Is there good news on the horizon with regards to property sales levels?
December 29, 2008
Things have been looking very bleak in terms of property sales in the UK over recent months, and the level of property sales in the UK has gone through the floor for a number of reasons. In fact, just weeks ago the average number of property sales per estate agent per week had dropped to below one, and many homeowners trying to sell their homes were finding themselves experiencing real problems in terms of getting their property sold within a reasonable time, it at all! Read more
Government moves on mortgage lending and repossessions
December 29, 2008
Following the pre-budget report, it has been announced that the government is to set up a new review panel that will monitor lending to businesses and consumers. The announcement came from the Chancellors, Alistair Darling, shortly after a report from Sir James Cosby, who said that urgent government intervention was needed to stop the mortgage market from shrinking further in 2009. Read more
House price falls slow in pace
December 26, 2008
Over the past year house prices have been falling month on month in the UK, with average house prices said to have fallen by close to 15% recently compared to the same period last year. However, although house prices are still falling, one major lender claims that the fall have started to slow in pace, with November having see a house price fall of just 0.4 percent, taking the annual rate of decline compared to the same time last year to around 13.9 percent. Read more
Scotland sees fall in mortgage lending
December 24, 2008
According to recently released figures Scotland saw a fall in mortgage lending levels over the third quarter of this year, with mortgage lending approvals falling by around 18 percent over the quarter. However, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders, Scotland still accounts for around 12 percent of all new UK house buying loans, which officials have said is a record high. 
The figures show that in the three months leading to the end of September, there were 5300 new loans approved for first time buyers, which equated to £481 million worth of lending. This was down from 6600 loans in the second quarter of the year, which equated to around £622 million worth of lending. The statistics also showed that the average first time buyer was putting down a deposit of around 16 percent for their mortgages, which comes about as a result of lenders demanding far greater deposits.
An official from the Council of Mortgage Lenders said “It has been less pronounced in Scotland. As the Crosby report recognised earlier this week, intervention is needed to restore the availability of mortgages and we hope to see its recommendations implemented swiftly. This would help address the mortgage supply issues, but consumer demand for loans will continue to fall away in the weaker economic outlook.”
The third quarter also saw remortgages falling in numbers, with eighteen thousand remortgaging loans worth £1.9 billion approved during the third quarter. It is thought that remortgaging levels may continue to decline as a result of consumers switching to lower rate standard variable mortgages when their existing deals come to an end.
Drop in property prices leads to increased sales
December 22, 2008
According to recent reports there has been a drop in the amount that many homeowners are asking for their properties, and this has led to an increase in property sales. With property sales having slumped to an average of less than one sale per week per estate agent, the increase in sales is much needed. Officials have said that sellers are now becoming more realistic with regards to their asking prices, and this has helped to boost sales in what has become a very challenging housing market. Read more
Household spending goes up to £459 per week
December 21, 2008
According to official figures released by the Office for National Statistics, the average household in the UK is now shelling out £459 per week to fund household costs. The data from the Family Spending Survey showed that the costs associated with mortgages and energy costs have rocketed over the past five years. In the past five years the average monthly mortgage payment has gone up by around £16 per household. This equates to an increase of over £830 a year for each household. Read more
Ban for fraudulent mortgage broker
December 20, 2008
The UK’s financial regulator, the Financial services Authority, has taken action against yet another broker than has been found to have been engaging in fraudulent activity. Since the start of this year a number of brokers have been fined by the regulator, having been found guilty of a variety of fraudulent activities relating to mortgages. This is an issue that the FSA has started cracking down on particularly hard over the past year or so. Read more
Deadline set over fairness to mortgage customers
December 18, 2008
Over recent months the government has been trying to bring in new guidelines and rules in relation to mortgage lending, to ensure that mortgage customers are treated fairly by banks and lenders in the current difficult financial climate. Recently lenders have agreed that they will now wait at least three months before taking any repossession action in the event that a homeowner falls into arrears with their mortgage repayments, which gives the customer more time to reach an effective solution with the lender or to catch up with repayments. Read more
Bad credit consumers being targeted with high interest loans
December 17, 2008
In the current financial climate, with the banks in turmoil and lending highly restricted, most are under the impressions that getting any form of finance with a bad credit rating is nigh on impossible. However, a recent report has suggested otherwise, claiming that some consumers with bad credit are actually being targeted by lenders who want to try and make them take out loans with extremely high rates of interest attached. Read more
RBS splashes the cash on parties
December 17, 2008
Banking giant, Royal Bank of Scotland, has been revealing its financial woes recently, and has taken the largest cash injection from the government’s banking bailout fund according to recent reports. Having taken around £20 billion from the government, the bank’s major shareholders are now taxpayers, with a stake of over 50 percent in the bank. Read more
Low deposit mortgages – can you get one?
December 15, 2008
For many of those hoping to get onto the property ladder in the current difficult financial climate the area of deposit levels is something that often puts a spanner in the works, particularly for first time buyers who have little to no savings and no equity from a previous property to rely on. In the past deposits haven’t been too big an issue for those looking to get onto the property ladder, as many lenders offered loans to the value of the property or even over and above the value of the property, enabling first time buyers to get onto the property ladder without any deposit at all. However, since the onset of the global credit crunch in 2007 all of this has changed. Read more
Response to UK interest rate cut
December 13, 2008
In early October the government and the Bank of England surprised the nation by cutting the base rate by 0.5% a day ahead of the scheduled Monetary Policy Committee meeting, where interest rates are usually cut. Like a number of other central banks across the globe, the Bank of England cut the base rate in an emergency move to try and boost the failing economy and stave of recession, and the move was welcomed by many consumers and industry groups. Read more
Mortgage market could slump massively by end of year
December 10, 2008
As most people will be only too well aware the mortgage market in the UK and in other parts of the world has slumped over recent months, and for over a year, since the onset of the global credit crunch, nations have been suffering huge financial problems, with liquidity in the financial markets all but grinding to a halt. In the UK and other nations this has resulted in radical changes in the mortgage market, which has slumped enormously as the days of easy credit disappear and a new approach to lending comes into play. Read more
Just where is the taxpayer’s money going?
December 8, 2008
Over recent months officials from the government, such as the Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the Chancellor Alistair Darling, have regularly been on our television screens and in the papers telling us about various bailout schemes that are being put into place to bailout the UK’s struggling banks, get the wheels of the mortgage market moving again, and improve the housing slump. Read more
Lender expects 80% fall in mortgage market
December 5, 2008
According to a recent report from one of the UK’s major lenders the mortgage market in the UK could plummet this year, and could end up at just one fifth of the level that it was at last year. Officials from Nationwide have said that based on the amount that the lender approved for borrowers in the six months to September of this year the end of the year may end on an 80% slump in the mortgage market compared to just twelve months ago. Read more
Interest only mortgage payers have no plans to repay capital
December 3, 2008
According to a recent report many of those with interest only mortgages have no plans in place to help them to pay the capital on the mortgage in the future. The report shows that there are nearly three million people with interest only mortgages, and of these around 45 percent do not have any plans in place to help them to repay the capital on the mortgage. Read more
Property website reports loss of three hundred estate agents a month
December 1, 2008
The property website Right Move has recently reported that each month around three hundred struggling estate agents are quitting the service, as the housing market continued to decline and the housing slump affects the estate agency business dramatically. With many estate agents struggling to weather the effects of the housing slump, many are unable to afford services such as these. Read more