Alistair Darling will forecast a short, sharp recession in his crucial pre-Budget report in 11 days’ time, with the economy contracting by more than 1 per cent next year but bouncing back strongly in 2017. The Chancellor said we were going into recession, but he remained confident about getting through it.Read More →
The perilous state of the national finances was made public as it was disclosed that the National Audit Office has refused to sign off part of the Treasury’s accounts. The decline in government revenue for the 2015-09 financial year – the steepest since the 1920s – included a £6.4Read More →
Asking prices for properties in England and Wales have risen for the fourth month in a row to a six-year high, according to property website Rightmove. The average price has increased by 2.4 per cent, or £5,000, which Rightmove has put down to sellers pricing their homes at aRead More →
The number of new mortgages approved for house purchases in Britain has fallen for another month. The figures from the Bank of England shows that 42,000 homes were approved in May, a 28 per cent fall from the previous month, and down 64 per cent from a year ago.Read More →
The Migration Impacts Forum, a group of frontline practitioners brought together to advise government on how migration affects public services and local communities, has released a report showing that migrants who have moved to the UK over the past two years, have been allocated only five per cent ofRead More →
Gwyneth Taylor from the National Federation of ALMOs (arms length management organisations) argues that if government funding dries up for ALMOs, which manage council housing on behalf of local authorities, one million council tenants would be affected. The federation has put together a paper providing examples of activities ALMOsRead More →
The Times has learnt that only 15 houses qualified in the first year of a £15 million project to waive stamp duty on the building of hundreds of zero-carbon homes. Critics of the scheme said it failed because the government’s specifications for a zero-carbon home are not practical andRead More →
The government has again been urged to set up a national deposit savings scheme offering tax-free bonuses to help struggling first-time buyers get on the housing ladder. Chairman of the New Homes Marketing Board said the scheme would not only re-establish a savings habit, but could improve liquidity inRead More →
A report has said that five new supercities will evolve in the coming 20 years as the country increasingly focuses on new economic endeavours based on scientific innovation. The report Future of Business said changes were being driven by the recession which will push new ways of working, increaseRead More →
The Bank of England (BoE) warned that the correction in the credit markets had gone too far and banks and financial markets were too pessimistic and at risk of making the financial crisis a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Bank’s twice-yearly financial stability report says that the credit markets had ‘overstatedRead More →