Britain's economy is going through a renaissance – we are living through one of the best times ever. We have the highest employment rate in four decades, we're earning more money than before, and we're buying homes at an earlier age. We've completely and utterly stuck two fingers up at the recession in just seven years. At the beginning of this month, both the Office for National Statistics (ONS)and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the respective UK and US statistical agencies, made GDP revisions. The US has been revised down and the UK has been revised up. The comparative results are astounding – Britain's economic recovery just caught up with the US. The latest data from the ONS shows that the UK economy was 2.6% larger in the second quarter (April to June) in 2015, compared to the same quarter a year ago. Quarter-on-quarter growth was still at 0.4%. This is huge. It's easy to forget what a massive feat this has been for Britain because of today's success. But just look how horrific it was for Britain back in 2008 when the credit crisis unfurled. And we've conquered this in under eight years. Jobs for everyone Only a few months after the start of Britain's recession in 2008, the country had around 1.6 million people out of work. By the time Conservative party-led coalition came to power in 2010, the jobless rate was at a 8%. A year later unemployment peaked at its highest level in 17 years at around 2.7 million. Now look at it – it hit a record high. The unemployment rate is now at a low of 5.6%, as of the April to June data. A year ago that was at 6.3%. And it's not just people grabbing part time shifts wherever they can. Out of the 31.03 million people in work, 22.76 million people are working full-time, 352,000 more than for a year earlier. Both men and women alike are finding more work. ONS figures show that men working full-time increased by 153,000 to reach 14.36 million and women working full-time increased by 198,000 to reach 8.40 million. We're making more money Between 2012 and 2013, wages stagnated. It wasn't long before that unemployment hit a 17 year high (2011) and pretty much everyone was just focusing on getting and retaining a job. However, salaries have started to pick up, and with inflation so low, real wages are now genuinely accelerating. Comparing April to June 2015 with a year earlier, wages for employees in Britain increased by 2.4% including bonuses and by 2.8% excluding bonuses. That's over a period in which there was zero consumer price inflation — so wages are rising while the prices of ordinary goods people buy aren't. Looking at longer term movements since comparable records began in 2000, average total pay for employees in Great Britain in nominal terms (that is, not adjusted for consumer price inflation) increased from £311 a week in January 2000 to £488 a week in June 2015; an increase of 56.6%. Average total pay is now around £488 a week as of June 2015. More people are able to own their own home Britain is still under pressure to build more homes and prices in London are going insane. We are in an era of super-high housing prices. According to the latest house price data from the ONS, released in July this year, the average price for a property in Britain is £274,000 ($427,633) while in London is stands at a huge £503,000 ($785,089). Excluding London, the average house price is £210,000 ($327,802). While high property prices are changing the dynamics of the housing market in the UK, more and more people are actually getting on the housing ladder. More people being in work and earning more means greater prospects on the housing ladder. On top of that, the landscape is pretty fertile for people to get on the property ladder and to stop funnelling money into the rental market. The government launched the Help to Buy scheme in October 2013. This meant that first time buyers would be able to snag a home with only a 5% deposit. The government would provide the remaining 15%. This has meant the average age for a first time buyer has fallen to the average age of 31 – a whole six years off the previous number. So, sure, there are lots of other elements to the economy that need to be finessed and stimulated. Our industrial production could improve, our dependence on imports to be weakened but one thing is for certain, it isn't all that bad. We are have jobs, we have more money than before, and we're able to make sure we have invested in the future with the purchase of a roof over our heads. That sounds pretty good to me.Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 6 mind-blowing facts about Greece's economy
Welcome, 77 artists, 40 different points of Attica welcomes you by singing Erotokritos an epic romance written at 1713 by Vitsentzos Kornaros
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Moody's: The ECB is creating a housing bubble in Europe
Moody's Analytics has warned that the European Central Bank's €60 billion-a-month quantitative easing (QE) programme might be creating a housing bubble in the UK, Germany and Norway, according to The Financial Times: Anna Zabrodzka, the author, said rising prices and the ECB’s €60bn-a-month asset-buying programme have caused “the risk of house price bubbles” to “resurface”. ... The rises are buoyed by rapid growth in big cities such as London, Oslo and Munich, where properties are “becoming increasingly overvalued”, it added. The QE programme (worth about $65 billion /£42 billion per month) brought in by ECB chief Mario Draghi, is intended to flush new, cheap money into Europe's economy through a series of bond purchases. Europe's economy is uneven and fragile — with Southern Europe countries like Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal still either in recession or barely coming out of it. But QE is a blunt weapon: The new money gets into the system, but the ECB cannot ensure that loans are invested in areas where they may be most needed. The overall effect is that it lowers bank interest rates to zero, making it easy for anyone who wants to borrow money, in the good economies as well as the bad ones. And the people doing the borrowing are home buyers in Northern Europe, attracted by low interest rates on mortgages, Moody's says. Here's a snapshot of property prices: Average house price increases since 2010: Norway: 30% Germany: nearly 25% UK: nearly 15% Source - Moody's via FT. In the UK, London is most suspected of being in a property bubble right now. The average price of a house there right now is nearly £600,000, and mortgages are being offered at roughly five times the average income of London buyers, according to the Office for National Statistics.Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: The cheapest new Ferrari money can buy is absolutely gorgeous
Moody's says the €60 billion-a-month QE program is creating a housing bubble in Europe
