HBOS settles into new homes

It’s good to see HBOS shares my optimism about the housing market (it was getting a bit lonely out here). It has just splashed out £27.5m to take a 40% stake in Tulloch Homes Group. This comes hot on the heals of an investment in Miller Group, the UK's largest privately owned construction company and housebuilder, which itself followed investments in Crest Nicholson and McCarthy & Stone last year.

Now admittedly chief economist Martin Ellis let the side down slightly by saying the bank was confident of the market in the medium to long term (I reckon we’re in a fairly short term blip), but you can’t have everything.

Incidentally for the housing doom-mongers, isn’t it interesting that the media bandied about the figure of 1.4m people who would be hit by having to renegotiate their mortgages this year, while largely ignoring the fact that up to six million people will actually pay less after the Bank of England rate cut? Well done to the Telegraph for spotting that.