Lunchtime news Tuesday 12 February 2024

David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation has provided details of how his organisation plans to meet the prime minister’s target of 3 million new homes to be built by 2020. He believes that housing associations will need to deliver about one million homes, delivering after 2012 an annual number of 45,000 homes for rent, 25,000 homes for shared ownership, and 10,000 homes for market sale.

In America, ’Project Lifeline’ is expected to be announced today to help borrowers who are in danger of defaulting on loans from losing their homes. Analysts predict that the number of homeowners defaulting on their mortgage will be up 166 per cent this year, to 1.6 million. Six major lenders are offering a 30-day freeze on foreclosures to help those who are three months or more in arrears to refinance their loans, and banks have pledged to freeze sub-prime interest rates for the next five years.

Fears of a global slowdown triggered by the US housing market crash caused stock markets to lose £2.7 trillion in value in January. According to ratings firm, Standard & Poor’s, 50 of 52 share indexes ended last month lower, with just under half of the major markets losing more than 10 per cent of their value.

A shock rise on ‘factory gate inflation’ – the price industry pays for goods and services – and an increase in the consumer price index, has put hopes of a further cut in interest rates in jeopardy. Economists believe that Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, will admit that he will miss the 2 per cent inflation target set by the government, pushing another cut in rates back to at least May.

And finally, when a family kept hearing banging coming from the attic of their council house in Peterlee, County Durham, they called the police. But when the police found no sign of a break-in, the council did what any self respecting council would do (wouldn’t they?) – they helped pay for an exorcist. A spokesperson for the council said that it agreed to pay half the exorcism cost because the family were ‘extremely distressed’ and the alternative was £40-a-night emergency accommodation. The council added that they are committed to preventing homelessness through a number of measures, although this was ‘unusual’.