WEEKLY NEWS HEADLINES FROM AROUND THE WORLD – W/e Nov 21st 2021
WORLD NEWS
In world news over the weekend our ongoing fight against the global pandemic Covid-19 appears to be moving in to another decisive period. In Ireland and the UK we are facing a 4th wave of the virus 🦠 with transmission levels increasingly at a worrying rate.
Another National lockdown begins today in Austria whilst here we await the guidance on the new Covid status arrangements for going about our normal business in NI.
LOCAL AND NETWORK NEWS
The BBC is in the spotlight with over 50 people leaving BBC Northern Ireland since January 2020 including the latest departure of the very popular well known presenter Donna Traynor last week. I’m sure like many people it feels we all grew up with Donna in our house as she was an ever present figure over the past thirty plus years. Wishing Donna well in the future!
In London the BBC was also in the news with The Mail reporting “Royals at war with BBC over tittle tattle documentary”. Senior royals are threatening to boycott the broadcaster over a documentary set to air this week about the feuding between the princes. At a time when there are so many real life challenges it is hard to take this headline or story seriously, never mind a front page exclusive. 🤷♀️
PROPERTY NEWS
Reports at the weekend that some lenders will be offering fixed term mortgages at rates less than 3% for up to 30 years is a very interesting development. There are a couple of things to keep an eye on here.
The first is that it is clearly an attempt to attract borrowers at a time when interest rates look likely to be about to start increasing and the attraction would be certainty for borrowers as opposed to the likely changes that will occur on variable rates.
The back story to this is more interesting for those of us involved in property as it looks like large insurance and pension funds are beginning to return to fund mortgage lending and loans.
In my opinion this is very good news for the property market in the longer term as these funds target longer term sustainable returns for their investors. They clearly see the market continuing to thrive in the years ahead as governments and private industry continue to build and improve housing stock to meet the ongoing demand.
Have a great week all and we will be back next Monday morning with our weekly news review. 👏
