Housing Market: Rental Costs Near Record

The effect of rising house prices on the rental market is laid bare today as a report suggests private rents are just £1 short of record highs.

The lettings network LSL Property Services said rents had reached their second highest level since 2008 - largely because of a shortage of property to buy as Government schemes help people onto the ladder.

LSL, which owns the Your Move and Reeds Rains chains, reported that at £743 on average, monthly rents in August were just £1 less than the all-time high recorded in October 2012.

The pace of rent increases stepped up to 0.7% month-on-month in August.

It said rents were 1.3% higher across England and Wales than a year ago - less than half the rate of inflation - but London's rental market was soaring.

At £1,126 typically, rents in the capital have risen at a much faster rate than inflation and are up by 4.8% year-on-year.

Earlier this week, official figures showed that house prices in London were up by nearly 10% year-on-year, indicating the strength of demand.

Wales saw the second biggest annual increase in rents, with a 2.3% uplift taking average rents to £561.

The South East recorded the strongest month-on-month growth, with a 2% rise pushing monthly rents to £762.

By contrast, rents in Yorkshire and the Humber are 1.6% lower than last year, at £536 typically, followed closely by a 1.5% annual fall in the North West, taking average rents to £582.

The North East saw the biggest month-on-month drop in rents, with a 0.8% fall taking average rents to £523.

Across the country, rental inflation had been cooling off for much of this year following the launch of Government schemes to give people with low deposits a chance to buy.

First-time buyer numbers have reached their highest levels in more than five years following the initiatives such as Funding for Lending and Help to Buy, which have widened access to mortgages and allowed some people who were previously trapped in renting to break free.

But David Newnes, director of LSL Property Services, said that weak income growth, which has an impact on households' ability to borrow, and a lack of housing supply meant that the private rental sector was continuing to see strong demand from new tenants.

Mr Newnes said: "Better availability of finance has allowed some households to leave the rental market. And rents certainly felt the short-term impact of that.

"But releasing a blast of pent-up pressure to buy a home is unlikely to change the long-term trend in renting.

"Although Government schemes are helping, buying a first home is still extremely hard on the back of low salary growth."

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Bra Price-Fixing Probe Launched By Watchdog

The country's biggest department store chains are facing investigation over suggestions they colluded with a bra manufacturer to fix prices.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) alleged that the manufacturer of the Shock-Absorber range, DB Apparel UK, entered into nine anti-competitive agreements with John Lewis, Debenhams and House of Fraser between 2008 and 2011.

The trading watchdog has requested a response to the claims from the four companies.

It said it believed they infringed competition law by entering into resale price maintenance deals that set a fixed or minimum resale price on products within the sports bra range across the country.

House of Fraser believes it has committed no offence

The OFT said that during the three years in question the Shock-Absorber range, once advertised in a campaign featuring tennis player Anna Kournikova with the slogan "Only the ball should bounce", had a market share of about 15%.

Ann Pope, the regulator's senior director of services, said: "The OFT takes allegations of price-fixing seriously.

"Resale price maintenance limits competition between retailers and can lead to consumers paying higher prices.

"We will carefully consider the parties' representations to the OFT's Statement of Objections before deciding whether competition law has in fact been broken."

House of Fraser was the first of the retailers to release a statement in response to the allegations.

It said: "We are co-operating fully with the Office of Fair Trading and the ongoing investigation and will respond accordingly.

"We are confident that we have been operating within all laws and regulations and are very supportive of any initiative which ensures pricing policies are fair for our customers."

Debenhams said: "Debenhams Plc disputes these provisional findings of the OFT but is not in a position to comment further at this stage.

"The matter is being dealt with by its external lawyers," it added.

John Lewis only said: "John Lewis always strives to operate within the law and comply with regulations.  We are fully cooperating with the OFT and will respond in due course."

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Ryanair Promises To Be Nicer To Passengers

Ryanair's firebrand chief executive Michael O'Leary has promised to transform the carrier's "abrupt culture" as it bids to win customers from rivals.

He was speaking at the no-frills airline's AGM in Dublin following complaints from several investors at the meeting who warned over the impact on sales from poor customer service.

The remarks were seen as the first admission from Mr O'Leary that Ryanair has a significant PR problem on service.

When the airline was voted just this week as the worst of the 100 biggest brands serving the British market by readers of consumer magazine Which?, Ryanair dismissed the study - suggesting that its customers were too busy booking flights with Ryanair to respond.

It also took aim at Which? saying that its own customer poll had found just two of its three million passengers had ever heard of the consumer group.

