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 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 Economics Update Northern Rock another fiscal pinch The probable nationalisation of Northern Rock is unlikely to lead to a clear breach of the Chancellor’s fiscal rules, which apply over the whole economic cycle. Nonetheless, it would further underline... 17th January 2008 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update Lower LIBOR will not prevent interest rates falling to 4% The rapid fall in interbank interest rates towards more normal levels is a welcome development but does not negate the need for further cuts in official interest rates. The growing emergence that the... 11th January 2008 · 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
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
UK Economics Focus UK sub-prime mortgage lending: living on borrowed time? Unfolding developments in the US sub-prime mortgage market make uncomfortable reading. But do developments in the US have any implications for the UK mortgage market, which has also seen strong growth... 28th March 2007 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus UK sub-prime mortgage lending: living on borrowed time? Unfolding developments in the US sub-prime mortgage market make uncomfortable reading. But do developments in the US have any implications for the UK mortgage market, which has also seen strong growth... 28th March 2007 · 1 min read
UK Economic Outlook Onward and upward? The outlook for the UK's financial services sector (Q4 2006) The financial services sector has been one of the UK’s biggest success stories in recent years. Not only has it punched above its weight in driving GDP growth, but it has produced a significant trade... 4th October 2006 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus Endowment shortfalls - another drag on consumer spending? Households have certainly not had it easy over the last year or so. And one factor which presents a further threat to spending over the next few years is the projected shortfalls on endowment... 2nd August 2006 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus Endowment shortfalls - another drag on consumer spending? Households have certainly not had it easy over the last year or so. And one factor which presents a further threat to spending over the next few years is the projected shortfalls on endowment... 2nd August 2006 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus Household debt goes bad Bad debt is on the rise, with households finally bowing under the pressure of their £1 trillion debt mountain. So far, the increase has been relatively modest. But over the next two or three years, we... 26th October 2005 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus Household debt goes bad Bad debt is on the rise, with households finally bowing under the pressure of their £1 trillion debt mountain. So far, the increase has been relatively modest. But over the next two or three years, we... 26th October 2005 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus Should we be worried about M4? While most economic indicators have pointed to a slowdown in the growth of the UK economy in recent months, one has pointed strongly in the opposite direction. The growth of the broad money supply has... 8th November 2004 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus Getting a proper measure of the burden of household debt On the face of it, households are having an easy time servicing their record levels of debt. Interest payments as a percentage of their income (income gearing) are just 7.1%, less than half the 1990... 1st June 2004 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus MEW won’t prevent a household spending slowdown Conventional wisdom has it that mortgage equity withdrawal (MEW), which rose to a record high in the fourth quarter of last year, has provided a strong boost to household spending and will continue to... 26th April 2004 · 1 min read
