The figures show that house prices dipped 0.2pc in April, leaving them down 0.9pc on last year, and the building society said that it expected housing market activity to "remain subdued" with prices showing little growth or a small dip over the next twelve months.


Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said that recent softness in housing market figures has been affected by the expiry of the Government's stamp duty holiday for first-time buyers in late March. This provided an artificial boost to house prices in early 2012 as buyers brought forward purchases, meaning that the last few months have been softer by comparison.


The average price of a UK home is now £164,134, compared with £165,609 a year ago, and £167,802 in April 2010.

House prices down



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/pers ... month.html

House prices falling steeply, says Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

Downward slide evidence of faltering economic confidence, says group, but London house prices experiencing a 'mini-boom'

UK banks ditch bad consumer loans
By Robin Wigglesworth in London
UK banks are selling dud consumer loans such as defaulted credit card debts at the fastest pace since before the financial crisis, predominantly to investment funds that specialise in squeezing value out of distressed debt.
KPMG, the consultancy that is advising many banks on asset disposals, predicts that banks will this year shed non-performing consumer loans with a face value of £1bn, after £800m of sales last year.

Proposed changes to the calculation of UK inflation data could “ruin” the £338bn index-linked gilt market and leave investors nursing heavy losses.
However, the proposals would reduce the liabilities of the majority of private sector occupational pension schemes by eroding the retirement income of their members.

there is more

A group of long-term unemployed jobseekers were bussed into London to work as unpaid stewards during the diamond jubilee celebrations and told to sleep under London Bridge before working on the river pageant.

Up to 30 jobseekers and another 50 people on apprentice wages were taken to London by coach from Bristol, Bath and Plymouth as part of the government's Work Programme.

Two jobseekers, who did not want to be identified in case they lost their benefits, said they had to camp under London Bridge the night before the pageant. They told the Guardian they had to change into security gear in public, had no access to toilets for 24 hours, and were taken to a swampy campsite outside London after working a 14-hour shift in the pouring rain on the banks of the Thames on Sunday.

One young worker said she was on duty between London Bridge and Tower Bridge during the £12m river spectacle of a 1,000-boat flotilla and members of the Royal family sail by . She said that the security firm Close Protection UK, which won a stewarding contract for the jubilee events, gave her a plastic see-through poncho and a high-visibility jacket for protection against the rain.

Not sure about hyper-inflation, but definitely hurtling backwards to feudal times in the 4-day-long Royal bread and circuses bore-athon this weekend. The cost of it was scandalous - shame some of the money didn't do that famous capitalist "trickle down" thing to these poor souls.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/04/jubilee-pageant-unemployed

Close Protection UK confirmed that it was using up to 30 unpaid staff and 50 apprentices, who were paid £2.80 an hour, for the three-day event in London. A spokesman said the unpaid work was a trial for paid roles at the Olympics, which it had also won a contract to staff. Unpaid staff were expected to work two days out of the three-day holiday.

Mr Posen, who will step down from his role in August, added that he was “too optimistic” when he abandoned a push for more stimulus in April.

“Further asset purchases by central banks can improve the economic situation we are now in,” Mr Posen said in a speech in London. He also said it is “time for the major central banks, including the Bank of England, to engage in purchases of assets other than government bonds”.

The BoE held its bond-purchase target at £325bn this month as policy makers kept a close eye on the crisis in the eurozone. Mr Posen, who until April voted to increase stimulus, said the global recovery had “petered out” and the “risk of disorder in the euro area has reinforced the trends towards excessive reluctance to invest”.

there is more

Mortgage borrowing fell sharply after a stamp-duty concession for first-time buyers was withdrawn, according to lenders.

The number of loans to home buyers fell by 30% month-on-month in April to 36,000 loans worth £5.3 billion, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said.

A total of 12,600 loans worth £1.5 billion were advanced to first-time buyers in April, around half the number recorded in the previous month, when buyers rushed to complete deals before the two-year concession ended, the CML found.

The body warned that a significant pick-up in purchases is unlikely in the coming months due to the uncertain economy.

Central banks should buy assets other than government bonds, says Bank of England's Adam Posen - -> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/econ ... Posen.html