In a recent report released earlier this month officials from the Council of Mortgage Lenders claimed that the number of value of homes loans had fallen to the lowest level of record, with the number of home loans dished out in the month of August standing at just 42,000, which reflects a drop of 59% compared to one year earlier just before the global credit crunch gripped the financial markets in the UK and around the world. (more…)
Tags: mortgages, council of mortgage lendersA mortgage broker from the UK has been fined a massive £30,000 by authorities after being accused of giving advice that put consumers at risk during the ongoing global credit crunch and financial crisis. William John Evans, along with a fellow director from Abbey Mortgages, were fined by the Financial Services Authority earlier this month. The FSA is exercising an ongoing crackdown on unscrupulous lenders and brokers given the current financial climate and the state of the housing and mortgage markets. (more…)
Tags: abbey mortgages, mortgage broker, FSAA recent report has indicated that following the collapse and part nationalisation of the lender Bradford & Bingley, which dealt primarily with buy to let mortgages, many landlords could find themselves faced with the prospect of either selling their properties or being repossessed. Many landlords that are coming to the end of special deals such as fixed rate mortgages will find that they are unable to get another affordable mortgage, and could find their repayments rising by hundreds of pounds a month. (more…)
Tags: buy to let, mortgagesAccording to a recent report a huge number of mortgage products from lenders were axed following the high profile collapse of Bradford & Bingley, which was recently part nationalised. Shortly after the collapse over 10% of mortgage that were on offer to borrowers, buy to let investors, and those looking to remortgage were pulled from the shelves. This equates to over one in ten mortgage deals being pulled from the shelves in the wake of the B&B disaster. (more…)
Tags: mortgages, bradford & bingleyAccording to a recent report house prices have fallen again in September, with officials from the Halifax claiming that prices have dropped by around 1.3% for the month. The Halifax has stated that the September fall means that the annual price drop now registers at 12.4%, and the average house price has now fallen to £172,108. The Halifax stated that mortgage lending conditions were still very tight, and this meant that the state of the market was likely to remain difficult. (more…)
Tags: house pricesEarlier this week the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, announced that the UK base rate was being cut by 0.5% from 5% to 4.5% in a surprise move one day ahead of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting. Other central banks around the globe, including the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, also cut their base rates by 0.5% in a bid to try and stabilise the financial markets, boost the economy, and restore consumer confidence. (more…)
Tags: interest rates, mortgage rates, bank of englandEarlier this week the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, called a press conference where they announced that the UK’s base interest rate had been cut by 0.5% in an unprecedented move that saw central banks around the glob cutting their interest rates. The move came just one day before the Monetary Policy Committee meeting – where the interest rate movement is normally decided – was due to go ahead. (more…)
Tags: bank of england, federal reserve, interest ratesA recent report has indicated that the traditional 95% mortgage, with just a 5% deposit from the borrower, is becoming increasingly difficult to find. Until the onset of the credit crunch borrowers could easily get 95% mortgages, 100% mortgages, and even 125% mortgages, but over the past year all of this has changed. The 125% mortgage was the first to disappear as a result of the conditions stemming from the global credit crunch, and this was quickly followed by the 100% mortgage. (more…)
Tags: mortgagesA recent report has suggested that it could take seven years or longer for a recovery in house prices to be seen in the UK. Researchers have said that it could take until around 2016 for house prices to reach the same level as they did last year when they peaked before starting to plummet. This is bad news for those that have purchased properties recently, and are therefore facing negative equity as a result of falling house prices. This is where the homeowners ends up owing more on their property than the property is actually worth. (more…)
Tags: house pricesOfficials from the Office of Fair Trading have stated that more help is needed for homebuyers in the UK from house builders. Following an investigation by the OFT, house builders are to set up a new code of conduct to address issues relating to dissatisfied customers. The investigation showed that many home buyers had experienced problems with the property or delays in terms of moving into the property, although it did describe the sector as still being ‘broadly competitive’. (more…)
Tags: home builders federation, OFT, national house building council, council of mortgage lendersAccording to officials from the Council of Mortgage Lenders mortgage lending levels fell in August, with the value of mortgage lending having fallen by 12 percent compared to July and by 36 percent compared to August of the previous year. The total amount of new mortgage lending for the month came to just £21.8 billion. This was the lowest level of mortgage lending since 2005 and the lowest level of mortgage lending in August since 2002. (more…)
Tags: mortgage lending, CMLPotential property purchasers that want to take their chances on properties that go up for sale at auction could benefit according to a recent report, which suggests that auctions are cutting the prices of their properties. Auctioneers are being forced to cut the prices on properties going under the hammer due to the housing slump, and many buyers heading for the auctions could enjoy huge savings as a result of this. (more…)
Tags: proprty auctionsWith interest rates still high and consumer affordability stretched many people looking to remortgage or take out a new home loan are looking out for competitive headline rates to try and get the best deal possible at a financially difficult time. However, industry experts have stated that consumers need to be careful that they do not take on a mortgage based purely on the headline rate, as they could otherwise find that they are pulled in by what looks like an attractive rate of interest but are then left facing huge arrangement fees and costs. (more…)
Tags: mortgages, mortgage feesIndustry experts have pointed out that some homeowners who want to sell their properties and want to try and recoup some of the money lost through falling property prices could actually benefit financially by selling their home online rather than through the traditional and expensive route of using an estate agent. This could be especially beneficial given that estate agents have reported that their sales have slumped to an average of less than one property per week. (more…)
