The Housing Market: Is It Time to Rent or to Buy?

According to the Trulia latest rent-vs.-buy index, it depends from market to market whether you should buy, or rent a house or condo.

Trulia calculated the price-to-rent ratio for each market.

It shows that in some cities, it is cheaper to rent real estate than to actually own it. Those cities have a lower unemployment rate, or avoided the housing bubble.

Although there are signs that the house prices reached the bottom, Alex Barron expects that the prices of real estate will decline by another 10 to 30 percent. He speculates that when the mortgage rates incease, home prices will nose dive.


Kwinten Derave

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,2024445,00.html

Large mortgage deposits are creating a lost generation of homebuyers.

It seems that the rise of mortgage deposits is significantly decreasing the amount of first-time buyers in the housing market. Not long ago, it wasn't a problem to get a 100% mortgage but nowadays a 10% or even a 25% deposit appears to be the minimum. While there were still 120,900 unassisted first-time buyers in 2006, this number dropped in 2009 to a mere 20,200 due to this current trend. According to Professor Steve Wilcox, one solution would be to strengthen regulations to increase the lenders confidence in their loaners, making them willing to decrease their deposits.

Karel Van Cleemput

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/blog/2010/oct/12/mortgage-deposits-first-time-buyers

Banking and Finance

Saving for economic storms ahead makes perfect sense

People in Britain nowadays save more money and spend less, as the only solution to close the £379bn pensions gap is that everyone retiring from now on till 2051 should save an extra £10,300 every year.
Although Charles Bean, deputy governor of the Bank of England, advices us to get spending, and in that way help stuggling retailers, most people in Britain prefer to hoard some money to protect themselves against higher taxes and unemployment.
According to Urquhart Stewart, they will have to continue to spend but at a lower level than before, and especially concentrate on cutting their debts,which formed the main cause of the economic crisis, to prevent Britain from becoming a stagnant economy.
Due to the huge amount of support to the UK, not the deflation, but the hyperinflation might become the new biggest problem of the Bank of England,which includes that the savings of the British people would become worthless.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/oct/06/saving-makes-sense


Iwein Porton

Trust me I'm a banker

Now that we are finally starting to put the crisis behind us and banks are getting back on their feet, it’s time for some self-reflection: Have we learnt from our mistakes? According to the public opinion we didn’t at all, as only 16% of our respondents is satisfied at the action taken against the bankers who failed and on top of that, only 30% said their trust in bankers had restored. The biggest issue arousing this distrust seems to be the astronomic wages these executives still receive (rising up to  £ 8 million) despite previous failures causing imminent bankrupt and a need for a governmental intervention. Even though Truett Tate, Lloyds highest earning director, is confident stating that this governmental rescue was “the best investment the British could have made”, the average taxpayer isn’t that enthusiastic about having to put up for his mistakes and paying his extravagant salary.

Elien Van den Berge

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-11512414

Banking and finance

People without web 'missing out' on finance deals

People with internet access can strike a bargain. The ones without are missing some important financial deals. A consumer group proved that online financial deals become cheaper than those in a branch. A lot of people who have access to the internet are not comfortable or able to manage their finances online. People should have more access  to online deals with the support of banks and staff. 

Gilles Stevens

http://www.independent.co.uk/money/spend-save/people-without-web-missing-out-on-finance-deals-2090153.html

The solar energy war, part II

Although it isn't accessible to everyone due to high production costs, solar energy has become very popular the last decade, helping the world take care of its pollution problem.

That's why some start-ups in Silicon Valley decided to reinvent this technology, focusing on low-cost manufacturing.

As lots of venture capital was invested and big factories were being built, the Americans note that the economics of the industry is being transformed by the Chinese, who are getting lots of help of their government.

America feels that the idea, which could boost the economy, is slipping out of its hands, and they are facing another loss against the Chinese counterfeiting market...



Giel-Jan Triest

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/business/energy-environment/13solar.html?_r=1&ref=business

Lending criteria

Applying for a loan brings with it more than it might seem. When giving a loan, banks first look at a range of criteria such as age, income and credit history at which you, the customer, has to meet. Even your postcode and the purpose of the loan matter. If banks find you unsuitable for the loan you demanded, your application will be declined.

Maxime Ossieur

Source

http://www.onlyfinance.com/Loans/What-lending-criteria-is-considered.aspx