Now Mr O'Leary has pledged to improve the passenger experience, suggesting he was U-turning on past comments that all passengers cared about was price.

He told the meeting: "We should try to eliminate things that unnecessarily p*** people off."

He said the company would overhaul its website, set up a new team to respond to emails and stop fining customers whose carry-on baggage exceeded minimum sizes by a matter of millimetres.

"A lot of those customer services elements don't cost a lot of money ... It's something we are committed to addressing over the coming year," Mr O'Leary said.

It was confirmed that Ryanair would also drop its €3 charge for downloading its booking app.

The company - which issued a profits warning earlier this month citing reasons including competition - has slowly whittled away at the traditional trappings of air travel to keep its costs and prices down.

As part of its campaign to eliminate hold-baggage on its planes, it raised the cost by more than 60% over the summer peak as families were taking holidays.

Ryanair has also received negative publicity in the past over its treatment of disabled passengers, those subject to delays and even people claiming refunds on behalf of dead relatives.

The airline - and its low-cost rivals - have also faced scrutiny over price clarity.

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Regulators Poised To Unveil ICAP Libor Deal

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

ICAP, the interdealer broker, is poised to agree a Libor rate-rigging settlement next week that would take the aggregate penalties from the scandal to more than £1.7bn.

Sky News understands that ICAP, which is run by Michael Spencer, a prominent Conservative donor and former party treasurer, has negotiated a modest reduction in the roughly £70m of penalties it had been expected to pay to regulators in the UK and US.

People close to the discussions between ICAP and the authorities said it was conceivable that a co-ordinated settlement could be announced as early as the first half of next week, although it could yet be delayed.

One insider said on Friday that ICAP had chipped away at the likely settlement, with the London-based Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) now expected to impose a penalty of just under £20m.

ICAP is expected to pay fines in the tens of millions of pounds

The total fines are expected to be in the region of £60m-£70m, they said.

It is unclear whether this deal will include the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the US regulator which has fined three other banks for their part in the Libor-rigging affair, raising the possibility that ICAP's eventual bill could still rise.

The civil settlement will be an embarrassment to Mr Spencer, who has consistently sought to downplay the extent of ICAP's involvement in the manipulation of Libor, although it will not direct any criticism at him personally, according to insiders.

The anticipated deal would not be financially material to ICAP and would be broadly in line with the projections of City analysts.

It would also be a relatively modest sum when viewed in the context of the fines imposed on the other financial institutions which have settled with regulators over Libor.

Barclays paid just over £290m, Royal Bank of Scotland just over £390m and UBS just over £1bn for the misdemeanours of their employees.

The ICAP settlements will be discounted because of the interdealer broker's co-operation with regulators, according to one person close to the situation.

It is unclear whether Mr Spencer or other senior executives will have part of their pay packages docked or clawed back once the Libor fines are made public, although shareholders are likely to push for that to happen.

ICAP said this year that it had suspended one employee and placed three others on administrative leave, although their current employment status is unclear.

Its settlement will underline the role played by interdealer brokers, which act as intermediaries in deals between bank traders, in the global financial system.

ICAP and the FCA declined to comment.

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The Sky News Business Round-Up And Look Ahead

Sky's Naomi Kerbel offers a round-up of what's coming up in the week's business news.

:: Monday September 23

The markets will react to the results of the German elections on Monday.

Also, AG Barr, the soft drinks group which makes Irn-Bru, publishes its results.

It recently saw a proposed merger with Britvic approved but has since abandoned the deal.

:: Tuesday September 24

British Airways will fly from London Heathrow to Los Angeles for the first time in its brand new Airbus A380.

The 'superjumbo' is the largest passenger airliner in the world, carrying 525 people.

:: Wednesday September 25

Topps Tiles updates the markets on its full-year results. 

The UK's leading supplier of tile and wood flooring has recently launched a mobile version of its website.

:: Thursday September 26

First-quarter results for Nike.

The sportswear brand recently joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average - the index of the top 30 companies in the US.

:: Friday September 27

BlackBerry releases second quarter results.

The company is in the second stage of a major transformation plan which has led to rumours that it is preparing to lay off staff.

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Foxtons Flotation: Shares Soar On Debut

The resurgent property market is being credited for a "stunning" stock market debut for estate agency chain Foxtons.

It priced shares at the top end of estimates at 230p each ahead of its flotation on Friday morning, in a move that valued the London-focused agency at £649m and raised £390m.

