Business Finance Junction – July 2014

The FPC (Financial Policy Committee) has proposed new rules for mortgage lenders which caps loan-to-income ratios and includes interest rate stress tests. Lenders will not be able to have more than 15% of new mortgages at loan-to-income above 4.5 times and it applies to all Help-to-Buy loans. Coming into force 1 October, the test ruling applies to the first 5 years of the loan and assesses the borrower being able to afford repayments, if their interest rate rose by 3% above the rate at origination. The stress tests are generally in line with those already implemented by major lenders as part of their affordability calculator and are part of policy measures being taken to limit the risk of house prices being detached from earnings. The restrictions cover owner-occupier loans however the FPC minutes  state ‘The FPC considered the need to monitor mortgage lending activity beyond the scope of the recommendation…This included close monitoring of the buy-to-let market….’

Payday lenders and other firms offering high cost, short-term credit will face new rules applied to rollovers, continuous payment authorities and risk warnings, from July 1. Such high-cost short-term lenders are restricted to two unsuccessful attempts to use CPA (Continuous Payment Authority) to take a repayment and can’t use CPA for part-payment. Similar rules are applied to loans repaid in instalments.

UK house prices increased by 1% in June (11.8% higher than June 2013), according to Nationwide Building Society; all regions showed annual price gains in the second quarter of the year. Their current figures state the average price for a home is £188,903, with price increases 14 months in a row.

According to a survey of 1,000 NLA members the average void period experienced by UK landlords has continued to fall and is down to 2.7 weeks, bringing it to 2012 levels. High tenant demand is credited to keeping the time a rental property is empty between tenancies. The survey was to find the top factors that landlords consider when getting ready to make a BTL purchase. Quelle Suprise!  Landlords prefer to invest in areas where they have local knowledge and understanding of market trends. Other factors were cited as strength of tenant demand in the chosen area, local rent levels, capital growth prospects, local transport connections and almost ¾ of the participants said they’d be looking near their own home.

The British Retail Consortium has published recommendations for the reform of business rates. Calculated on the rental value of properties in 2008 (before the recession) it is therefore thought not fair to businesses competing against online-only businesses. The recommendations include reducing the total amount of business rates and that they are shared more fairly between different industries, including incentives for energy efficiency.

The Market Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI)  showed a score of 57.5, up from 57.0 in May. Any figure above 50 indicates growth in the industry and the UK manufacturing sector has grown at its fastest pace for 7 months (June) with job creation growing at its fastest for 3 years.

That’s the serious bit….. now, on a more flippant note…..

A 55 year old Entrepreneur / Consultant has recently joined LinkedIn with an apparently list of more than 150 careers. The former astronaut and fashion designer always has a ‘smartphone, tablet and briefcase by her side’;  she is apparently a ‘smart, stylish career woman’ whose business is named Dream Incubator. And (for those who like management speak) her tagline ‘If you can dream it, you can be it!’ might inspire a LinkedIn invitation…… to the plastic lady known as Barbie ….. she might be dressed, but is she ready to work?

Image and Article credit: Copyright SUF © 2014