Closing summary
Time for a recap….
The number of UK mortgages in arrears has jumped as the rise in interest rates since the end of 2021 hits households.
Trade body UK Finance reported that 87,930 homeowner mortgages were in arrears in the third quarter of 2023, 7% more than the previous quarter.
The number of buy-to-let (BTL) mortgages in arrears was 11,540, a 29% increase during the same period – or 100% higher than a year ago.
UK Finance suggested that some landlords may not be able to charge rents which will cover their mortgage, saying:
“The increases in arrears are driven by the combined impact of both cost-of-living pressures and higher interest rates.
“In particular, interest rate pressures are felt more acutely in the BTL sector, where landlords may not be able to raise rents to cover the increases in their payments.”
Separate data from the Ministry of Justice has also shown an increase in mortgage possession claims in the last quarter, and also a rise in landlords repossessing properties from tenants.
But there could be some relief for households looking to remortgage, with Nationwide launching a two-year fixed-rate mortgage priced at below 5%.
The Bank of England’s chief economist has indicated that UK interest rates won’t need to rise any higher to bring inflation down to target.
The UK property sector continued to cool last month, with property surveyors reporting another drop in sales and prices. However, the downturn may be bottoming out, the latest survey from RICS shows.
In other news…
China has fallen back into deflationary territory, after consumer prices dropped by 0.2% in the year to October.
Labour has attacked the Conservatives over the speed of government efforts to upgrade Britain’s draughty housing stock, as analysis showed a leading household energy efficiency initiative was proceeding at what the party called a “glacial pace”.
Shell is suing Greenpeace for $2.1m in damages in one of the biggest ever legal threats against the group after its campaigners occupied a moving oil platform earlier this year.
Insurers operating in the Lloyd’s of London market are the world’s biggest underwriters of fossil fuel projects, research has found.
AstraZeneca is making a big push into the weight-loss drug market, striking an exclusive licence agreement with a Chinese company for an obesity and type 2 diabetes pill that is in early stage development.
Apple has suffered a setback in its battle against an order to pay an alleged €13bn (£11.3bn) tax bill in Ireland, after one of the top advisers to the European court of justice (ECJ) said a ruling in the tech company’s favour should be set side.
National Grid spent a record £3.5bn in the first half of the financial year as it accelerated work to prepare the UK’s power grids for a surge in new clean energy projects.
Updated
Shares in semiconductor designer Arm have dropped back to the levels at which they floated on the New York stock exchange this autumn.
Arm have dropped by 6% in early trading to just over $51, after its revenue forecast for the current quarter missed Wall Street forecasts last night.
