Buy to let mortgage lending grows
Endless news headlines about a new housing 'bubble' have helped buoy investor sentiment in the private rented sector. Buy-to-let mortgage lending is now picking up rapidly. 43,900 loans were extended in the third quarter, 16 per cent more than in the second quarter and 35 per cent more than in the same period of 2012. With house prices now rising, the value of those loans rose even faster. Thanks to recent interest-rate declines, the remortgage market - which was even worse hit in the banking crisis than the house-purchase market - is now also coming back strongly.
Text revenues to slide
Mobile operators face a threat over the coming years from the rise of messaging apps, according to research from Informa Telecoms & Media. As smart phone usage increases further over the next five years, the forecast use of messaging services such as WhatsApp as well as the predicted growth of platforms such as Facebook’s messenger service, will eat into the revenues telecoms operators currently bank from text messaging with European and US revenues forecast to fall as much as 20 per cent in the next five years.
Russian roulette
GDP growth rates in Russia appear to be anchored at an anaemic level. Despite its status as one of the emerging market’s main players, and indeed the fifth largest economy on the world, growth has tailed off in recent months after an impressive initial recovery from the savage downturn of 2009. The most recent quarter saw growth of 1.2 per cent, matching that seen in the second quarter and suggesting that its resources-centric economy may need a bout of sustained global economic growth, and with it a rise in commodity prices, to recover the growth rates seen in 2012.
Platinum to regain some shine?
Demand for platinum, used mostly in catalytic convertors and jewellery, is forecast to outstrip supply for the second year in a row in 2013, and the anticipated deficit of 605,000 ounces would be the biggest since 1999. According to precious metals refiner Johnson Matthey, rising industrial use and strong demand for the new South African exchange traded fund (ETF) will drive demand to a record 8.42 million ounces. Supplies, meanwhile, are unlikely to recovery much after last year’s slump, and recycling activity is expected to increase only modestly. A resumption of growth in the European car market and slew of emission legislation will mean a third year of deficit in 2014, says Matthey, so expect platinum prices to trade between $1,360 to $1,580 over the next six months (currently $1,450).
Source: Johnson Matthey
