Owning a home is cheaper than renting in all areas of the UK
Potential first-time buyers would have lower monthly outgoings if they bought a property rather than renting one, with rental prices surpassing average mortgage repayments in every region of the UK, Santander Mortgages has found. Homeowners could save £2,268 a year if...
House price history: How the market has changed since 1966
Getting on to the property ladder is three times harder today than it was in 1966 when England won the World Cup and the average house was £2,006 compared to today’s £211,000. To coincide with the World Cup, online mortgage broker Trussle has compared UK house price...
Rise in number of landlords quitting rental market
Letting agents reported a rise in the number of landlords selling up in April ARLA Propertymark has revealed that in April, letting agents saw the highest number of landlords selling their buy-to-let properties since records began in 2015. The number of landlords...
First-time buyer homes to ‘flood the market’ as landlords sell up
Homes suitable for first-time buyers could ‘flood the market’ in the coming year as one in five (19%) landlords look to sell, the National Landlords Association has predicted. National Landlords Association data indicates that 45% of landlords intend to sell...
Blackwell slams mortgage lending practices on Radio 4
Ex-Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) mortgage sector manager Lynda Blackwell has criticised lenders happy to lend to a raft of borrowers before the credit crisis, but unwilling to lend now, even when those same borrowers continue to keep up mortgage repayments. You...
Letting fees ban one step closer to becoming law
The proposed ban on letting fees is one step closer to becoming law, with the Tenants Fees Bill introduced to Parliament today (2 May). The bill was been introduced by the new secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, James Brokenshire, who...
Sale of Bradford & Bingley mortgages returns £5.3 billion to UK taxpayers
Bradford & Bingley’s (B&B) £5.3 billion mortgage book has been put up for sale by the Chancellor Philip Hammond and sold to an investor group. The B&B mortgage portfolio was acquired by the taxpayer during the financial crisis. The sale will enable the...
Councils sit on £375m earmarked for affordable housing
Despite ‘severe’ need for lower cost homes in some areas, funding is not being released. Local councils in England are sitting on hundreds of millions of pounds of money designated for affordable housing. A total of £375m is available, £100m of which has not even been...
UK government aims to streamline house sales with new measures
Professional qualifications for estate agents and protection from gazumping among plans Estate agents will be required to obtain a professional qualification and disclose payments for referring customers to solicitors, surveyors or mortgage brokers under government...
Borrower signs first digital mortgage deed
Coventry Building Society and Enact Conveyancing have lodged the first digitally signed mortgage for a house in Rotherhithe, London. The digital mortgage was signed by the borrower and registered at HM Land Registry as part of its ‘sign your mortgage deed’ service,...
haart: 15 buyers now chasing every property
Fifteen UK buyers are now chasing every property as demand reaches a post-Brexit vote high, data from haart estate agents has found. New buyer registrations increased by 20% in March, viewings rose by 17% and instructions were up by 15%. Paul Smith, chief executive of...
Bank of England rate rise in May ‘very likely’ following wage and inflation data
Wages increased by 2.6% in the three months to January, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) today showed.And inflation eased back to 2.7%, according to data yesterday, meaning that it is now just a touch above wages and still well above the Bank of...
Mortgages most affordable in a decade, says Halifax
UK mortgages have reached their most affordable level in a decade, Halifax research concludes. As of the fourth quarter of 2017 mortgage payments accounted for less than a third or (29%) of homeowners’ disposable income, compared to almost half (48%) in 2007. Andy...
Government signs West Midlands deal to deliver 215,000 homes in 13 years
West Midlands authorities have agreed to deliver 215,000 homes by 2031, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced in the Spring Statement today. Hammond said he’s currently working with 44 authorities who are bidding for the government’s £4.1bn housing infrastructure fund...
First-time buyers seven years older than in the 1960s
The average first-time buyer is now seven years older than in 1960 and needs to save around £20,000 to buy a home, homebuilder Keepmoat found. Today, first-time buyers will be in their 30s before they get onto the property ladder and pay a deposit of £20,622. In...