Housing Market Recovering 'Beyond London'

The UK's biggest housebuilder says it is seeing recovery in the market beyond London and southeast England, with demand back at pre-financial crisis levels.

Barratt Developments said it now expected to deliver an estimated 45,000 new properties over the next three years.

Buyer appetite for its homes was so strong, the company said, that for some sites it was making five to 10 sales on the day of a scheme's launch.

Chief executive Mark Clare said: "We are seeing some very, very strong interest on new sites that we're launching around the country, even to the point where we're starting to see queues ... which is not something we have seen for many, many years."

He said cities such as Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Bristol were seeing particularly high levels of interest.

"Where we're opening, people are waiting to get into those new show homes," he said.

At the same time Barratt - the largest builder of its type in the UK by volume - reported a rise of almost 5% in annual pre tax profit to £104.8m.

When exceptional items - related to refinancing and a major write-down - of £87.5m were excluded, profits for the year to the end of June rose 74% to £192.3m.

Mr Clare added: "These are significantly improved results and we have had a very strong start to the new financial year.

"We are seeing the housing market recovery starting to spread beyond London and the south east with a 29.4% increase in our average net private reservation rate across the group."

Barratt said forward sales were up 44.4% to £880.4m at September 8.

It also confirmed it was continuing to see good opportunities to buy land that met its minimum standards of 25% return on capital.

Industry and official surveys have highlighted a revival in the housing market in recent months - a recovery largely credited to improvements in the economy and Government initiatives to help struggling buyers - Help-To-Buy and the Funding for Lending Scheme.

Critics of the measures have raised fears they risk creating a house price bubble - something the governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney has said he will watch for and prevent should such evidence materialise.

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OFT Verdict Paves Way For Osborne Banks Sale

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Competition regulators are expected to deliver a massive boost to George Osborne on Wednesday when they rule that branch disposals by Britain's two big state-backed banks are broadly sufficient to enhance competition.

Sky News has learnt that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is likely to say that plans for Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to offload almost 1000 branches between them do not require significant augmentation.

The move will pave the way for the Chancellor to declare another milestone in his reform of the British banking system and begin the sale of the taxpayer's 39% stake in Lloyds.

Treasury insiders confirmed a Sky News report last weekend that said Mr Osborne was actively looking to commence the sale process this week.

The OFT is expected to have taken soundings from Brussels before declaring its satisfaction with the size of the disposals by Lloyds and RBS, which is expected to sell more than 315 branches primarily serving small and medium-sized companies (SMEs).

Dubbed 'Project Rainbow', RBS has lined up three rival bidders for its network and is expected to decide on a preferred offer this month.

In a speech in June, Mr Osborne said he had asked the OFT to conduct a review of the SME banking market, which is expected to report its full findings later in the year.

"As part of this work, I have asked the OFT to review the impact that new challenger banks created by Lloyds and RBS will have on strengthening competition in small business banking, and to identify what more can be done," Mr Osborne said.

Mr Osborne had asked for a review of the SME banking market

Lloyds is in the process of carving out more than 630 branches as a standalone network using the TSB brand, which it relaunched on Monday. The network has a relatively small presence in small business banking.

Insiders said the fact that Lloyds would not be forced to sell a much larger number of branches would fuel further momentum in the bank's share price.

The stock touched a 12-month high on Tuesday and closed in excess of the level paid by the last Labour government to rescue the bank in 2008.

"The [Lloyds share] price is very attractive now," said a person close to a prospective sale of part of the Government's Lloyds stock.

The exact size or terms of the shareholding likely to be offloaded were unclear on Tuesday night although insiders said it was unlikely that Mr Osborne would want to sell less than £5bn, or about 10% of Lloyds' equity.

They said a deal could be announced as soon as Wednesday afternoon.

Such a deal would possess huge symbolic significance as the Government seeks to shed the legacy of the 2008 bail-outs, having sold Northern Rock to Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Money in 2011.

