UK Economics Update Should the Budget lower stamp duty to revive the housing market? Speculation is mounting that the Chancellor might ultimately decide to follow the US lead and deliver a fiscal stimulus to the economy. With the housing market in the doldrums, and first time buyer... 15th February 2008 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update Should the Budget lower stamp duty to revive the housing market? Speculation is mounting that the Chancellor might ultimately decide to follow the US lead and deliver a fiscal stimulus to the economy. With the housing market in the doldrums, and first time buyer... 15th February 2008 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update Should the Budget lower stamp duty to revive the housing market? Speculation is mounting that the Chancellor might ultimately decide to follow the US lead and deliver a fiscal stimulus to the economy. With the housing market in the doldrums, and first time buyer... 15th February 2008 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update Does the credit crunch explain the fall in mortgage approvals? 6th February 2008 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update Widening mortgage spreads a sign of tightening lending criteria The increases in tracker rates announced by some mortgage lenders over the past few days add to other evidence that the recent improvement in the situation in financial markets has not prevented a... 28th January 2008 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update Widening mortgage spreads a sign of tightening lending criteria The increases in tracker rates announced by some mortgage lenders over the past few days add to other evidence that the recent improvement in the situation in financial markets has not prevented a... 28th January 2008 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Focus Have buy-to-let investors priced out first-time buyers? We believe that buy-to-let (BTL) investors have priced aspiring first-time buyers (FTBs) out of the housing market over the last 3-4 years. Admittedly, BTL did not trigger the abrupt drop in FTB... 25th January 2008 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus The final blow for consumers? We are confident that the housing market slowdown will bring the recent strong rates of household spending growth to an end. At the same time, we are optimistic that aggressive interest rate cuts will... 21st January 2008 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Outlook remains bleak for the Spanish housing market The latest Spanish house price data revealed that house prices rose solidly in Q4 last year. Nonetheless, other indicators of housing market activity are much less healthy and we continue to expect... 18th January 2008 · 1 min read
Global Economics Update Can rising equities offset lower house prices? Some commentators have suggested that the positive wealth effect from a possible recovery in equity markets might go a long way towards offsetting the negative impact of lower house prices. This would... 8th January 2008 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus MPC may be too sanguine about housing again With the housing market clearly slowing, the key issue is the potential impact of this on the economy and, in particular, consumer spending. During 2005’s housing slowdown, the Monetary Policy... 12th November 2007 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus MPC may be too sanguine about housing again With the housing market clearly slowing, the key issue is the potential impact of this on the economy and, in particular, consumer spending. During 2005’s housing slowdown, the Monetary Policy... 12th November 2007 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus The legacy of the house price boom While there are growing signs that the housing market is now slowing, the full effects, both good and bad, of the previous surge in house prices have yet to be felt. Mortgage debt will continue to... 29th October 2007 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus Resilient housing market could delay spending slowdown. So far, there have been only tentative signs that consumer spending growth is weakening in response to the rises in interest rates over the past year. But a look at the past two tightening cycles... 29th August 2007 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus Resilient housing market could delay spending slowdown. So far, there have been only tentative signs that consumer spending growth is weakening in response to the rises in interest rates over the past year. But a look at the past two tightening cycles... 29th August 2007 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus Have fixed rate mortgages changed the housing market? The popularity of fixed rate mortgages in recent years appears to have dampened the sensitivity of the housing market to rising interest rates. That is not to say that higher interest rates will not... 17th May 2007 · 1 min read
