Britain

This comes via the Nationwide website: As a responsible lender which aims to support its borrowers Nationwide has responded to market conditions and made an option available which enables some existing customers in negative equity to move…

The Nationwide, the world’s largest building society, is now bringing back the dreaded 125% mortgage.  While the lender claims these mortgages are a “niche product” designed for customers of Nationwide in negative equity, the Financial…

On the same day that the worst economic growth numbers in the U.K. in 51 years, we also get some news that the British economy may be stabilising. Well, at least house prices seem to be stabilising as Nationwide reported a 0.9% increase in…

You probably saw in my links that Fiat had bowed out because of German government demands. The Magna story also comes via the BBC: Canadian car parts maker Magna International is the preferred bidder for GM Europe, owner of Opel and…

Marshall Auerback here with some thoughts on the UK given the recent stellar performance of Sterling. “The Conservative belief that there is some law of nature which prevents men from being employed, that it is ‘rash’ to employ men, and…

Is the housing market in the U.K. bottoming?  Many pundits are talking as if it is and now we get the Nationwide data for May 2009 which shows a second rise in three months.  I am sceptical that we are at a bottom, so let’s see what the…

On the face of it, Nationwide’s earnings report looks extremely good: 15% Tier 1 Capital, Pre-tax profit of nearly £400 million.  Given this financial institution’s leverage to the residential housing market, their results stand in…

After a blip in the data last month, Nationwide is reporting that U.K. house prices have resumed their fall.  However, for the second month in a row, the annual price fall has slowed.  In March, the fall was 15.7%. This month we see only…

An increasing number of countries are recording negative year-on-year inflation numbers. I reported first on Spain, then on Switzerland.  Add the U.K. to the list as well. Deflation returned to Britain for the first time in nearly five…

House prices increased in March in the U.K. according to Nationwide Building Society. Below is what Nationwide's Chief Economist Fionnuala Earley had to say about this surprise good news: “Spring brought a surprise bounce to house prices…