

    1 Sep 2009

    Pensioners are doing their bit to spur the country to recovery.

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