January 10, 2012

---

House sales steady but prices fall

Permalink: House sales steady but prices fall
by Gill Montia

UK house sales remained steady in December, despite a rise in the amount of new stock coming to market and no signs of a revival in mortgage lending. According to the latest housing market survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors ...

January 6, 2012

---

2011 shaves 1.3% off house prices

Permalink: 2011 shaves 1.3% off house prices
by Gill Montia

House prices in the final quarter of 2011 were 0.1% lower than in the previous quarter, according to Halifax. The value of the typical home slipped 0.9% between November and December, to £160,063, but modest increases earlier in the year meant prices ...

---

Mixed outlook for mortgage lending

Permalink: Mixed outlook for mortgage lending
by Gill Montia

UK mortgage lending was broadly unchanged in the three months to mid-December, compared with the previous quarter, the Bank of England reports. Lenders had been expecting a slight increase and blamed tighter wholesale funding conditions and fears over house price falls for the ...

January 5, 2012

---

Halifax supports first-time buyers

Permalink: Halifax supports first-time buyers
by Gill Montia

Halifax has launched a two year, fee free, fixed rate first-time buyer mortgage, at 5.99%. According to the lender, today's first-time buyer typically pays a product fee of around £995, and in addition to waiving any fee, Halifax is offering £500 cash-back on its ...

January 4, 2012

---

Mortgaged lending stagnates

Permalink: Mortgaged lending stagnates
by Gill Montia

Mortgage lending continued to flat line in November, with approvals for house purchases at 52,854, Bank of England figures show. The total showed little change on October's but managed to stay above the previous six-month average (50,266). Remortgaging activity declined, with lenders approving only 31,154 home ...

---

LHA changes impact 1.3 million private tenants

Permalink: LHA changes impact 1.3 million private tenants
by Gill Montia

Benefit reforms taking effect from 1st January could leave over a million low income families with shortfalls in their rent payments, according to the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH). New research from the Institute also suggests that across the UK rents ...

January 3, 2012

---

Annual house price rises for majority of UK

Permalink: Annual house price rises for majority of UK
by Gill Montia

Nine out of 13 regions in the UK recorded house price rises in 2011, with London the best-performing region (+5.4%) and Northern Ireland the worst-performing region (-8.9%). According to Nationwide, prices in Scotland are down 0.8% on the year, having ...

December 16, 2011

---

CML 2012 housing market forecast

Permalink: CML 2012 housing market forecast
by Gill Montia

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) expects gross mortgage lending to total around £133 billion in 2012 and net lending (gross lending with repayments and redemptions stripped out) to amount to only £5 billion. The figures compare with estimates of £138 billion for ...

December 15, 2011

---

Repossessions up, arrears down

Permalink: Repossessions up, arrears down
by Gill Montia

Latest figures from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) show repossessions rising by 2% in the third quarter of 2011, compared with the previous three month period, with 9,670 homes returned to lenders. However, there were only 34,900 new arrears cases in Q3, down 2% ...

---

“Renting to retire” an alternative to downsizing

Permalink: “Renting to retire” an alternative to downsizing
by Gill Montia

Downsizing is one way of freeing up capital on retirement, but the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) is reminding homeowners that it's not the only way of using property assets to supplement pension income. Letting the family home, rather than ...

December 14, 2011

---

Private tenants punished with high fuel bills

Permalink: Private tenants punished with high fuel bills
by Gill Montia

Tenants who live in the coldest privately rented homes are trapped into higher fuel bills because they rely on landlords to make their properties energy efficient. So claims the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) and Friends of the Earth, who are ...

---

High eviction risk areas identified

Permalink: High eviction risk areas identified
by Gill Montia

New research from Shelter highlights the areas of England where people are most at risk of losing their homes. The charity claims that one in every 111 households is at risk of eviction by either a landlord or mortgage lender, with those living ...

December 13, 2011

---

RICS: buyer demand and sales rise

Permalink: RICS: buyer demand and sales rise
by Gill Montia

The UK housing market saw an increase in buyer demand in November, according to latest research from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Newly-agreed sales rose as a result, with 14% more respondents reporting sales increasing rather than decreasing, up from ...

---

Halifax: 2012 house price forecast

Permalink: Halifax: 2012 house price forecast
by Gill Montia

In its housing market outlook for 2012, Halifax is predicting little change in house prices, which could fall up to 2%, or see a 2% rise. With the Bank of England's base rate likely to end 2012 at 0.5%, the lender expects favourable ...

December 10, 2011

---

Housing market ends 2011 better than expected

Permalink: Housing market ends 2011 better than expected
by Gill Montia

House prices in England and Wales held steady in November, with no change on a month earlier and prices down 0.7% on the year, at an average £220,043. According to the LSL/Acadametrics index, the only region recording annual price growth is ...

December 9, 2011

---

First time buyer number shrink

Permalink: First time buyer number shrink
by Gill Montia

Low interest rates have helped make today's first-time buyer mortgages the most affordable for nearly eight years, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), with monthly interest payments now typically consuming only 12.3% of first-time buyer income. However, in October those new ...

---

Yields and rents rise on firm demand

Permalink: Yields and rents rise on firm demand
by Gill Montia

The latest Residential Lettings Survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) shows yields on rental properties rising in the three months to the end of October. Strong tenant demand has now delivered better yields for landlords over seven consecutive ...

December 7, 2011

---

Mortgage support payment changes alarm lenders

Permalink: Mortgage support payment changes alarm lenders
by Gill Montia

Government proposals to change the way in which Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) operates have alarmed the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML)and make uncomfortable reading for those receiving the support. SMI helps people who would either have to sell their home or ...

December 6, 2011

---

House prices down 1% on the year

Permalink: House prices down 1% on the year
by Gill Montia

UK house prices slipped 0.6% in the three months to November, compared with the previous quarter, according to the latest Halifax index. On an annual basis, the value of the typical home was down 1% (October -1.8%). However, the three month ...

December 5, 2011

---

UK house prices need to fall further

Permalink: UK house prices need to fall further
by Gill Montia

The UK's first-time buyers need anything between 10 and 19 years to save up for a deposit. The plight of would-be homeowners has been highlighted by InvestorBee, which has produced some pretty extensive research demonstrating the level of dedication needed ...