The number of buyers in the UK housing market has risen three months in a roll, as lower prices boost interest, according to figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). But it said first-time buyers were still largely frozen out of the market, as lenders demand high deposits. Existing homeowners are the main source of the increased interest, as well as investors.
Archive for the ‘Property’ Category
Buy enquiries still on the rise
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009Base rate falls while house prices rise
Friday, February 6th, 2009
The Bank of England cut interest rates to a new record low of 1% on Thursday. While the Halifax reported that house prices rose 1.9% during January. This is in contrast with Nationwide’s figures last week which showed 1.3% drop in house prices. As the credit-crunch has shown, the supply of finance has driven up house prices. There will be no full scale recovery in the UK property market until finance becomes easier to obtain, especially for first-time buyers. And with rising unemployment, who knows what the future will bring!
Repossession orders rise by 24%
Friday, August 15th, 2008
Official figures show 28,658 mortgage possession orders were made in England and Wales during the second quarter of the year, up 24% on the same period a year ago. In London, the number of court orders rose by 12% to 4,052. There were large increases at several county courts including Edmonton, 34% to 395, Kingston-upon-Thames, 22 per cent to 93, and Brentford, 20 per cent to 191. A mortgage repossession order, granted by a court, entitles the claimant - usually a lender - to apply to have the occupier evicted. But a significant number of homeowners issued with an order manage to avoid being forced out.
Councils are also looking at a safety net scheme where they would take over the mortgage, or part of it, of people falling into arrears and then rent back the property.
Britons sue the Spanish Government up to £86m
Saturday, June 21st, 2008Britons who sold a Spanish property between between June 2004 and December 2006 could be owed cash as a result of a Spanish Government’s capital gains tax ’scam’. Hundreds of them have joined forces to bring a class action against the Spanish Government in a bid to reclaim an estimated £86m in overpaid capital gains tax (CGT). They are also set to add on missing interest at a compound rate of 6% to their 20% overpayment claims. But while hundreds have already joined forces in a bid to reclaim their tax, thousands more are still to come forward.
But those who sold property previous to June 2004 have already missed out on being able to make a reclaim on their overpaid tax, as under Spanish law claims can only be made dating back over a four year period, meaning millions more have become victim to this tax trap. Read more here.
£300bn wiped off value of British homes
Thursday, June 12th, 2008Britons have collectively seen nearly £300 billion wiped off the value of their homes since house prices first began to fall in September last year, research by property valuation website Zoopla.co.uk has showed. This is equivalent to more than £1 billion a day being wiped off the collective value of British homes. But it added that the recent price falls should be seen in the context of strong gains in recent years, with the value of Britain’s housing stock soaring by £750 billion during the past three years and £1.7 trillion during the past five years.
Repossessions to soar by a quarter
Monday, April 28th, 2008Home repossessions will soar by almost a quarter this year as the credit crunch bites, a leading economic consultant has warned. Around 33,400 people could lose their homes during 2008 - 23% ahead of last year - the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said. Mortgage deals are also set to remain expensive until the pressure in money markets eases, according to the group’s latest consumer and housing prospects report. The warning comes despite the Bank of England’s £50bn bid to tackle the crisis last week by allowing banks to swap their riskier assets for safer ones in an attempt to kick-start credit markets. Until the mortgage finance starts to flow again, the outcome will be a reduction in house prices and an increase in repossessions.
Nationwide increases minimum deposit to 10%
Monday, April 28th, 2008
Nationwide Building Society is today reducing its maximum loan to value ratio (LTV) to 90% on all of its products for new borrowers except its three-year fixed rate and three-year tracker mortgages. New borrowers will need at least 10% deposit on all their products except the two mentioned above. New customers wanting to take out the group’s standard variable deal, which it calls its base mortgage rate, will now need a deposit of at least 25%, while the maximum amount the group will lend on any of its mortgages to new borrowers will be capped at £500,000. The two remaining products that Nationwide is offering to people with a small deposit are only available by going direct to the lender and cannot be obtained through brokers. Nationwide described the move, which takes effect from May 1, as part of its ‘ongoing approach of managing the business in a prudent and sustainable way’.
Mortgage approval slumps as banks run out of cash
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008In a year, mortgages for people buying a home have dived by 46% as Britain’s banks run out of money to lend. Figures from the British Bankers Association (BBA) showed mortgage approvals for house purchase in March tumbling to its lowest figure since records began in 1997. This shows the extent to which banks are tightening their belts as they find themselves unable to secure funding for mortgages. Borrowers needing to remortgage or purchase a home are finding lenders have raised rates to reflect their own higher borrowing costs and increase margins on mortgages. Many are also demanding higher deposits to protect against house price falls and to raise the quality of their loan books. The rising cost of securing funding on the money markets has seen the inter bank lending rate Libor rise to 0.9% above the bank rate of 5% - the historical average is 0.13%. This has substantially pushed up the cost of new tracker rate mortgages, which are heavily influenced by Libor. The BBA said it expected lending to continue to weaken due to the continuing decline in mortgage approvals.
HSBC offers to match mortgage deals
Thursday, April 10th, 2008
HSBC has offered to match the interest rate of any borrower coming off their fixed rate deals. This will apply to both HSBC customers and those remortgaging. It effectively shields borrowers from the recent increases in the cost of home loans. The Rate Matcher will mean their existing fixed mortgage rates - down to a cut-off point of 4.54% - will continue for another two years. But the deal will only last for five weeks so mortgage borrowers need to act quickly to take advantage. It is only available direct to consumers as the bank does not offer its mortgage products through mortgage advisers. Borrowers can borrow up to a maximum of 80% of their property’s value (20% deposit required) and a fee will be payable depending on the rate fixed. A maximum of £250,000 can be borrowed via the Rate Matcher service, although customers with larger mortgages can take the remainder on a standard HSBC deal. The offer is only available for borrowers whose current mortgage deal runs out before the end of June. The offer is available from 14th April until 18th May. This is a pleasant change from the do-nothing attitude most big lenders appear to be adopting at the moment!