But shares rose more than 20% on opening - climbing as high as 279p.

The company's chief executive, Michael Brown, said: "We are delighted that our initial public offering has been successfully received and there has been strong interest from investors.

"We welcome our new shareholders to Foxtons and we are looking forward to the next stage in the development of the business as a listed company."

Foxtons was bought for £375m at the peak of the market in 2007 by private equity firm BC Partners, which later admitted the acquisition was a "mistake" amid the credit crunch that followed its purchase.

The company was taken over by its lenders in 2010 in a deal which slashed its debt, before the private equity firm regained control last year.

It is the second major estate agency flotation of 2013 after Countrywide rejoined the stock market valued at more than £800m in March.

Foxtons is capitalising on surging house prices in the capital which, according to official figures earlier this week, rose nearly 10% in the past year.

The market has been inflated by demand from cash-rich foreign buyers as well as Government stimulus schemes, such as Help to Buy.

Foxtons, known for its distinctive fleet of Mini Coopers, typically sells properties for between £200,000 and £1.4m in upmarket parts of the capital and has said it is well placed to benefit from improvements in the housing market.

It has plans to open five to ten new branches a year between 2014 and 2018 and possibly expand in the South East in the longer term.

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Apple iPhone 5S: 'Shortage' Of New Models

The new iPhone models have gone on sale, with eager shoppers - many of whom had camped out - flooding into Apple's flagship stores.

But hundreds of people took to Twitter to say that many stores had ran out of the new devices, while Apple's online store pushed back its dispatch date for new phones to October, without giving any specific dates.

Technology fans in Japan were among the first to get the top-of-the-range iPhone 5S, as well as the new 'budget' version, the 5C.

Apple stores in the UK also opened early, at 8am, with estimates of 1,500 people outside one London store.

Queues outside the London Covent Garden store

Staff at many of the shops had worked through the night to prepare for launch.

Devotees of the technology company started queuing at London's Regent Street branch on Monday, with Westminster Council forcing some to take down temporary shelters.

Some Apple fans pitched up days before the launch

Gad Harari, 17, from north London, told Sky News he had been offered hundreds of pounds for his place at the head of the queue.

Some Apple fans outside a Tokyo store took things even further - reportedly beginning their wait a full 10 days before today's launch.

"I am super happy," said the first customer to buy a 5S at the Tokyo store.

"The first thing I want to do is to try out the finger print recognition function, that is what I looked for the most."

The 5C model has been criticised by analysts for not being cheap enough

The premium 5S device, said to be twice as fast as its predecessor, sets itself apart from competitors with its Touch ID feature, which allows users to unlock their phone with the touch of a finger.

However, UK phone networks reportedly have very low stock levels of the new handsets, particularly the 5S.

On Twitter, @RealSandyPitt wrote: "iPhone 5S gold-coloured version sold out during the morning at Regent Street in London."

Meanwhile @Gromlus wrote: "Oh wow the iPhone 5S got sold out in two hours here at Arndale in Manchester."

The new phones were already being re-sold outside a store in Hong Kong

Technology analysts also have reservations about the brightly-coloured plastic 5C model.

Seen as an attempt to gain a bigger foothold in markets such as China, it has been criticised as "nowhere near" cheap enough to gain significant market share in the country.

In the UK, 5S prices start at £549, while the cheaper 5C phone costs from £469. A 64 gigabyte model comes in at a hefty £709.

Many users hit out at Apple over troubles installing iOS 7

In comparison, the flagship model from rival HTC costs £484 and Samsung's top-of-the-line Galaxy S4 is around £420.

Apple will be hoping the updated devices give it new momentum in the worldwide smartphone market, which is increasingly dominated by cheaper handsets running the Android operating system - particularly those by market leader Samsung.

Today's launch may also provide a distraction from criticisms of new operating system iOS 7.

Many users reported problems downloading the update when it launched earlier this week and several security flaws have also been exposed.

One flaw allows someone to access photos and videos, even when a iPhone or iPad has been locked. The media can then be deleted or shared.

Another glitch in iOS 7 allows a potential thief to bypass the Find my iPhone feature by putting the device in airplane mode to stop it communicating its location.

Apple is expected to fix the issues in a future update.

The new iPhones go on sale today in the US, Australia, China, Canada, France, Germany, Singapore and UK. Other countries will follow.

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Buying A House 'Cheaper Than Renting'

Home buyers are almost £900 better off a year than those who rent - but an upturn in house prices means the gap has narrowed in recent months, a report has found.

