London sellers dropping asking prices
September 29, 2008
According to a recent report many property owners in the London area are being forced to drop their asking properties when selling their homes as a result of the slowdown in the housing market. With estate agents reportedly selling less than one property per week on average many homeowners have found that in order to even generate interest from cash strapped buyers they are having to slash the asking price on their properties by an average of over £20,000. Read more
Abbey cuts its mortgage rates
September 28, 2008
Mortgage lending giant Abbey, the High Street bank that is Spanish owned, has recently cut the interest rates on some of its mortgage products. Like a number of other lenders Abbey has been able to reduce mortgage interest rates due to a recent fall in swap rates, which is the rate at which banks lend to one another and is indicative of mortgage interest rates that are charged to consumers. Read more
Will house prices go back up again?
September 26, 2008
Over recent months the financial headlines have been filled with stories about falling house prices, and many industry officials have been making one gloomy prediction after another in relation to how quickly and by how much house prices are likely to continue falling over the next year or two, with some claiming that house prices could fall by as much as a third over the next two years, which could plunge many homeowners into negative equity. Read more
Should you go direct to lender or through an intermediary for your mortgage?
September 25, 2008
These days getting a mortgage can be really difficult, and the global credit crunch has impacted heavily on the mortgage sector heavily, leaving consumers with little choice when it comes to finding a mortgage and resulting in lenders really tightening up on their lending criteria. Whilst the base rate has come down three times over recent months many lenders have continued to hike up their mortgage interest rates, making it more expensive for consumers to borrow. Many lenders are also demanding higher deposit levels and charging huge arrangement fees, which has added to the problems that borrowers face. Read more
Some homeowners could face 40% hikes in repayments
September 24, 2008
A worrying report has shown how some homeowners in the UK who are due to come to the end of special cheap mortgage deals, such as cheap fixed rate mortgages, could face hikes of up to 40% when it comes to their mortgage repayments, which could mean an increase of hundreds of pounds a month for some. Many people are due to come to the end of special mortgage terms, and this means that they will either have to look for an affordable alternative or they will have to switch to the lender’s standard variable rate, which can be very high. Read more
Repossession levels have rocketed
September 23, 2008
There has been a huge jump in the level of repossessions in the UK since the start of this year, according to a recent report. Since January of this year repossession levels have jumped by 41%. There are a number of reasons why many homeowners may have fallen so far behind with their mortgage repayments, resulting in this increase in repossession levels. This includes higher living costs and bills, which are impacting on household finances, and also the fact that many people have been coming off cheap fixed rate deals and having to switch to far more expensive mortgage deals. Read more
Income and outgoings set to cause consumers problems
September 22, 2008
The governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, has recently highlighted how below inflation wage rises coupled with soaring food, petrol, and living costs are set to cause many households severe problems over the foreseeable future. Mr King warned households in a recent speech to brace themselves for some of the most challenging times that many may have yet faced in terms of their finances, with outgoings set to far outweigh income levels in the current economic climate. Read more
How to ease the financial strain at home
September 20, 2008
The global credit crunch, tighter credit conditions, rising bills, and soaring living costs have all taken their toll on household finances, and many consumers have found that it has become increasingly difficult to cope with their finances, with many finding that their income is way less than their outgoings. Many industry officials have said that the situation is set to get worse, with the Bank of England hinting that rate cuts could come to a stop whilst the government tries to bring inflation under control, energy industry officials stating that bills could soar in the autumn, and little hope of food and petrol prices coming down. Read more
Nationwide cuts interest rates for some borrowers
September 20, 2008
Consumers in the UK have been relieved to see that a number of lenders have reduced the interest rates on their mortgage products slightly after swap rates, which are indicative of mortgage interest rates, fell slightly. Nationwide is one of the lenders that has cut its mortgage interest rate slightly. Many consumers have struggled to get finance to purchase a property recently, as mortgage interest rates have remained high even though the base rate has been cut three times between December of last year and April of this year. Read more