A sale of the Government's shares in RBS will take much longer as Mr Osborne considers a more fundamental overhaul of the bank.

Lloyds and RBS declined to comment.

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Koreas: Kaesong Industrial Complex To Reopen

North and South Korea have agreed to reopen an industrial park after it was closed by Pyongyang in April amid military tensions.

The South's Unification Ministry said the Kaesong complex, which lies six miles (10km) over the border in North Korea, would open on a trial basis on Monday.

The agreement was reached during a second round of talks between the newly created Kaesong joint committee that began on Tuesday morning and stretched through the night.

Established in 2004 as a rare symbol of inter-Korean co-operation, Kaesong had come through a number of crises on the Korean peninsula unscathed.

It combined South Korean initiative, capital and technology with cheap North Korean labour.

But in April, as tensions escalated following the North's third nuclear test, Pyongyang effectively shut down operations by withdrawing the 53,000 North Korean workers employed at the 123 South Korean plants.

Protesters demanded the reopening of the complex in August

The two Koreas agreed last month to work together to resume operations at the zone, which is an important source of hard currency for the cash-strapped regime in Pyongyang.

As part of the deal, the North accepted the South's demand that Kaesong be opened to foreign investors - a move seen by Seoul as a guarantee against the North shutting the complex down again in the future.

The agreement included plans to host a roadshow for foreign investors at Kaesong in October.

In August, Seoul announced it would start paying a total of $251.2m (£163m) in compensation to around 100 South Korean firms locked out of the site for months.

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Google: Street View Lawsuit To Go Ahead

A federal appeals court has said a lawsuit accusing Google of illegal wiretapping can go ahead.

The court said Google wrongly collected people's personal correspondence and online activities from unsecured wi-fi systems as it collected photos for its popular Street View mapping programme.

"The payload data transmitted over unencrypted wi-fi networks that was captured by Google included emails, usernames, passwords, images and documents," the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said.

Google apologised after it emerged in 2010 that it had inadvertently collected the data while driving its Street View vehicles through neighbourhoods in 30 countries from 2008 to 2010.

Lawsuits launched soon thereafter were condensed into one case heard by the San Francisco court.

Google had tried to have the lawsuit dismissed.

It argued that its activities were exempt from the wiretap law because data transmitted over a wi-fi network is a "radio communication" and is "readily accessible to the public".

Street View cars with cameras on their roofs can be seen around the world

But the San Francisco federal appeals court rejected the internet giant's appeal.

"Even if it is commonplace for members of the general public to connect to a neighbour's unencrypted wi-fi network, members of the general public do not typically mistakenly intercept, store, and decode data transmitted by other devices on the network," it said.

The ruling that the practice violates wiretap laws marks a setback for Google.

It also sends a warning to other companies seeking to suck up vast amounts of data from unencrypted wi-fi signals.

"It's a landmark decision that affirms the privacy of electronic communications for wireless networks," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, DC.

"Many internet users depend on wireless networks to connect devices in their homes, such as printers and laptops, and companies should not be snooping on their communications or collecting private data."

A Google spokeswoman said: "We are disappointed in the 9th Circuit's decision and are considering our next steps."

Attorney Elizabeth Cabraser, representing a class action of plaintiffs who say their privacy was invaded by Google, said they look forward to resuming their case now the federal appeals court has ruled in their favour.

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Apple iPhone 5C Launched In California

By Mark Stone, China Correspondent

Apple has revamped the iPhone by launching two new handsets at its California headquarters - including one that has a fingerprint reader.

The California launch was streamed to a parallel event in Berlin last night and played at another launch in the Chinese capital Beijing this morning.

The firm's chief Tim Cook confirmed rumours that the high-end iPhone 5S would be equipped with a fingerprint scanner to unlock the device and put an end to the days of passwords.

