Tag Archives: motivation
Number of home loans in UK in March stable, bank figures show
The number of loan approvals for house purchases in the UK reached 71,357 in March, broadly in line with the average over the previous six months, according to the latest figures from the Bank of England. A breakdown of the figures show that the number of approvals for remortgaging was 41,347, compared to the average of 40,755 over the previous six months while the number of approvals for other purposes was 12,875, compared to the average of 12,267 over the previous six months. According to Kevin Purvey, chairman of the Independent Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA), approvals dipped just slightly from February as the short term effect of the buy to let stamp duty surcharge fades away. He pointed out that remortgaging rose slightly over the average established over the previous six months. ‘Having seen the remortgage market bounce back during summer and autumn of 2015, it’s a positive sign to see it remaining in rude health in the first quarter of 2016. This is likely to be influenced by intense competition among mortgage lenders, which has driven mortgage rates down to record lows,’ he said. ‘Following house price rises, it means now could be a sensible time to consider remortgaging whether simply to refinance or release equity. We expect remortgaging to be one of the strongest growth areas within the mortgage market this year, with home owners looking to remortgage benefitting very much from lender competition and the plethora of products available,’ he added. David Brown, chief executive officer of Marsh & Parsons, said that the first three months of 2016 was by no means a typical quarter. ‘Activity in the opening three months of this year has been exceptionally skewed by the additional layer of stamp duty for both buy to let and second home purchases,’ he pointed out. ‘Naturally, the knee jerk reaction among these groups has been to hurry through property purchases before the deadline, and make savings while they can. Second home owners really jumped to it this spring, and were much more prominent in the market than we would typically expect,’ he explained. ‘Now that the ruckus has passed, we’ll see much more orderly transactions over the summer months, as the market rebalances towards first time buyers and other owner occupiers for whom it will just be business as usual,’ he added. Meanwhile, separate research shows that just a third of remortgagors consulted a mortgage broker in March and at 35% this was the lowest amount since September, leading to concerns borrowers may be missing out on best available rates. Overall the number of remortgagors consulting brokers has declined since the start of the year, according to the latest research from LMS. It fell to just 35% in March, the lowest amount since September last year and down from 39% in February. It is also 11% lower than the 46% who consulted a broker at the start of the year. This leads to… Continue reading
Lost weight to turn to gold
Lost weight to turn to gold Staff Reporter / 21 July 2013 The population of Dubai will be tens of thousands of kilograms lighter, but more sparkly if residents plans go their way. The Dubai Municipality’s “Your Weight in Gold” initiative got a thumping response from residents of Dubai when it began on Friday evening at Safa Park, with thousands registering on the first day. The initiative is to promote a healthy lifestyle and to encourage people to shed the fat. The event was kicked off at Gate 2 of Al Safa Park in the presence of Director General of Dubai Municipality Hussain Nasser Lootah, as well as senior officials and partners. Lootah said: “The overwhelming response from the public in this hot season indicates that the people in Dubai are highly concerned about their health and fitness”. People registered at five main parks around Dubai. DM’s Head of the Media Section Yusuf Murad said people have the motivation to lose the excess flab. “The top three winners will get the gold equivalent of Dh20,000 each and participants who (lose) a minimum two kilograms and above will get one gram of gold for each kg reduced from their weight.” Murad said registration sites were at Al Safa Park Gate 2, Zabeel Park Gate 3, Main Gates of Al Barsha and Al Khawaneej and the starting point of Al Mamzar Track. “Because of the long queues in all parks people tried different parks to get entry in the first day and many of them postponed the registration to coming days. The registration is open throughout the period of the campaign from 8pm to midnight.” All participants will receive a call or SMS for the confirmation and they have to report to any of above five parks on 19 August to record the final weight, Murad said. — news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Biofuels Can Play A Part In Strengthening UK Economy
10 May 2013 THE NFU believes the motivation behind encouraging arable farmers to produce should not confuse two issues of producing maize for anaerobic digestion (AD) and wheat or oilseed rape to be used in biofuel production (FG, May 3). On-farm decisions are driven by access to markets. Removing the ability of farmers to add value to basic commodities through biofuel production or AD would not simply result in the same level of production of wheat for animal feed. Instead, the likelihood is farmers will reduce production as it becomes economically unsustainable. Biofuels and other forms of bioenergy production have the ability to reduce the UK’s reliance on both imported fuel and animal feed. The agricultural community can play a part in limiting the exposure of the UK economy to the vagaries of world energy and protein prices. Dr Jonathan Scurlock, NFU chief adviser on renewable energy and climate change. Continue reading