FSA calls for action over mortgage fraud
September 19, 2008
The UK’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority, is called for increased action to combat the problem with mortgage fraud, which seems to have risen since the onset of the global credit crunch, which has resulted in tighter credit conditions and lack of availability when it comes to mortgages. The situation has apparently resulted in an increase in the number of mortgage brokers that are falsifying information on applications forms in order to get through mortgage. Read more
Falsified mortgage applications result in broker being banned
September 18, 2008
According to a recent report another broker has been both banned and fined by the UK’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority, as a result of falsifying mortgage applications in order to get mortgage loans pushed through. The FSA has been really cracking down on this sort of activity, and with mortgage conditions getting tighter and tighter the number of industry officials engaging in this activity seems to be on the rise, which is something that the FSA is determined to tackle. Read more
Borrowers offered money from lender to redeem their loans
September 18, 2008
Hundreds of borrowers who have taken their mortgages from the sub-prime lender, Edeus, which was set up a couple of years ago, are being offered money from the lender in exchange for redeeming their mortgage loans. Many banks have been suffering huge financial difficulties over recent months as a result of the global credit crunch, which has affected all financial markets, and have been putting in place various strategies and tighter lending conditions in order to try and weather the storm. Read more
July saw biggest house price fall on record
September 17, 2008
According to recent reports from a leading lender the month of July saw the biggest annual house price drop since records began, which was in 1991. House prices for the month fell by 1.7%, which took the annual fall to 8.1%. This comes from figures from the Nationwide. House prices have been falling for a number of months now, and many industry officials have predicted that they will continue to fall over the next couple of years, with some predicting drops as large as 20% or more over this period. Read more
Many consumers could experience problems with remortgaging
September 16, 2008
Some industry officials have expressed concerns that many people who are hoping to remortgage over the coming months could experience severe difficulties, not only because of the lack of mortgages on the market at present but also because nobody seems to have any real indicated of what will be happening with the interest rate, which makes it difficult for consumers to determine what sort of product they should opt for when they remortgage. Read more
Loss of sleep for estate agents
September 15, 2008
The state of the mortgage and housing market has been in steady decline in the UK for a number of months. The number of mortgages and the availability of mortgages has dropped dramatically over the months, with fewer and fewer people able to get hold of a mortgage and purchase a property. In addition to this, and partly due to this, the number of property sales has also fallen, and is expected to keep on falling. Other factors that have affected the number of house sales include the threat of house prices continuing to fall, which is putting many potential buyers off due to the increased risk of falling into negative equity. Read more
Offers on properties being dropped just prior to exchange
September 14, 2008
A recent report has highlighted a problem that many homeowners are now experiencing, with the housing market having swung abruptly from a sellers market to a buyers market. Many homeowners are now experiencing difficulties in selling their homes for a number of reasons. One reason is that mortgage lending has dried up over recent months, and this has resulted in many would be buyers being unable to get a mortgage to purchase property, as well as due to would be buyers experiencing nerves over taking the plunge in case property prices continue to fall, as they are expected to do, as this could leave them facing negative equity. Read more
New service launched for consumers looking for mortgage advice
September 12, 2008
In the current financial climate many people that are looking to take out a mortgage are also looking for quality financial advice from an experience, qualified, and trained industry officials to help them avoid making any mistakes when deciding on the right mortgage product. However, finding the right person to advise you isn’t always easy, and many people find themselves getting poor advice from someone that is not really suitably qualified or experienced in this field. Read more
Increased stability for mortgage product numbers on market
September 12, 2008
Since last summer when the global credit crunch swept across the UK the number of mortgage products available on the market has plummeted, with many lenders having to take a wide range of products off the shelves. In addition to this availability of mortgages and accessibility to mortgage products for consumers has been dramatically cut, and the mortgage intermediary market has also been affected by these issues. Read more
How are estate agents bearing up to the housing crisis?