He promised the cheaper iPhone 5C would come with "all the great technology that customers have loved" on its previous models - but analysts said it was "nowhere near" as cheap as some had predicted.

The "budget" version - launched at a time when Apple arguably faces stiffer global competition than ever - will be an obvious rival to some of the low-cost gadgets sold by the firm's major competitors.

The iPhone 5C costs $99 (£63) over a two-year contract, or $736 (£469) as a one-off payment.

However winning over the Chinese consumer is, according to analysts, key to Apple's continued success.

The 5C, with its bright colours and lower price tag, is designed to attract buyers in China who currently favour cheaper android smartphones.

However, it is still far more pricey than alternative models. The iPhone 5S in China will cost 5,288 RMB (£549) according to Apple's China website.

Initial polls suggest that means the battle in China isn't won.

The iPhone 5C

In a survey on Sina.com.cn, a Chinese web provider similar to Yahoo!, 88.4% of those polled said the price for the iPhone 5C was too high. Only 2.6% said they would buy one.

The new flagship mobile, the iPhone 5S - dubbed the "gold standard in smartphones" by the tech giant - will come in the traditional Apple colours of silver and slate grey as well as a new golden hue.

But the 5C is billed as "more fun" than any iPhone yet. It will be plastic and come in a range of five vivid colours - blue, white, pink, yellow and green.

For young Chinese consumers who seem to buy increasingly gaudy plastic covers for their phones, this should be attractive.

However, Apple still faces one considerable problem in China. It currently only has a deal with two out of the three Chinese mobile networks.

The company has, so far, failed to sign a deal with China's largest mobile network, China Mobile.

With 745 million customers in China, it is the world's largest mobile communications provider and yet none of those customers can use an iPhone.

A deal is rumoured to be very close, but until it comes, Apple's growth in China will remain limited.

Tein Hee, from Stuff.tv in Singapore, told Sky News: "The iPhone 5C was not what most of us expected. Believed to be an affordable alternative to the iPhone 5S, its price tag for the 16GB version is even more expensive than Nokia's Lumia 925.

Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed the 'colourful iPhone' rumours

"Apple's greatest contender for the Chinese market isn't its bitter rival, Samsung, or other Android makers. It's China's homegrown brand Xiaomi, which has gained a cult status akin to Apple's, that will put up a strong fight against the Cupertino-based company.

"Just last week, it has also unveiled the Mi3, which costs a mere RMB 1,999 and features hardware and sleek aesthetics that will put the iPhone 5C to shame."

The two new devices were finally shown to the world after a series of images leaked online claimed to show the 5S while the web was awash with speculation that Apple would also branch out with a budget device.

Mr Cook raised a laugh as he told the audience: "A couple of you may have been expecting this."

He added: "The business has become so large that this year we are going to replace the iPhone 5, and we are going to replace it with not one but two new designs.

"This allows us to serve even more customers."

Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller revealed the phone's US price plans

Apple marketing executive Philip Schiller told the audience: "iPhone 5S is the most forward-thinking smartphone in the world, delivering desktop class architecture in the palm of your hand."

He received a massive round of applause as he introduced the fingertip scanner - named Touch ID - which, he said, would provide a "simple and secure way to unlock your phone with just a touch of your finger".

The security feature is built into the home button and uses a laser cut sapphire crystal along with a sensor to take a high-resolution image of a user's fingerprint.

According to Apple, the technology can "intelligently analyse" the print to provide accurate readings from any angle.

All fingerprint information is encrypted and the firm has insisted it will never be stored on Apple servers.

Beyond unlocking the phone, the feature can be used as a secure way to approve purchases from the iTunes Store, App Store or iBooks Store, Apple said.

It has promised customers that all actions on the device would be faster than on previous handsets, from launching apps and editing photos to playing graphic-intensive games.

The phone will be available in the UK for a suggested retail price of £549 for the 16GB model, £629 for the 32GB model and £709 for the 64GB model.