Tags: property salesBarratt Homes, a giant in the housing development sector, has recently launched a new incentive to try and boost the property market by offering to pay the stamp duty for buyers purchasing properties between £175,000 and £500,000. Properties under the value of £125,000 are exempt from stamp duty, and properties between £125,000 and £175,000 are exempt on a temporary basis, after the government introduced a twelve month suspension on stamp duty up to £175,000 recently to try and breathe life back into the housing market. (more…)
Tags: stamp dutyA man has decided to sue an estate agent over the £2.9 million sale of his property. The man, Barry McKay, claims that he was tricked into selling the property to the one person that he did not want to purchase it. He claims that he told the estate agent that he did not want the property to be sold to property tycoon, John Morris, but that the estate agent still sold the property to Morris without telling McKay. (more…)
Tags: house salesAccording to recent reports the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has been under increasing pressure over the past few days to follow the example of the United States is devising some sort of bailout plan for the housing market. The US government recently announced a $700 billion proposal that would be aimed at bailing out Wall Street, although the plan has come under severe criticism because it will be the taxpayer that foots the bill, and many are concerned that most taxpayers will not even benefit from the plan. (more…)
Tags: housing market, gordon brownOver recent months industry officials, housing developers, and the government have been desperately looking at ways to breathe life back onto the housing market, after house sales plummeted to record lows and estate agents reported average property sales equating to less than one home per week. With a number of factors affecting the housing market in the UK industry officials have been left with the difficult task of working out just how the industry can be boosted. (more…)
Tags: stamp duty, property pricesAccording to recent reports properties in rural areas are now feeling the effects of the housing slump and the global credit crunch, with the value of homes in rural areas having fallen by 7.9 percent in the space of a year. This includes cottages and country mansions, and with fewer people now able to afford a second country home many homeowners in these rural areas are finding that their properties are becoming increasingly difficult to shift when they are put up for sale. (more…)
Tags: house prices, rural propertiesAccording to some officials plans being looked into by ministers and the government to try and rescue the mortgage market could end up costing taxpayers around £40 billion. Reports have suggested that the government may will looking to underwrite billions of pounds worth of mortgages in a scheme that would see the type of government guarantee extended to Northern Rock also being extended to other home loans. (more…)
Tags: mortgages, governmentThe interest rates on some mortgage products are now almost the same as they were in the summer of last year before the onset of the global credit crunch, according to a recent report. Officials from Moneyfacts have recently researched mortgage interest rates, and have found that in many cases they average rates are only very slightly higher than they were in summer of 2007. (more…)
Tags: interest rates, mortgagesThere is little doubt that the mortgage market in the UK is still reeling from the havoc caused by the global credit crunch, which made its way across the Atlantic last summer, leaving a trail of destruction in its path. The mortgage industry has been suffering for a year now, with lenders unable to raise funds to finance their mortgage lending operations, and consumers unable to get the finance that they need to buy a property, thus leading to ongoing problems in the housing market. (more…)
Tags: mortgagesThere has been a great deal of speculation over when and by how much the Bank of England will cut the base interest rate over the next year, with inflationary pressures coupled with the threat of recession making decisions challenging for the Monetary Policy Committee. A number of industry officials have now said that the state of the economy will result in the central bank cutting rates a number of times over the next twelve months, with some guessing that the base rate could fall to 3.5% next year. (more…)
Tags: interest rates, bank of england, mortgagesOne member of the Monetary Policy Committee, which is involves in cutting rates, has recently called for major cuts to the UK’s base rate in order to avoid an economic slump that could last for a long period of time. The warning comes from MPC member David Blanchflower, who has been consistently voting for a rate cut over recent months at the monthly MPC meetings. However, having been outvoted rates have remained at 5% for the past five months. (more…)
Tags: mortgages, interest ratesA recent report has shown that there was a slight upturn in mortgage lending for the month of July, with mortgage lending levels said to have risen by 5%. Mortgage lending levels have been in decline for some months as a result of the global credit crunch which has seen a reduction in mortgage products on the market, as well as resulting in lenders putting far tighter lending criteria into place. In addition to this falling house prices and the threat of negative equity coupled with lack of affordability has resulted in fewer people making mortgage applications. (more…)
Tags: mortgagesMost people are aware that conditions in the housing market have become increasingly difficult over recent months, and with the mortgage sector still suffering the effects of the global credit crunch and with house prices falling, many homeowners have found that it is difficult or impossible to sell their homes. Estate agents have reported the poorest performance figures in years and there are even fears that many could lose their jobs due to lack of property sales. (more…)
Tags: housing market, mortgagesAccording to a recent report homeowners that are trying to sell their homes are knocking a fortune off the asking price in order to secure a sale in what have become very difficult conditions in the housing market. House prices have been falling month on month for some time now, but despite this many sellers have found that they are still having to slice some extra off the asking price in order to increase the chances of selling their home before property prices fall even further. (more…)
Tags: property pricesA recent report showed how mortgage approval levels for new home buyers in the UK plummeted in May, further reflecting the ongoing housing and mortgage slump that has come about as a result of the global credit crunch. House prices have been falling for some months now, and mortgage availability has been getting tighter Officials have said that these figures indicate that things will get worse before they start to get better.