Moody's Analytics has warned that the European Central Bank's €60 billion-a-month quantitative easing (QE) programme might be creating a housing bubble in the UK, Germany and Norway, according to The Financial Times: Anna Zabrodzka, the author, said rising prices and the ECB’s €60bn-a-month asset-buying programme have caused “the risk of house price bubbles” to “resurface”. ... The rises are buoyed by rapid growth in big cities such as London, Oslo and Munich, where properties are “becoming increasingly overvalued”, it added. The QE programme (worth about $65 billion /£42 billion per month) brought in by ECB chief Mario Draghi, is intended to flush new, cheap money into Europe's economy through a series of bond purchases. Europe's economy is uneven and fragile — with Southern Europe countries like Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal still either in recession or barely coming out of it. But QE is a blunt weapon: The new money gets into the system, but the ECB cannot ensure that loans are invested in areas where they may be most needed. The overall effect is that it lowers bank interest rates to zero, making it easy for anyone who wants to borrow money, in the good economies as well as the bad ones. And the people doing the borrowing are home buyers in Northern Europe, attracted by low interest rates on mortgages, Moody's says. Here's a snapshot of property prices: Average house price increases since 2010: Norway: 30% Germany: nearly 25% UK: nearly 15% Source - Moody's via FT. In the UK, London is most suspected of being in a property bubble right now. The average price of a house there right now is nearly £600,000, and mortgages are being offered at roughly five times the average income of London buyers, according to the Office for National Statistics.Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: The cheapest new Ferrari money can buy is absolutely gorgeous
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Rich Russians Buy Greek Villas for Peanuts
The number of Greek luxury villas bought by Russians has doubled in 2015 compared to previous years, says a Bild report. As the Greek economy keeps sinking in recession and the recent capital controls have crippled tourism, the Greek government is struggling to reach a deal with international creditors. All eyes are set on Greece, and more so the eyes of wealthy Russians who see that they can buy real estate properties in the country and pay next to nothing. The economic crisis has forced many Greeks to sell their luxury villas and homes. Property taxes and the authorities’ scrutiny of finances of individuals who own such properties have made ownership unaffordable. In come rich Russians who look for investments or a nice holiday home in sunny Greece. A survey of Greek and Russian real estate agencies conducted by Bild shows that since the economic crisis onset in 2009, property prices have dropped in half. “If a villa on the Greek island of Syros cost 1.6 million euros a few years ago, it is now selling for just 800,000,” said Isabelle Razi, the founder of the Greek realtor agency IRM Aegean Estate. According to the report, Russia’s own economic crisis has encouraged Russian businessmen to look for real estate investment in Greece. Thus, the demand for expensive properties have nearly doubled since last year, with the suburbs of Athens, the region of Chalkidiki in Macedonia and the island of Crete being the most popular areas. Russian and Chinese investors are after bargains in luxurious homes, but recently investors from neighboring Bulgaria and Serbia are also among those buying such properties at slashed prices. “Now is absolutely the best time to buy,” Svetlana Kuklina from the real estate agency Greece.ru said. “Prices cannot possibly fall any lower,” the report concludes.
Monday, June 1, 2015
Greek Defense Ministry to Generate €1.5 Bln a Year from Army Property
per290515 The Greek Armed Forces wealth exceeds 32 billion euros in real estate property and the Defense Ministry has a plan to generate 1.5 ...
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
250.000 Unsold Properties in Greece’s Crisis-hit Real Estate Market
For decades the Greek banks and the real estate market were operating as communicating vessels, with the former granting long-term mortgage loans to satisfy the increasing demand for real estate properties. With Greece being through the sixth year of economic crisis, the financial institutions were forced to reduce loans and now the Greek property market appears to be stagnant. Without access to liquidity the number of real estate sales fell, while the number of unsold properties rose dramatically. According to a nationwide survey conducted by E-Real Estates, during the first quarter of 2015 only 750 mortgage loans were granted, compared to 2,500 mortgage loans last year, 75,000 in 2009 and 120,000 in 2006. At the same time, in the first three months of 2015, a total of 1,800 properties were sold compared to 15,000 in 2014 and more than 165,000 in 2004. As a result, there are at least 250,000 real estate properties in Greece that are not being sold, while the average time required for their sale was estimated at nearly eight months. Although real estate prices have taken a downward turn, falling to by 17% in 2014 compared to the previous year, the demand still remains weak. According to E-Real Estates managing director, Themistoklis Bakas the main issues that cause a lack of demand are: the rapid decline in Greek households’ disposable income and the rising unemployment combined with the excessive taxation on real estate. “Young couples, who once constituted the largest percentage of buyers, as well as pensioners, who used to acquire properties as an investment appear cautious,” he said. Private investment in housing across Greece was 9.8% of GDP in 2007, however it fell to 2.2% in 2013 and 1.3% in 2014.
Friday, November 21, 2014
Commercial property draws interest from investors
Investor interest in leased commercial properties in Greece has grown over the last 12 months according to leading estate agents. They stress that this property category is the only one – with the exception of tourism – to have seen any demand recently. Y... ...
Friday, August 8, 2014
Greek Real Estate Prices Continue to Drop
Property values in Greece continue to drop as the Greek economy struggles to recover. Greek real estate has lost 7.3% of its value compared to last year, according to a survey released by the Bank of Greece. Based on revised data received from credit ...
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Greek property prices slide, but less steeply, in second quarter
ATHENS, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Greek property prices declined at a slower pace in the second quarter, data showed on Wednesday, as the country battles ...