Investors seemed unimpressed with Apple's latest gadgets. The company's shares closed down $11.53 at $494.64 after briefly surging to $507.45 on anticipation of the launch.

Price correct at 13.58 BST On Wednesday September 11

Jason Jenkins, editor of technology site CNET, said Apple has made a play for the "geeks it lost" to Android with the 5S.

He said: "Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One are known for containing very fast processors, while iPhones have been left behind."

:: The market value of FTSE 100 chip designer ARM Holdings jumped in trading on Wednesday on confirmation the 5S would use a 64-bit processor based on the British firm's design.

Analysts expected the A7 processor to result in a higher royalty rate to ARM compared to the current generation 32-bit design.

Shares rose 6% in early trading - adding £600m to ARM's market capitalisation.

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Economy: UK Jobless Rate Falls To 7.7%

The UK's unemployment rate has dipped to 7.7% for the first time since late 2012 amid improving signs for the labour market.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the rate fell in the three months to July from 7.8% as the number of people out of work fell by 24,000 to 2.487 million.

That was the lowest jobless rate since September-November period last year, the ONS said.

In another signal of continued recovery, the total claiming jobless benefit fell by 32,600 in August - the steepest decline since June 1997.

The monthly jobs data has taken on a new significance since the Bank of England pledged last month to keep the base rate of interest at its record low as long as the unemployment rate remained above 7%.

London saw the biggest growth in employment

It does not expect to raise the rate until late 2016 though markets are pricing in the first increase in December 2014 as economic recovery gathers pace - bets that have led to rises in a range of market interest rates, including those that usually feed mortgages and other loans.

The ONS highlighted the continued squeeze on household incomes by measuring a 1.1% increase in average weekly earnings between May and July versus a year earlier.

That continues to lag inflation which is running at 2.8%.

The number of people working part-time because they cannot find a full-time job surged to 1.45 million - the highest since records began in 1992.

Frances O'Grady sees cuts hitting front-line services

The ONS said that figure had doubled over the past five years.

Regional statistics highlighted a north-south divide in the jobs market, with areas such as the North East and North West continuing to see higher levels of unemployment - up 5,000 and 13,000 respectively compared with the previous quarter.

In contrast, there were declines of 29,000 in the South East and 7,000 in London.

Unemployment also fell in the East Midlands, the South West, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Minister for Employment Mark Hoban said: "This is a really encouraging set of figures, with the number of people in work rocketing by 80,000 in only three months - a rise driven entirely by a growth in full-time jobs.

"The private sector has created jobs for 1.4 million more people under this government, and there are now more people employed in the private sector than ever before.

"These are all positive signs that suggest the UK economy is turning the corner."

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady responded: "These figures show how government cuts are continuing to hit vital frontline services with 21,000 jobs lost in the NHS over the last three months alone.

"Despite the Chancellor's boasts this week, austerity is continuing to cause damage and we are far from a strong and sustained jobs recovery."

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China Billionaires: Sharp Rise In Richest

There has been a big rise in the number of billionaires in China, with a developer who bought one of the biggest US cinema chains being named the country's wealthiest tycoon.

The number of Chinese people worth at least $1bn (£633m) has risen by 64 to 315 this year thanks to a surge in stock prices, according to the Hurun Report, which follows China's wealthy.

The top five on the rich list saw their wealth double, Hurun said.

Property developer Wang Jianlin is in charge of Dalian Wanda Group, a company that operates hotels, cinemas and department stores.

Mr Wang is ranked number one for the first time on Hurun's annual list of Chinese tycoons.

He has a fortune of $22bn (£14bn) ahead of last year's top billionaire, beverage entrepreneur Zong Qinghou, who came in second with $18.7bn.

Mr Wang's company bought AMC cinemas last year for $2.6bn (£1.6bn) in the biggest Chinese acquisition of a US company to date.