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According to recent reports house prices in the UK have continued their downward spiral for the month of June, with a number of leading mortgage lenders and banks publishing figures that make for gloomy reading. One of the latest lenders to release house prices figures for June was the Halifax, which confirmed that house prices had fallen for yet another month in June, although the drop in values was not as large as the 2.5% that was seen in May. (more…)
Tags: house pricesA couple of high profile, well known house builders have recently had to slash their workforce by around 40% as a result of the housing market, which has all but ground to a halt due to lack of property sales and plummeting house prices. Property sales have now plummeted because many people are unable to get a mortgage in the current financial climate, with lenders tightening up on their lending criteria, and many others do not want to buy property in case the value continues to fall. (more…)
Tags: house buildersA recent report has suggested that house prices in the UK could fall by around one third by 2010, which would mean that within a couple of years many homeowners could see thousands of pounds wiped off the value of their homes. Officials from Deloitte recently released the report indicating that house prices could nosedive in the UK, and an official from the group said: ‘We now expect UK house prices to fall by about a third by the end of 2010 with severe adverse effects on household spending and investment.’ (more…)
Tags: house pricesAccording to a recent report around 1.7 million people are facing the threat of negative equity if house prices continue falling at the same rate as they have been for the past few months. Officials from Standard and Poor have predicted that over the next year house prices could fall by a further 17%, and if this happens around 1.7 million homeowners could be left facing negative equity. Negative equity is where the homeowner owes more on the property by way of mortgage than the property is worth. (more…)
Tags: house prices, equityMany Londoners could find it increasingly difficult to sell their homes if they live near to the Thames, if new plans that have been proposed come into force. The new plans will require homeowners who are selling their properties to inform potential buyers of any flood risk. This has been proposed by Sir Michael Pitt, the head of a government enquiry into flooding. (more…)
Tags: house marketAccording to recent figures there has been a significant fall in the number of mortgage approvals for homebuyers. Recent figures have shown that mortgage approval levels for homebuyers have fallen by around 64% over the past year. According to officials from the Bank of England approval levels for homebuyers have dropped to levels last seen in the 1990s. For May there were just 42,000 new mortgage approvals for homebuyers, which was the lowest on record since 1993. (more…)
Tags: mortgages, mortgage approvalsAccording to a recent report the demand for buy to let mortgage loans has been falling, even though the demand for rental properties is still high. Officials have found that there has recently been a surge in the number of rental properties coming onto the market, but this is largely due to the high number of homeowners that are unable to sell their homes in the current financial climate, and have instead decided to rent them out until the market picks up. (more…)
Tags: buy to let mortgagesSince the housing slump began some months ago in the UK there have been many problems for homeowners that are trying to sell their properties. Property sales in England and Wales have gone through the floor for a number of reasons. Falling house prices have put some people off buying for fear of falling into negative equity. Tighter credit conditions have made it impossible for some to get a mortgage and buy a home. In fact, a number of factors have affected buyers’ ability or willingness to make a purchase. (more…)
Tags: bank of englandSince the onset of the global credit crunch borrowing costs for those looking for a mortgage have increased dramatically in terms of interest rates, arrangement fees, and deposit levels. Those looking to take out a mortgage spend time shopping around for the most competitive rate, and there are some competitive deals still available. However, industry officials have said that the deposit level that is now required in order to secure one of the best buy mortgages has rocketed. (more…)
Tags: mortgages, depositThe Internet bank first direct, which is part of the High Street banks, HSBC, has recently launched a new mortgage product that may prove of interest to some people that are looking to remortgage. The new offset loan has been described as a market leading fee free loan. This is a base rate tracker offset mortgage, and the interest rate is set at 0.99% above the base interest rate for the life of the loan. Consumers can also benefit from the offset feature, which could help them to save money on interest on the loan. (more…)
Tags: mortgagesThe Bank of England has announced that the base rate for August is to be held at 5% following the Monetary Policy Committee meeting, which was held last week to determine any movement in the base interest rate. It is a move that has come as no big surprise to most, with soaring inflation levels and the slowing economy making it difficult for the members of the MPC to make any changes to the base rate. (more…)
