News
Latest business and commercial finance related news items:
Asset finance sector 'has enjoyed significant growth in past year'
Thursday March 24th 2011
The head of the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers has lauded the success of asset finance operations during the past 12 months.The past 12 months has seen the asset finance sector grow a significant amount, according to one industry expert.
Inflation could hit 5 percent says Bank of England
Thursday March 24th 2011
The Bank of England has warned that inflation is in danger of rocketing above 5pc in the coming months, piling more pressure on policymakers to raise interest rates.
Its warning will ratchet up fears that inflation is spiralling out of control, fuelled by a step-change in the Bank's position in less than a month.
The Budget: Osborne cuts corporation tax
Wednesday March 23rd 2011
Another cut in corporation tax is the largest in a number of measures aimed at helping Britain's economy return to growth.Chancellor George Osborne tried to encourage growth with a Budget by delivering an hour-long statement packed with small-scale measures helping businesses.
Corporation tax, already gradually falling to 24%, will drop by two per cent rather than the previously scheduled one per cent from April 2011 to 26%, before falling to 23% by 2014.
Scotland to launch £2.5m renewable heating loan fund imminently
Friday March 18th 2011
Scotland's government is set to launch a £2.5m loan fund for renewable energy heating projects imminently.It said the fund, which aims to support district heating systems that distribute heat through pipes, will be open to expressions of interest to match anticipated demand.
The Scottish government's new scheme will offer loans on a commercial basis for both renewable and low carbon technologies, the government said.
UK economy moves out of recession
Monday February 1st 2010
The chained volume measure of gross domestic product (GDP) increased 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009 reveal the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics.The increase in output was due mainly to increases in distribution, hotels and restaurants and government and other services. Output of the service industries increased 0.1 per cent. Output in the production industries increased 0.1 per cent. GDP decreased 3.2 per cent between 2009 Q4 and 2008 Q4 .
Government guarantees £10 billion in short term loans to businesses
Thursday January 15th 2009
Yesterday the Government announced that it would guarantee up to £21 billion of bank lending, including £10 billion worth of short term loans, for small and medium sized businesses struggling to secure credit.
The Government package, which critics have labelled complex, consists of three main measures.
The first measure involves £10 billion of loan guarantees for medium sized businesses. The state is proposing to underwrite 50% of up to £20 billion of short-term loans for firms that have a turnover of under £500million. Banks have agreed to this, as long as companies seeking funding have a relatively low risk profile.
Interest Rates to be Reduced
Wednesday January 7th 2009
The Bank of England's official interest rate could be slashed to an unprecedented 0.5 percent by the end of the year, a top economist has predicted.
Arek Ohanissian, economist at the centre for economics and business research, made the forecast due to what he sees as the severe nature of the current economic downturn.
The rationale behind interest rate reductions from the Bank is that the cuts are passed on to customers by other lenders.
Therefore, loans including bridging loans and commercial mortgages become easier to repay - providing a boost to the economy.
Commercial Property Market Recovery Predicted
Monday December 29th 2008
The commercial and domestic property markets could bottom out and begin to recover in a "make or break" 2009.
This is the main finding of new analysis from the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA).
The firm forecasts rising prices, particularly pronounced in some areas, as the effects of Bank of England interest rate cuts filter through to the market.
Business Loan Requests Rising
Tuesday August 19th 2008
Company loan applications have risen for the first time over 18 months with the strongest increase in demand coming from established businesses borrowing more than half a million pounds, new research from Barclays Commercial Bank suggests.
It polled 600 companies with sales of between £1m and £100m and found that 17pc had increased their loan borrowing compared with last year and that 6pc had done so significantly.
Buy to Let Loans: Tenant demand continues to increase
Monday May 19th 2008
Rents continued to rise in April as tenant demand for private rented properties grew, according to Paragon’s monthly buy-to-let index. Rents have risen nearly 14% over the last year to stand at £12,048 in April, having just broken the £1,000 a month barrier in March.Paragon says that a key contributory factor to the buoyancy of rents is that the private rented sector is no longer just the tenure of choice for ‘twentysomethings’, but increasingly provides homes for people in their thirties and forties with families. According to a separate Paragon survey of landlords, the average age of tenants has reached 32.8, from 31.0 at the start of 2007.
Bridging loan enquiries increase
Monday May 12th 2008
The number of businesses and property investors turning to bridging loans has increased, an industry expert has said.Chris Baguley, managing director of Bridging Finance Limited, believes a tightening of lending criteria by providers has left many organisations and individuals pursuing bridging loans as a form of finance.
As a result, Mr Baguley claims that more bridging lenders have entered the market to take advantage of the demand.
"Business owners and property investors are finding it more difficult to obtain funding from mainstream lenders due to a tightening of criteria and the result is an increase in the number of enquiries for bridging finance," he said.
Inflation data boosts interest rate cut chances
Friday April 18th 2008
LONDON (Reuters) - The main inflation rate unexpectedly held steady in March, official data shows, suggesting strong price pressures further up the economic pipeline have yet to be passed on to consumers.
The Office for National Statistics said consumer prices rose by 0.4 percent on the month, leaving the annual rate unchanged at 2.5 percent. Analysts had expected a monthly rise of 0.6 percent for an annual rate of 2.6 percent.
Retail price inflation, often used as a benchmark for wage bargaining, also undershot expectations. On the month, retail prices rose 0.3 percent to give an annual rate of 3.8 percent, the weakest since July 2007.
Small Businesses 'Unaffected by Commercial Property Slump'
Thursday April 17th 2008
February saw commercial property building work in the UK fall for a fourth straight month, a trend that is causing major worries for investors, but not necessarily for small businesses.
