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January 19, 2010

UK Mortgage Availability Increases For Third Month

Category: General Mortgage – propropertyinvestor – 11:51 am
Moneysupermarket.com commented that the number of mortgage products on the market passed the 2,500 mark in Jan 2010. There are now over 2,500 mortgage products available for the first time since 11 May 2009, according to a report from moneysupermarket.com.
January 2010 marked the third consecutive month that the number of mortgages has increased. More choice is good for consumers, but, to put the figure in perspective, in August 2007, before the impact of the credit crunch, there were over 30,000 mortgage products available.

Inflation rate jumps to 2.9%

Category: General Finance, Investment – propropertyinvestor – 11:36 am

UK inflation rose at its fastest annual pace for nine months in December.

The Office for National Statistics said the Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure of inflation had risen to 2.9%, up from an annual rate of 1.9% in November. That was the biggest jump in the annual rate from one month to the next since records began, and exceeded the City’s expectations of an increase to 2.6%.

The annual increase in CPI mainly came about because of a number of unusual factors that had depressed prices a year earlier. These included a near-record fall in oil prices in December 2008, the VAT cut to 15% and retail discounting, the Office for National Statistics said.

Core CPI, which excludes food, energy, tobacco and alcohol, rose by 2.8% on the year, which is the fastest pace of growth since records began in January 1997.