Research by Halifax, which based its calculations on its own database as well as official figures, found that people buying a three-bedroom house face typical costs of £672 a month, which is £73 less than the average £745 a month cost of renting.

Five years ago, renting was considered much more financially attractive than buying, but home buying costs have since fallen by more than a third, meaning that buying has become cheaper than renting.

Falls in house prices following the economic downturn combined with low mortgage rates in the low interest rate environment have all contributed to the about-turn.

Meanwhile, rental costs have been pushed higher by strong demand in the sector, as many renters have struggled to get on to the property ladder.

But a return to activity in the housing market has pushed house prices up, which means that the gap between buying and renting costs has narrowed from a difference of £78 a month one year ago.

Halifax recently reported that prices nationally have risen by 5% over the last year. Other reports have recently put prices in London at around 10% higher than they were a year ago.

People living in London and Northern Ireland have the most to gain from buying rather than renting, the research suggested. The gap in percentage terms is biggest in Northern Ireland, at 11%. Buying in Northern Ireland costs £369 a month on average, while renting costs £415.

In cash terms, Londoners have the most to gain from being on the property ladder, with a saving of almost £100 a month.

Wales and Yorkshire and the Humber were the only areas of the UK where renting was found to be more affordable than buying. In Scotland, buying was found to work out £27 a month cheaper than renting.

Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax, said: "A combination of lower mortgage rates and declining house prices has substantially reduced the cost of buying over the past six years.

"Nevertheless, the number of home buyers in the 12 months to June 2013 was nearly half of that in 2008, which will have been constrained by worries over job security."

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BlackBerry Slashes Jobs In Face Of $1bn Loss

BlackBerry has confirmed it will cut 40% its global workforce as it said it expects to report that it has lost almost $1bn in its second quarter.

The smartphone company said it will lay off 4,500 employees as it tries to slash costs by 50% and shift its focus back to competing mainly for the business customers most loyal to its brand.

The Canadian-based firm had been scheduled to release its net earnings for the quarter next week but warned on Friday that it expects to post a staggering loss of between $950m and $995m.

Shares in the company plunged as low as $8.01 when the stock reopened for trading on Friday, before closing down 17% at $8.72.

Thorsten Heins, president and CEO of BlackBerry, said in a statement: "We are implementing the difficult, but necessary operational changes announced today to address our position in a maturing and more competitive industry, and to drive the company toward profitability.

"Going forward, we plan to refocus our offering on our end-to-end solution of hardware, software and services for enterprises and the productive, professional end user."

BlackBerry boss Thorsten Heins says the changes are hard but 'necessary'

BlackBerry said last month that it would consider selling itself and reiterated on Friday that a special committee of its board of directors continues to "evaluate all options".

The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, was the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people and other customers before Apple debuted the iPhone in 2007. Since then, BlackBerry has been hammered by competition from the iPhone as well as Android-based rivals like Samsung.

In January, the company unveiled new phones running a revamped operating system called BlackBerry 10. The Z10 and Q10 were designed to better compete for customers and rejuvenate the brand, but BlackBerry's market share continues to lag behind its rivals.

BlackBerry, formerly known as RIM, was once Canada's most valuable company with a market value of $83bn in June 2008.

Canada's industry minister James Moore said in a statement: "Our thoughts are with those who have lost their jobs at BlackBerry, it is always a cause for concern for our Government."

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Barclays £1.3m Cyber Raid: Two Men In Court

Two alleged cyber plotters accused of stealing £1.3m from a high street bank by taking control of its computer system have appeared in court.

Darius Bolder, 34, and Tony Colston-Hayter, 47, are alleged to have set up a sophisticated system to siphon off cash from accounts after gaining access to a Barclays branch computer in Swiss Cottage, north London, in April using a planted keyboard video mouse.

They appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court accused of conspiracy to steal.

Romanian national Bolder, of Ebury Bridge Road in Chelsea, London, and Colston-Harper, who gave his address as Ilminster in Somerset, did not enter pleas to the charges.

The pair were remanded in custody until their next appearance at Southwark Crown Court next month.

Bolder is also accused of conspiring to commit fraud by false representation, alongside two other defendants.

Lewis Murphy, 29, also of Ebury Bridge Road, and Michael Harper, 26, of Kiln Place in Hampstead, northwest London, are charged with credit card fraud linked to up-market retailer Selfridges.

They also entered no plea and were remanded in custody.

It follows the arrest of eight men by police on Friday.

The other four have been bailed to a central London police station on dates in late November pending further inquiries.

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