Bloomberg stated on 22 Dec 09 “Greece had its credit rating cut one step to A2 by Moody’s Investors Service, sparking a rally in its bonds as concern eased that a steeper downgrade would make the debt ineligible as collateral at the European Central Bank.
The downgrade puts Greece’s rating five steps above non- investment grade and two higher than the levels assigned to it by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings. The ranking is the lowest among the 16 euro-member states and the same as that of Poland and Botswana. Moody’s said in a statement today the new rating carries a “negative” outlook, meaning it’s more inclined to cut it again than leave it unchanged or raise it.”
House prices in France rose 3.9% q-o-q in Q2 2009, after several quarters of price falls, according to the National Association of Real Estate Agents in France (FNAIM). France’s economic recovery has surprised market players and government officials, and is attributable to a fiscal boost, and to automatic stabilisers such as welfare support. When adjusted for inflation, the average house price rose by 2.97% over the same period. These quarterly price increases are the highest since Q2 2004.
see www.globalpropertyguide.com for the full story
Findaproperty.com rental index shows a 1.3% decrease in rent levels for the UK in December 2009, this is still 3% lower than a year ago. Supply levels are 1.7% higher than last month and an average property takes 56 days to rent.
See www.findaproperty.com for full information
Analysts at Moody’s have proposed a new misery index based on both unemployment and unmanageable debt leading to economic misery. The index uses the unemployment rate and the fiscal deficit as a percent of gross domestic product to calculate figures.
This measure, Moody’s says, is intended to reflect the expected challenges facing some major economics over the next decade.
The index value in the United States and United Kingdom is high, but then it’s much worse in places like Spain, Latvia, Ireland and Greece. Which is perhaps not terribly comforting.
For the full story see http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/a-new-misery-index
Martin Ellis, Halifax housing economist, commented
“House prices increased by 1.4% in November. This was the fifth successive monthly rise with prices more than 4% higher over the first eleven months of the year.
Somewhat higher demand has combined with a low level of properties available for sale to push up prices. Further ahead, the prospects for the market will depend on how the UK economy evolves and whether there is a significant increase in the supply of properties for sale. Overall, our view is that house prices will be flat during 2010.”
See www.lloydsbankinggroup.com for the full report
The number of loans for house purchase in the UK reached 55,000 in October 2009, its highest level since December 2007, according to new data released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders. The amount of buyers has risen from a low in January 2009 when only 23,000 loans were advanced. It is now up 140% from that low point. For the full story see the following link http://www.cml.org.uk/cml/media/press/2489