Tags: interest ratesThe Spanish owned high street lender, Abbey, as recently reported that it has increased its share of the UK mortgage market dramatically over recent months, and this has resulted in the lender becoming the number one mortgage lender in the nation, overtaking the Halifax. Since the onset of the global credit crunch many UK lenders have struggled to raise finances to fund their mortgage lending operations, but because Abbey is Spanish owned it has been able to turn to European sources for funding, increasing its liquidity. (more…)
Tags: mortgagesAccording to a recent report released by the British Banker’s Association, mortgage approval levels for May slumped this year, falling to the lowest level on record. The figures show that the number of mortgage approved in May fell to under 28,000, and this was a drop of 20% compared to April. The May figure was around 56% lower than the same month last year, and is indicative of the huge problems that have hit the mortgage sector following the inset of the global credit crunch. (more…)
Tags: mortgagesA recent report has shown that house sales in the UK have slumped by 40%, as the nation continues to go through a mortgage and housing market meltdown. Poor property sales have been affecting the market for some months, with a number of factors affecting the falling sales levels in the UK, and estate agents reporting some of the poorest sales figures in decades, with most averaging just five property sales a month. (more…)
Tags: house salesSome parts of London have recently seen rents on properties fall by around 20%, after a surge in properties going up for rent resulted in greater supply than demand. It has not been long since reports indicated that rents in the area had actually be rising by up to 8% a year, with landlords making the most of consumer desperation to find a rented home given that many could not get a mortgage in order to purchase their own property. However, this now seems to be turning itself around, with rentals being slashed by hundreds of pounds a month in some cases. (more…)
Over recent months the number of property sales going through estate agents in the UK has plummeted, with estate agents reporting some of the lowest property sales figures in years. In fact, according to recent figures estate agents have only been averaging around five property sales per months each, which is the lowest in several decades. The government has been urged by industry officials to try and revive the housing market, but so far seems to have taken steps that have actually made the situation worse. (more…)
Tags: stamp dutyAccording to recent figures consumers in the UK are still paying a fortune to take out a mortgage, even though the swap rates, which are indicative of interest rates on mortgages, have come down slightly. A number of lenders have cut the interest rates on some of their mortgage products over the past couple of weeks, but officials have said that the cost of mortgages is still running high for consumers. (more…)
Tags: mortgagesUK banks have been warned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, to stop ripping off consumers with regards to the arrangement fees on mortgage loans, after it was revealed that many lenders have hiked up the fees charges on mortgage loans, leaving many consumers to try and find thousands of pounds in order to be able to get a mortgage. The chancellor also said that the he will be discussing the issue of arrangement fees with the financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority, in order to try and work out what can be classed as a fair fee. (more…)
Tags: mortgages, arrangement feesOver recent months consumers and industry officials have seen the value of properties in the UK falling over recent months, and many reports from different agencies have shown the level of falls in house prices. More recently, a report has been released that predicts the house price slump in the UK could last around four years. Officials stated in the report that it could take around four years for property prices in the UK to exceed the peak that was seen in 2007. These predictions were made by the Society of Business Economics, and around two thirds of the 225 members of the society thought that a recovery in house prices could take four years. (more…)
Tags: house pricesAccording to a recent report the lack of first time buyers entering the housing market at present is resulting in problems further up the chain, with homeowners who are already in starter homes unable to sell up and move to larger properties due to lack of demand and poor house sale performance. The housing market has seen a real slump in sales figures, and many people have found that they cannot sell their homes because first time buyer numbers have dwindled. (more…)
Tags: first time buyersTen years ago before the housing boom in the UK began someone with £40,000 handy could look at purchasing a property outright. However, these days many will be lucky if this covers much more than the deposit on a property. A recent report has shown that the average first time buyers in London needs a whopping deposit of around £32,500 these days, as lenders are now asking for around 13% of the property value by way of a deposit. (more…)
Tags: mortgages, first time buyersThe hefty fees that many mortgage lenders have charged have been under fire for some years, but is seems that the fees that were being charged a couple of years ago are nothing compared to the ones that are now being charged. A recent report has shown that mortgage arrangement fees have soared over the past couple of years, and at a time when finances are tighter than ever and credit conditions have become incredibly difficult, consumers are being charged through the nose by lenders through extortionate arrangement fees. (more…)