 |
|
| CURRENT SECTION :: Money News | UK's most visited IT Contractor Site - 250k unique visitors March 2008 |
|
 |
Falling housing prices in the UK will directly drag the number of people going into business alone and make conditions even tougher for today's small companies. Such is the reported verdict of Rebecca Harding, managing director of Delta Economics, a firm which monitors entrepreneurial activity in the UK. She says that people often use equity in their homes as seed capital, to the extent that borrowing against property has now become “the fuel behind the engine of start-ups.” If house prices drop any faster, some company owners will either be unable to access funds from their home or borrow against it, raising the prospect of closures as well as less start-ups. Evidencing her claim to the Financial Times, Ms Harding pointed out that a decline in start-ups, reported by the Global Economic Monitor, coincided with the first fall in US house prices. The Women’s Business Development agency also told the paper that the wider financial uncertainty, not just house prices, would make women think twice about ‘going it alone.’ “In that environment there is a real reluctance to do anything risky,” said group director Sally Arkley. “That is affecting the level of business start-ups.” For pre-stage entrepreneurs and their more established peers, re-mortgaging their properties has traditionally proved a quick and effective way of accessing cash to inject into their ventures. However , the Financial Services Authority says that one in five UK mortgage owners are anxious about meeting their mortgage payments. A quarter have no contingency plan. The regulator, which has published ‘Stay in control of your mortgage’ checklist, said a £2m advertising campaign will begin to raise homeowners’ awareness of how the risks can be reduced. Mar 18, 2008 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
|
|
  
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| All content © Contractor UK Limited | [Register for News Letter] | [Privacy Statement] | [Terms of Use] | [Top of Page] |