housefund.co.uk - UK & Irish Property News

Mortgage lending rises by 7% during October

admin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:01:27 GMT

Gross mortgage lending totaled an estimated £18.7 billion in October, almost 7% higher than what was an admittedly weak £17.5 billion lent in September according to new figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders. The monthly total was 44% lower than gross mortgage lending of £33.4 billion in October 2007. Gross Mortgage Lending (£m) for 2008 Jan - 25,927 Feb [...]

Irish Rents Hit Lowest Level in Two Years

admin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:47:27 GMT

Rents have hit their lowest level since August 2006 according to the latest rental report from property website Daft.ie. In the past 3 months, rents dropped by 3% on average across the country. The continuing fall in rents is linked to the dramatic increase in the number of properties available to rent. At the start of [...]

HIPS body calls for ‘drop dead’ date

admin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:35:59 GMT

The Association of Home Information Pack Providers (AHIPP) today called for the Government to re-introduce a ‘drop dead’ date of 1st April 2009 for Home Information Packs (HIPs) when they address the transitional arrangements which expire at the end of the year. When the first set of HIP regulations were laid, they included a date by [...]

NLA: ‘reluctant landlords’ are major risk to rental market

admin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:29:32 GMT

The National Landlords Association (NLA), the largest national body for private-residential landlords, has today said that the new breed of ‘reluctant landlords’ poses a major risk to the overall health of the British rental market. Research published by the NLA has shown that the number of new landlord instructions to let in quarter three 2008 has [...]

Bailing out banks unfair on building societies

admin — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:01:43 GMT

This was the message from John Goodfellow, Chairman of the Building Societies Association, speaking at the Association’s Annual Lunch. He noted the strength and prudence of the mutual model, but highlighted the unfair way the sector had been forced to pay for failed banks. Speaking on the sector’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme bill from the [...]

Rental levels decline as buyers sit and wait

admin — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:03:30 GMT

In the three months to October, continued falls in houses prices coupled with further tightening in mortgage lending conditions has turned more would be buyers and sellers to the rental market according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Those who are unable to obtain mortgage finance are renting. Meanwhile, would-be home sellers are opting [...]

Boom And Bust - The Inevitable Cycle?

admin — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:46:46 GMT

Savills has published its forecast for both the UK mainstream and prime residential property markets in 2009. Presenting the forecast, which continues to anticipate total market falls from peak 2007 values of -25% by the end of 2009, Yolande Barnes, head of residential research at Savills comments, “The state of the market today vindicates the [...]

Buyers now have a clearer view of the market

admin — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:39:21 GMT

Following the publication of the Rightmove Property Asking Prices Survey, Chris Brown, President of the National Association of Estate Agents, said: “This is evidence of the difficult times that sellers face in today’s troubled economic climate. We have already called for measures to help – particularly for the Chancellor to stop treating stamp duty as an [...]

Asking prices cut, but still no sign of buyers

admin — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:28:42 GMT

Home sellers are recognising the need for more drastic action in getting their homes sold and have listed their properties with estate agents at asking prices 2.9% lower than those last month according to new figures from Rightmove. It is the biggest fall in asking prices that Rightmove has ever measured during the month of [...]

Kensington and Chelsea have the most expensive streets

admin — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 12:35:00 GMT

The Vale in Kensington and Chelsea is the most expensive residential street in England and Wales, with an average house price of £4,677,500 based on transactions between 2004 and 2008 according to new figures from the Halifax. In fact, the area is awash with costly addresses with 26 of the 50 most expensive residential streets in [...]

Britons shun the UK and move abroad for a warmer climate

admin — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 08:45:29 GMT

Better weather is the top reason that UK expats prefer living abroad, according to the latest poll conducted by Alliance & Leicester International. However, there are some downsides to moving abroad. Over half (51%) of expats miss their family and one in five (21%) struggle with language barriers. Almost one in ten (9%) admit to missing [...]

Sales hit a new low - but recovery signs increase

admin — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:54:25 GMT

The average number of transactions per surveyor fell again in October as a lack of mortgage finance continued to stifle the ability of buyers to access the market, but expectations that sales will improve (over the next three months) increased, says RICS’ UK housing market survey. The balance of surveyors reporting house price falls fell back [...]

All Properties Now Victims Of The Credit Crunch

admin — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:21:41 GMT

Research by Savills shows that the credit crunch is now affecting even the best property with values down by an average of more than 10%. This is considerably more than the 2.4% falls recorded for these properties in April. A survey of Savills agents established the amount by which the realisable sale price of properties in [...]

