Post Tagged with: "Britain"
The EU driving changes in European banking
At the weekend I wrote about Alistair Darling’s about-face on breaking up to big to fail financial institutions. Apparently, this was not a case of labour changing tack and finding regulatory religion, but rather of the European Union imposing its will on the British government. The EU is also dictating policy in Germany, the Netherlands
UK: Darling confirms government to break up too big to fail banks
In a clear break with US economic policy, the UK government have decided that too big to fail is too big to exist. As a result, three large financial institutions now owned at least in part by government are to be dismantled. Moreover, talk of Tesco’s or Virgin getting the assets is yet another momentous
Nationwide: British home prices now higher than a year ago
The Nationwide monthly index of house prices came in this morning showing a 0.4% bump in October from September. While this was less than last month’s 0.9% rise, it was the sixth consecutive month of price increases and it marked the first time in two years that house price in the U.K. were higher year-on-year.
Spain: “we need to go back to 2000 wages and prices and start again”
When it comes to the housing meltdowns in the richest economies, the US has been matched only by Spain, Ireland and the UK. All four countries have seen spectacular losses of wealth in the housing sector over the last two years. The response by all four governments was to apply as much stimulus as they
If the UK economy is still in recession, why are London house prices hitting new records?
We received word today from the British government that GDP in the UK contracted for a record sixth quarter in Q3 2009. I like Neil Hume’s headline on this one, “GDP shock flop.”
PM Brown rejects BoE Head King’s call for breaking up big banks
If our response focuses only on the symptoms rather than the underlying causes of the crisis, then we shall bequeath to future generations a serious risk of another crisis even worse than the one we have experienced. -Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England The Bank of England head has come out unequivocally against
London house prices at an all-time high
Further proof that the reflationary efforts of policy makers is taking hold comes from London in the form of record high house prices. The Guardian reports: Property asking prices in London have broken through the record high set in November 2007 as the drought of homes for sale around the country continues to distort the
Trade flows in flux: is this re-balancing?
Paul Krugman has noticed that trade has absolutely collapsed with this economic downturn. It is worse than the Great Depression. Question: is this aiding global re-balancing? Here are two data points from Europe today which lead to that question. The BBC reports on Germany: Germany’s trade surplus fell 43% in August after a drop in
UK house prices up again in September
The Halifax reports that UK house prices rose for the third consecutive month in September, up 1.6% from August levels. Key to the rise has been a lack of supply coupled with increased demand (100% mortgages have helped as well). Last week, Nationwide had pointed to a rise in ‘accidental landlords’ who did not wish
Nationwide: UK house prices rise for fourth month
Nationwide released data from its August 2009 house price index showing that house prices rose 1.6% from the previous month. This is the fourth consecutive month in which house prices have risen in the UK, bringing the year-on-year change to –2.7%. Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide’s Chief Economist, said low interest rates are behind the recent rise
Nationwide: UK house prices up strongly for third month
UK house prices have now risen for three months consecutively and four months in five according to statistics released by Nationwide Building Society this morning. The rise for July was a very robust 1.3% month-on-month, which translates into almost 17% on an annualized basis. Clearly, housing is doing very well during this summer selling season.
UK economic data show worst contraction on record
In the just finished second quarter of 2009, the UK economy was contracting a massive 5.6% from the year ago period. This is the worst performance since records began in 1955. What’s more, the data surprised to the downside, with the quarter-on-quarter contraction coming in at 0.8%, much worse than the 0.3% contraction which had