While office space is one of the primary uses for commercial property, the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies (NFEA) claimed that smaller firms were principally renters of commercial space – and had less to lose from the credit crunch.
The group highlighted the varying dynamics of the residential and commercial property sectors, claiming that the falling value of UK property is bringing rent down and is actually welcome to the majority of businesses who rent.
Commercial Property Auction Success
Monday April 14th 2008
A north-west property auction has drawn high prices and robust demand, leading to claims that the commercial and residential property markets are not in the dire straits associated with the credit crunch.
Property auctioneers Sutton Kersh raised a total of £6 million from their recent second auction, selling some 70 per cent of available lots and drawing competitive prices.
Bridging loans are often used for purchasing a property at auction, but all forms of financing have come under scrutiny as banks have started to tighten their lending criteria of late.
Mortgage Lending Slows
Friday April 4th 2008
The number of mortgage loans approved fell during February, according to new figures from the Bank of England, dropping to 73,000 from 74,000 the month before.
Mortgage lending totalled £7.4 billion for the month, on a level with the previous month but down on the six-month average of 8.2 per cent.
Annual growth rate was recorded as 9.4 per cent, down from 9.7 per cent the month before.
The number of remortgaging loans approved also declined in February to 111,000 down from 118,000 in January.
Buy-to-let 'booming' in Scotland
Wednesday April 2nd 2008
The credit crunch may have made mortgage lending harder to come by, but the buy-to-let sector for residential property is booming in Scotland, experts have claimed.Recently opening a Scottish division, the National Landlords Association (NLA) claimed that letting out residential property was an increasing trend in Scotland, allowing the local buy-to-let sector to defy the property market's UK-wide downturn.
The Bank of Scotland's Scottish House Price Index for Q4 2007 recently revealed that house prices north of the border rose by 2.4 per cent while the UK as a whole suffered an 0.8 per cent quarterly drop-off in prices.
Commercial Property Mortgages
Monday March 31st 2008
Lending for commercial property mortgages has been deterred by a weak 2007, but a resilient sector would soon reaffirm its benefits, it has been claimed.The Times Online found commercial property specialists to be positive about the prospects for 2008, due to the long-term attraction of rising rental yields and the benefits of diversifying investment portfolios away from stocks and shares.
Recent market volatility has seen commercial property returns of 15 per cent in the years 2004 to 2006, before dropping off dramatically and bringing an overall loss in 2007 – but experts predicted that 2008 would re-establish the sector's long-term profitability.
Bridging Finance
Monday March 31st 2008
Bridging finance has this week played a major role in helping international companies to take forward important projects.Often serving as interim finance on residential property mortgages, bridging loans are also a key part of securing commercial financing for major projects – especially as the credit crunch makes funding harder to come by.
UK Property Market
Friday March 28th 2008
The pressures of the credit crunch have turned the UK residential property sector into a 'buyer's market,' but figures continue to show pockets of more positive performance.Calling for pessimism to be stemmed and individual trends to be focused on, the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) claimed that a "dull" housing market in places was not an inevitable sign of full recession.
Members of the group were reported to have experienced a downturn in the number of buyers on their books through February and tabled sale prices increasingly diverging from asking prices, but signs for optimism were also detected.
Commercial Property In NW 'Booming'
Monday March 24th 2008
A commercial property magazine has highlighted the relative boom in the market in the north-west of England.Property Executive says that while many parts of London and the south-east are struggling with an economics downturn, the north-east commercial property market remains strong.
Loans Costs Rising
Saturday March 22nd 2008
The cost of borrowing is increasing, despite the Bank of England dropping interest rates last month.
Furthermore the cost of a loan rose "dramatically" over base rate rises in 2007, according to new research by MoneyExpert.com.
Bridging loans 'helping manufacturing sector'
Tuesday March 4th 2008
Bridging loans are becoming increasingly important in the manufacturing sector, as banks and long-term mortgage lenders prove reluctant to take on increased risk, according to TheManufacturer.com.Citing the most recent Confederation of British Industry (CBI) quarterly SME trends survey, the site claimed that the credit crunch was posing major problems for the manufacturing industry – and bridging lenders were responding.
The CBI Index showed 78 per cent of UK manufacturers predicting reduced demand due to the strains of the credit crunch, while rising interest rates made credit harder to come by and threatened to put ambitious projects on hold.
Bridging loans 'thrive under economic duress'
Thursday February 21st 2008
"The need for bridging finance can rise during times of financial duress," financial experts have claimed.Financial information provider Business Moneyfacts claimed that bridging loans were crucial when it came to auction purchase of residential property, allowing lenders to move deals on quicker than would otherwise be possible.
The group explained that investors purchasing a property at auction often look to bridging loans in order to complete deals in a matter of weeks – providing a valuable recourse when conventional mortgages are not applicable.
'Diversify with bridging loans in shrinking market'
Tuesday February 19th 2008
A leading provider of bridging loans for residential property has highlighted the advantages for intermediaries of adding the interim lending option to their portfolio.Link Lending's managing director John McLean told MortgageIntroducer.com that short-term bridging loans could boost an ailing lending portfolio that was suffering as the volume of market residential property declined.
He explained that with some estimates reporting that the credit crunch had sapped the residential mortgage market of some 30 per cent of its volume, it was imperative for brokers to seek new areas of interest.
And bridging projects involving a change of use – such as conversion of a commercial property into a house – could provide a new income source, Mr McLean explained, providing that they were handled wisely.