http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2...siness.banking
Dire mortgage lending statistics and a profit warning from one of the UK's biggest mortgage lenders yesterday underlined the crisis facing the housing market as the credit crunch continues.
The Bank of England said new mortgage approvals in April tumbled to their lowest level on record, much worse than expected and bringing warnings from economists of a knock-on effect on consumer spending.
Bradford & Bingley, the biggest buy-to-let mortgage lender, said arrears had begun to rise and the bank had slumped £8m into the red after just four months of the year. It said the situation was likely to get worse as more homeowners find it difficult to meet mortgage payments.
At the same time, the UK's biggest building society, Nationwide, raised its mortgage rates as it tried to rebuild profit margins. Alliance & Leicester also raised its fixed-rate mortgages by between 0.05 and 0.25 of a percentage point.
The stream of bad news from the homelending sector drove the FTSE-100 index down 45.9 to 6007.6 as billions of pounds were wiped off the value of housebuilders, banks and mortgage lenders. Sterling had its worst day for a month, closing down 1% against the dollar. Dealers also blamed the concerns about the wider economy.
And it's raining.
Dire mortgage lending statistics and a profit warning from one of the UK's biggest mortgage lenders yesterday underlined the crisis facing the housing market as the credit crunch continues.
The Bank of England said new mortgage approvals in April tumbled to their lowest level on record, much worse than expected and bringing warnings from economists of a knock-on effect on consumer spending.
Bradford & Bingley, the biggest buy-to-let mortgage lender, said arrears had begun to rise and the bank had slumped £8m into the red after just four months of the year. It said the situation was likely to get worse as more homeowners find it difficult to meet mortgage payments.
At the same time, the UK's biggest building society, Nationwide, raised its mortgage rates as it tried to rebuild profit margins. Alliance & Leicester also raised its fixed-rate mortgages by between 0.05 and 0.25 of a percentage point.
The stream of bad news from the homelending sector drove the FTSE-100 index down 45.9 to 6007.6 as billions of pounds were wiped off the value of housebuilders, banks and mortgage lenders. Sterling had its worst day for a month, closing down 1% against the dollar. Dealers also blamed the concerns about the wider economy.
And it's raining.
... it wasn't like this when I was young... 
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