Number three on the Hurun list was Ma Huateng, also known as Pony Ma, the founder of Tencent, a popular provider of online games and entertainment, at $10.1bn.

Beverage entrepreneur Zong Qinghou ranked second on the list

China's richest woman was Yang Huiyan at number five with $8.3bn.

A decade ago, China had no dollar billionaires.

Now the country has more billionaires than any other country except the US.

The latest rankings reflect the rapid changes in China's economy and shifts in wealth from one industry to the next.

One in four of the 1,021 people on the Hurun rich list made their money from property, which passed manufacturing to become this year's top source of wealth in China.

Hurun said 559 of those on the list saw their wealth grow, while 252 saw their fortunes shrink.

Property prices in China have soared, driven partly by a flood of government spending and bank lending in response to the 2008 global crisis.

The surge in asset prices has helped widen the gulf between China's wealthy elite and the poor majority, fuelling social tensions.

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HS2 Rail Link 'Will Boost Economy By £15bn'

The Transport Secretary has indicated changes could be made to the £42.6bn HS2 project as the Government launched a fightback over its plans.

Patrick McLoughlin admitted the high-speed rail scheme was not perfect and promised to "adapt and improve" it in light of recent criticism.

He also conceded there was "scepticism" about ministers' promises on big projects but insisted the project was "on course, under control and on the budget I set".

New analysis by accountants KPMG concludes HS2 will be worth £15bn a year by 2037 in increased tax revenues and productivity gains.

It suggests the boost to regional economies will be equal to between 2.1% and 4.2% of local GDP in Birmingham, 0.8% to 1.7% in Manchester, 1.6% for Leeds and 0.5% for Greater London.

Mr McLoughlin vowed to "squeeze every penny" of economic benefit out of the project in a keynote speech in Westminster.

The proposed HS2 lines

The address forms part of a campaign announced by David Cameron to make the case for HS2 in the face of what he called an "unholy alliance" of sceptics.

It came after MPs on the Commons spending watchdog warned in a scathing report that its apparent benefits were dwindling as the costs spiralled.

The Public Accounts Committee said the case for the massive project was based on "fragile numbers, out-of-date data and assumptions that do not reflect real life".

Other recent critics have included Labour's Alistair Darling who first approved it as chancellor, and the Institute of Directors which dismissed it as "a grand folly".

It is also fiercely opposed by some Tory MPs - many representing communities which will be disrupted by construction work and train noise along the route.

Mr McLoughlin said: "The last few weeks have seen old criticisms return in new guises. About cost. About capacity. About the balance between North and South.

"And I don't dismiss all such criticism. Some of it is well-meant. Some of it is well-informed. Some of it is ill-informed and deliberately misleading.

"All of it deserves - at the very least - to be listened to respectfully so where we can adapt and improve our plans my promise is that we will.

"The new north-south railway is a project that will last over decades and no doubt over several governments too. We are still consulting. Parliament will have its say."

He added: "It would be absurd to claim we have got every bit right, that not a single thing can be improved."

However, he insisted it would be pointless "patching up" existing infrastructure and that extra capacity was needed to give a "heart bypass" to the "clogged arteries" of the existing network.

HS2 would free up existing lines for shorter commuter and freight services, he argued, potentially saving half a million lorry journeys on the motorways.

"We will squeeze every penny of economic advantage out of HS2 and Britain will be richer because of it," he said.

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Vince Cable Raises Help-To-Buy Doubts

Vince Cable has called for the Government's flagship help-to-buy property scheme to be reconsidered in comments likely to anger George Osborne.

The Business Secretary told Sky News there was a risk of a "new housing bubble" because of recent changes in the market.

Mr Osborne's plans were a key plank of his Budget last year but prompted fears of a price surge because they do not address property availability.

Under the first stage, an equity loan scheme allows buyers with only a 5% deposit to buy a new-build property worth up to £600,000.

In January, the scheme will be extended to include a mortgage guarantee for buyers of any home up to the same value with deposits of 5-20%.

