Proactive Investors - First-time UK house buyers with a 15% deposit to put down face paying nearly £200 per month more for a mortgage typically than they did a year ago, according to Rightmove PLC (LON:RMV).
The property website said those in this deposit bracket will pay an average of around £1,056 per month compared with £865 last year, due to mortgage rates and house prices rising.
However, it said this is lower than the £1,218 per month that a new first-time buyer would have paid last October, around the time some mortgage rates were peaking.
The analysis was based on the average asking price for a typical first-time buyer property, with two bedrooms or less, and the average rate for a five-year fixed, 85% loan-to-value mortgage, with repayments being spread over 25 years.
IAG lifts guidance as travel rebound continues
International Consolidated Airlines Group (LON:ICAG), the owner of British Airways, raised guidance for the full year as demand for travel continued to pick up.
The FTSE 100 listed airline said it currently expects its full year 2023 operating profit before exceptional items to be higher than the top end of previous guidance of €1.8 billion to €2.3 billion.
Luis Gallego, IAG Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are seeing healthy forward bookings with leisure demand particularly strong while business travel continues to recover more slowly.”
For the first quarter to March owner IAG reported operating profit before exceptional items of €9 million, up €750 million versus quarter one last year, the first positive outcome in the first quarter since 2019, representing ongoing strong customer demand across all airlines.
The company said British Airways returned to profit in quarter one for the first time since quarter 1, 2019 while strong demand in Spain and Latin America, as well as on routes to the US, delivered Iberia's best-ever quarter one performance.
IAG said the improved performance reflected a strong yield performance and the benefit of a lower fuel price.
Markets in Latin America and North Atlantic markets are now back at pre-pandemic levels of capacity while IAG noted an encouraging outlook for the summer with around 80% of expected quarter two revenue now booked.
IHG boosted by growth in China
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC reported strong growth in revenue per room boosted by strong growth in China after travel restrictions were removed.
In a first quarter trading update, the FTSE 100-listed firm said first quarter revenue per average room (RevPar) climbed 33% year-on-year with Americas up 18%, EMEAA up 64% and Greater China up 75%.
Compared to 2019, RevPAR rose 6.8% with Americas up 11.1%, EMEAA up 9.7% and Greater China down 9.1%.
Occupancy was 64%, up 5 percentage points on last year.
Chief Executive Keith Barr said: “"We've seen a good start to the year, with continued strong trading in both the Americas and EMEAA, and an excellent rebound in demand in Greater China since the lifting of travel restrictions.”
“Leisure demand has remained buoyant, and there has been further return of business and group travel as expected.”
He said the company opened eight thousand rooms across 45 hotels in the quarter, and despite financing challenges for the wider commercial real estate industry, “we anticipate improving levels as the year progresses.”
FTSE expected to open higher despite US nerves
Good morning. The FTSE 100 is expected to open higher despite further heavy losses on Wall Street as the banking turmoil hitting midsized US bans showed no signs of easing.
Spread betting companies are calling London’s lead index up by around 23 points.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 286.50 points, or 0.9%, at 33,127.74. The S&P 500 declined 29.53 points, or 0.7%, at 4,061.22 while the Nasdaq Composite fell 58.93 points, or 0.5%, at 11,966.40.
But after the closing bell, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) provided better news, topping Street expectations despite reporting a fall in revenue and net income.
In Asia, markets were mixed with gains in Hong Kong but falls in China.
Back in London and the early focus will be results from British Airways owner, IAG, while investors will also digest results from the local elections which saw the ruling Conservative party nurse heavy losses.
Attention will then switch back across the pond later with US non-farm payrolls figures before trading restarts in the US.