News for Spread Betters

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There's a new Investor Edition of CMC Markets' spread betting platform... and it's exclusive to DigitalLook.com users...

Get full details about Marketmaker:Investor Edition here.

MORE TH>N - WE DO MORE

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Must-read article on today's escalating cost of learning to drive - click here

Secured loans

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Make the most of this month's great rates on loans:

1. Ocean Finance
2. Loans.co.uk
3. FirstPlus Exclusive

Unsecured Loans

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Lighten the load of all those repayments with a low rate unsecured loan. This month's selected offers:

1. A&L Personal Loans
2. Barclays Loans
3. Halifax Loans

AMEX Platinum

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Money back on your spendings? With American Express Platinum MoneyBack card, you can get

• 5% Money Back* during your first 3 months, then
• standard Money Back rate up to 1.5% with
• typical APR 18.9% variable

Why look further? Apply now!

Virgin Credit Card

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Make 2007's chart topper your 2008 resolution. With Virgin Credit Card, you can get

• 0% on Balance Transfers for 15 months
• 0% on Card Purchases for 3 months with
• typical APR 15.9% variable

Why look further? Apply now!

Barclaycard Platinum

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Enjoy some breathing space with Barclaycard Platinum with Cashback

• 0% on Balance Transfers for 12 months
• 2% cashback on supermarket and petrol*
• 0.5% cashback on all other spending

Why look further? Apply now!

Savings accounts

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Make your money multiply! Secure your future with some of this month's great rates:

1. ICICI - HiSAVE Savings
2. ASDA Internet Savings
3. Birmingham Midshires

Household bills

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Do you know how much you could save by switching energy supplier? Stop paying over the odds, get a free and instant quote in seconds!

Click here for more...

Current Accounts

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Your money can work for you! Get it going with one of this month’s high interest current accounts:

1. First Direct - 1st Account
2. A&L Premier Direct
3. HSBC Premier

By Lee Wild

Date: Thursday 15 May 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - New housing starts in England tumbled by 24% in the first quarter from the same time last year as housebuilders considered the high cost of mortgages and falling house prices.

Seasonally adjusted housing starts dropped to 32,100 in the first three months of 2008, their lowest level since March quarter 1996, figures from the Department of Communities and Local Government revealed Thursday.

That’s 21% worse than the final quarter of last year when starts came in at 41,000 and continues the downward trend since the September quarter of 2007.

Completions have also suffered, sliding 12% to 39,500 in the March quarter 2008 from 45,100 in the period before and by 18% year on year.

Bad news has been pouring out of the housebuilding sector in recent weeks, with Barratt Developments the latest to scale down the number of new sites it starts work on.

A 7.6% drop in sales during the 19 weeks to 11 May slashed almost half a billion pounds, or 26%, off the firm’s forward order book to £1.56bn, it revealed Wednesday.

Persimmon has also delayed building at new sites until the mortgage market improves following a 24% slump in sales since the start of 2008, while Taylor Wimpey warned that full year results will be at the lower end of expectations.

Figures published by the Council of Mortgage Lenders this week showed mortgage lending almost halved during the first quarter versus a year ago.

A shortage of funding in the mortgage market is also likely to hit sales further in the next few months, added the CML whose numbers also revealed a 1% drop in the number of loans to first-time buyers to 17,800 in March, 45% lower than last year's 32,500.

• News Channel