It is due to last for three years.

Asked if it should be rethought, Mr Cable said: "We should certainly think about how it should come into effect, indeed whether it should come into effect in the light of changing market conditions.

"We don't want a new housing bubble."

He cited warnings from experts including from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors this week about the "real risk" involved.

George Osborne recently hailed the change in economic fortunes

"I think in many parts of the country it clearly isn't a problem. If you are in Northern Ireland or Wales or indeed the East Midlands you would wonder what all this is about," he said.

"But certainly in London and the South East, in the north east of Scotland, in other areas, there are serious housing inflationary pressures."

Despite the warning, Treasury sources confirmed the Government's commitment to the policy and its launch next year.

Government sources added there were no plans for a rethink but that Mr Cable wants the Bank of England to keep a close eye on the scheme's effects.

His comments came shortly before he had been due to warn about "complacency" over Britain's economic recovery, insisting ministers cannot "rest on our laurels".

The keynote speech in Warwick was set to be a stark contrast to an address by Mr Osborne on Monday, in which the Chancellor declared the economy was finally "turning a corner".

But Mr Cable ended up toning down his remarks while still making clear the recovery was not yet assured and further Government action was needed to address the skills shortage and boost exports.

"The kind of growth we want won't simply emerge of its own volition. In fact, I see a number of dangers. One is letting up just because we have had a few quarters of good economic data," he said.

"Recovery will not be fully established until we see strong and sustained business investment."

In a separate interview, he also stressed that he supported Mr Osborne's comments but said the economy remained in a "long, dark tunnel".

"I don't want the public debate about this to become obsessive about a few weeks' data, when what really matters is the long-term change we're trying to achieve, getting Britain more outward looking, avoiding a return to the boom-bust psychology," he said.

"The point I am trying to make is that this is a long-term haul. We have got a marathon not a sprint here."

Before Mr Cable altered his speech, shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna said he had delivered an "embarrassing slap-down" to Mr Osborne.

However, he insisted the Lib Dems could not distance themselves from the Chancellor's economic strategy.

"It also reminds everyone that you can't trust a word the Lib Dems say. Vince Cable has supported the Chancellor's policies which choked off the recovery in 2010," he said.

"Three wasted years of flatlining that has left families worse off and done long term damage to our economy is his record and he should take responsibility for it."

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Investors And Banks Row Over Share Lock-Ups

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Some of the City's most powerful investors are at loggerheads with leading investment banks over the apparent flouting of guidelines which restrict the sale of large company shareholdings within a specified period.

Sky News understands that the Association of British Insurers (ABI), which represents many of the big institutional investors in London's stock markets, is in talks with the City watchdog about the terms of so-called lock-up periods which govern shareholders' ability to sell tranches of shares.

The ABI believes that the existing guidelines are not working effectively and is calling for 'hard lock-ups' for a period of six months from an event such as a flotation or a prior share sale. These would automatically prevent the disposal of any shares by investors subject to the restriction, although they would gain more flexibility to sell following the end of that six-month period.

The demand was triggered by Lloyds Banking Group's sale of two large chunks of shares in St James's Place, the wealth management group, earlier this year.

The initial deal, which saw Lloyds offload roughly 20% of St James's Place in March, was accompanied by a pledge from the taxpayer-backed bank not to sell any more shares for at least a year.

Such commitments reassure other investors that large numbers of shares are not about to be dumped onto the market, a move which can exert downward pressure on a company's share price.

Just two months later, however, Lloyds sold a further £450m-worth of St James's Place shares after its broker, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, waived the previously-agreed lock-up arrangement.

The move attracted little attention at the time, but infuriated a number of leading City shareholders, who encouraged the ABI to push for a formal agreement with investment banks over the matter.

"The issue is getting unanimity on what the agreed terms should be," said a person close to the talks.

The ABI declined to comment.

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