Lunchtime news Thursday 18 September 2023

Latest mortgage lending figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders show the total value of new lending in August was down £21.8 billion – a 12 per cent drop from July – and 36 per cent lower than in August last year. It is the lowest monthly figure since April 2005, and the lowest August figure since 2002. CML blamed the fall on the ‘exceptionally low housing market turnover’, which reflected consumer uncertainty.

Anthony Mayer, chair of the Tenant Services Authority, has told housing associations that the social housing sector has ‘fallen off the pace’. In his first speech as chair of the new social housing regulator, Mayer said that the gap between the best and worst performing associations was yawning, and that associations needed to use a variety of approaches to protect some of the 10 million tenants across England.

Building for life guidance has been released today. Developed by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) it sets out the national standards required for building affordable new homes built with investment from the Housing Corporation. A spokesperson for the corporation said that reaching high quality design standards is a central requirement of the Housing Corporation’s investment programme and a core objective of the new Homes and Communities Agency.

Lloyds TSB has unveiled details of its £12 billion takeover of HBOS, which will create a £1 trillion ‘superbank’. The merger came as HBOS faced a massive fall in share value, due to a combination of investors short selling shares prior to the announcement, and the housing crisis. HBOS is the largest mortgage lender in the country, with more than half of its funding mortgage related. The government said it would allow the deal ‘as financial stability must trump competition fears’. The takeover means the group will hold a third of all mortgages in the UK market. Lloyds confirmed that there would be job loses but played down reports that up to 40,000 staff could face the axe.

Central banks around the world have been pumping billions of extra dollars into the money markets in a coordinated attempt to lift the amount of available credit . After the recent days of turmoil in the global financial markets the issuing of funds is hoped to ease liquidity problems. The US Federal Reserve has released $180 billion, the European Central Bank has provided $55 billion and the Bank of England (BoE) is making $40 billion available. The BoE also extended its special liquidity scheme by a further three months yesterday.