http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7513318.stm
The mortgage squeeze continues to tighten with a further drop in lending, according to new figures.
The fall in gross mortgage lending is accelerating, with a 3% dip from May to June, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
The CML said gross lending declined to an estimated £23.8bn in June, some 32% lower than the same month a year ago.
Director general Michael Coogan said borrowers on tight budgets must plan ahead as the trend will continue.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7512971.stm
Energy bills could rise by more than 60% within the next few years, a report for the UK's biggest domestic energy supplier Centrica has said.
It said annual average gas bills could rise from £600 to more than £1,000 early in the next decade.
Continuing high oil prices could lead to rises in the cost of both gas and electricity, it added.
Centrica managing director Jake Ulrich warned that gas prices were likely to continue rising "for some time".
"I think it is going to hit people hard," he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7512460.stm
US bank Merrill Lynch has posted a $4.89bn (£2.49bn) loss in the three months to June due to heavy exposure to the sub-prime mortgage market.
It was the fourth quarterly loss in a row for Wall Street's third-largest investment bank and was far bigger than analysts had expected.
Merrill announced it would write-down $9.4bn because of US mortgage market and other high risk investments.
It must now sell billions of dollars of assets to shore up its finances.
The new charges come on top of nearly $29bn in write-downs that the brokerage had already taken because of tightening credit markets.
In April, Merrill announced it would cut about 4,000 jobs worldwide.
And finally:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...se-prices.html
Middle Britain will be hit harder by falling house prices than the rest of the country, research shows.
It warns that on average almost £40,000, or more than £100 a day, will be wiped off the value of these homes this year.
A typical Middle Britain property will fall 18 per cent between January and December, according to the insurance firm AXA and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).
This would mean homes worth an average of £216,000 at the start of the year would drop to £176,500 by the end of the year.
The mortgage squeeze continues to tighten with a further drop in lending, according to new figures.
The fall in gross mortgage lending is accelerating, with a 3% dip from May to June, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
The CML said gross lending declined to an estimated £23.8bn in June, some 32% lower than the same month a year ago.
Director general Michael Coogan said borrowers on tight budgets must plan ahead as the trend will continue.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7512971.stm
Energy bills could rise by more than 60% within the next few years, a report for the UK's biggest domestic energy supplier Centrica has said.
It said annual average gas bills could rise from £600 to more than £1,000 early in the next decade.
Continuing high oil prices could lead to rises in the cost of both gas and electricity, it added.
Centrica managing director Jake Ulrich warned that gas prices were likely to continue rising "for some time".
"I think it is going to hit people hard," he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7512460.stm
US bank Merrill Lynch has posted a $4.89bn (£2.49bn) loss in the three months to June due to heavy exposure to the sub-prime mortgage market.
It was the fourth quarterly loss in a row for Wall Street's third-largest investment bank and was far bigger than analysts had expected.
Merrill announced it would write-down $9.4bn because of US mortgage market and other high risk investments.
It must now sell billions of dollars of assets to shore up its finances.
The new charges come on top of nearly $29bn in write-downs that the brokerage had already taken because of tightening credit markets.
In April, Merrill announced it would cut about 4,000 jobs worldwide.
And finally:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...se-prices.html
Middle Britain will be hit harder by falling house prices than the rest of the country, research shows.
It warns that on average almost £40,000, or more than £100 a day, will be wiped off the value of these homes this year.
A typical Middle Britain property will fall 18 per cent between January and December, according to the insurance firm AXA and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).
This would mean homes worth an average of £216,000 at the start of the year would drop to £176,500 by the end of the year.
Lending is at 68% of the levels seen at the height of the boom.
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