"OVERALL, the latest plethora of data and survey evidence on the housing market do little to alleviate belief that prices are set to fall markedly further over the coming months. Indeed, even though mortgage lenders are largely passing on last week's 150 basis point interest rate cut by the Bank of England, the fundamentals for the housing market remain largely unfavourable."
Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at Global Insight
"If wholesale prices for electricity and gas maintain a downward trend, Scottish & Southern Energy is optimistic that it will be able to deliver reduction in prices for domestic customers during the early part of 2009."
Scottish & Southern Energy "THE government must take urgent action to ensure welfare reforms designed for a period of growth do not now make matters worse. With fewer jobs and more jobseekers, harsh new sanctions are irrational, unfair and a threat to family security. The endless new threats and conditions for disabled people and lone parents are an expensive bureaucratic burden that … must be suspended."
Kate Green, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, responding to rising unemployment figures."The number of housing transactions has declined markedly since one year ago and the market is adjusting to lower prices and sales. Although the number of mortgage products has declined, the cost of borrowing has reduced for many mortgage holders with the latest fall in interest rates in early November. So far, the Scottish housing market is showing sensible adjustment rather than a precipitous collapse."
Professor Donald MacRae, chief economist at Lloyds TSB Scotland"This is a huge victory for consumers who have often felt pressured into buying expensive and inadequate PPI products. Single premiums trap people into poor-value products that are difficult to get out of, but by staggering the payments, consumers will have more control. This sounds the death knell for shoddy protection and is a wake-up call to the industry to develop useful products that consumers actually need."
Which? chief executive Peter Vicary-Smith responding to the Competition Commission's proposed ban on selling PPI at the point of granting credit.The full article contains 352 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