Half of borrowers avoid stamp duty in September

admin — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:42:07 GMT

The temporary increase in the stamp duty threshold saw 51% of homebuyers avoiding stamp duty in September, compared with 22% in September last year. However, the number of house purchase loans was 57% lower than September 2007, according to new data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders. There were 35,000 loans for house purchase worth £5 [...]

Halifax pass on full ECB rate cut to its SVR customers

admin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:07:17 GMT

Bank of Scotland (Ireland) and its retail banking arm Halifax will pass on the full 0.50% ECB rate cut announced to mortgage borrowers. The bank has confirmed that the rate cut will be effective from 1st December 2008 and will be applied to all standard variable mortgage rates for new and existing customers. Commenting on the move, [...]

Chancellor must suspend stamp duty

admin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:47:06 GMT

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) has called on the Government to use its Pre Budget Report to help thousands of young people currently priced out of the housing market. Chris Wood, President-Elect of the NAEA, said: “The Chancellor must realise that the housing market is not a piggy bank for his personal use – [...]

Nationwide warns of a subdued 2009

admin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:19:54 GMT

Nationwide has announced it is cutting mortgage lending and says it expects house prices to continue to fall during 2009 and 2010. Revealing it’s financial results for the six months to the end of September, Nationwide said that reported profit before tax was up 11% at £374 million, compared to £338 million in September 2007. However, signs [...]

Changes to Nationwide’s tracker mortgage range

admin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:40:14 GMT

Nationwide Building Society has confirmed that all existing borrowers with tracker mortgages will benefit from a reduction in interest rate of 1.5% from 1 December following the cut in the Bank Of England Base Rate. Customers with a £100,000 interest only mortgage will save £125 per month. Existing tracker deals will continue to track the Base [...]

Northern Rock reduces standard variable mortgage rate by 1.5%

admin — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:07:12 GMT

Following the cut in the Bank of England Base Rate on 6 November, Northern Rock will reduce its standard variable mortgage rate (SVR) by 1.5% to 5.84%, with effect from 1 December 2008. All existing tracker mortgage customers will also benefit from this full reduction. For Northern Rock borrowers whose loans qualify for a loyalty discount after [...]

NatWest and RBS cut its Standard Variable Rate by a full 1.5 per cent

admin — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:54:47 GMT

NatWest and RBS have announced that its Standard Variable Rate mortgages will be cut by 1.50 per cent from 6.69 per cent to 5.19 per cent. The reduction follows a review following the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decision to cut rates by 1.50 per cent and recent movements in the LIBOR rate. The [...]

1.5% passed on by Halifax

admin — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:07:02 GMT

Following the announcement by the Monetary Policy Committee of a 1.50% decrease in the Bank Base Rate, Halifax will also be decreasing its standard variable rate (SVR) by 1.50%. The Halifax SVR will now reduce from 6.50% to 5.00%, one of the most competitive in the market. The 1.5% reduction will apply across the Group’s other mortgage [...]

Nationwide reduces mortgage rates

admin — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:50:08 GMT

Nationwide has announced that it will decrease its Base Mortgage Rate (BMR) from 1 December 2008 by 1.50%. The BMR will decrease by 1.50% from 6.19% to 4.69%. Nationwide’s BMR is already one of the lowest on the high street and this move will reduce monthly payments for a borrower with a £100,000 interest only mortgage [...]

Further cuts to Alliance & Leicester fixed rate mortgages

admin — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:35:04 GMT

Alliance & Leicester is cutting all of its fixed rates deals for customers seeking up to 75% loan-to-value. Two and five year fixed rates are cut by 0.20% and three year fixed rate deals are now 0.15% lower. The new offers are now available via brokers, Alliance & Leicester branches and by telephone from Mortgage Direct and [...]

Call for banks to pass on rate reduction savings

admin — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:29:08 GMT

Following the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee’s decision to cut interest rates by 1.5 per cent, Melfyn Williams, Past President of NAEA called for the banks to pass on the interest rate cuts to customers. Melfyn Williams, Past President of NAEA, said: “It is good news for the housing market that the Bank of England has [...]

Mortgage Lenders welcome rate cut

admin — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:02:30 GMT

The Council of Mortgage Lenders has welcomed the decisive move by the MPC to reduce the Bank rate to 3%. CML director general, Michael Coogan, said: “This is a strong and decisive move by the Bank of England. They have grasped the nettle in a worsening recessionary environment. “What is important is how [...]