September 8, 2008
The housing slump in the UK has hit rock bottom over recent months and estate agents have been reporting very poor sales figures over this period. The housing crisis has been fuelled by one disaster after another, and all of this has added up to housing transactions all but grinding to a halt in England and Wales. House prices have been falling for the last ten months, which has put many people of buying property in case the value of the home continues to fall after they have made the purchase, leaving them facing negative equity. Read more
Low fee mortgages from Abbey for those with sizeable deposits
September 7, 2008
Over recent months a number of lenders in the UK have increased the mortgage arrangement fees on their mortgage products, and this has seriously affected the ability of many people to afford to take out a mortgage, particularly in the current difficult financial climate. However, the good news for those with a pretty sizeable deposit is that the Spanish owned High Street bank, Abbey, has recently announced the launch of a low fee mortgage range. Read more
Mortgage approval levels plummet in one year
September 5, 2008
Over recent months, since the onset of the global credit crunch, the number of mortgage approvals in the UK has been falling. Mortgage approval levels have been affected by a number of factors, and this includes the tighter credit conditions put into place by lenders, which has made it hard for some people to get mortgage finance, and a lower level of applications from consumers, who are unable or unwilling to buy in the current climate. Read more
Some signs of the weakening economy
September 5, 2008
Most of us have heard rumours and speculation over whether the nation is on the brink of recession lately, and there is little doubt that the economy has taken a real battering of late. This has been worsened by the fact that interest rate cuts from the Bank of England have come to an abrupt halt as a result of soaring inflation levels, having been kept on hold since April of this year. Some industry official have said that the Bank of England has had no other choice but to hold interest rates steady, given that the rate of inflation has reached nearly double the government target of 2%, coming in at 3.8%. However, others have said that the decision spells disaster for the economy, which is already going through a marked slowdown. Read more
Level of borrowing on personal loans decreasing
September 5, 2008
Recently released figures have indicated that the level of borrowing on personal loans has been falling, as funding for both mortgages and unsecured loans continues to dry up. Officials from the price comparison service uswitch.com claim that the ongoing financial crisis in the UK’s money markets is now affecting unsecured personal loans, with fewer people able or willing to take out this type of finance. Read more
Landlords falling into serious arrears
September 4, 2008
According to a recent report a rising number of landlords are falling into serious arrears with their buy to let mortgages, with the number of landlords now three months behind with their repayments rising to over ten thousand. Since the onset of the global credit crunch borrowing costs have gone up, availability of mortgage products has come down, and credit conditions have become far more difficult, and this has hit lenders, homeowners, buyers, and now landlords. Read more
Problems with mortgages could go on for years to come
September 4, 2008
Since last summer, which is when the global credit crunch made its way from the US to the UK, the mortgage market has been in chaos, and both lenders and consumers have been suffering. Decreased liquidity in the wholesale money markets has resulted in lenders suffering extreme difficulties in securing funds to finance their mortgage lending operations, and this is turn has resulted in a reduction in the number of mortgage products available and tighter credit conditions that have made it harder for many people to get a mortgage. Read more
Rise in repossession orders
September 1, 2008
According to a recent report there has been a significant rise in the number of repossession orders being filed. Another report has already shown that there has been a rise of 41% in actual repossessions in the first half of this year compared to the last six months of last year, and 48% compared to the first six months of last year.
This recent report shows that there has also been a rise in repossession orders. Read more
It could be a couple of years before mortgage freeze thaws out
September 1, 2008
The mortgage industry has been going through turmoil for close to a year now, with the global credit crunch resulting in radical changes being made to the mortgage market. The number of mortgages available have been radically reduced over the past year, and tighter credit conditions from lenders have resulted in decreased accessibility when it comes to getting a mortgage, making it difficult for consumers to get a mortgage, and resulting in the wheels of the mortgage industry all but grinding to a halt. Read more