Brokers confident about prospects in second half of 2018
Almost half of brokers expect to complete more business in the second half of 2018 than they managed in the first half of the year. Mortgage Solutions polled brokers on their confidence levels for the rest of the year, with 47% of brokers forecasting they will have an...
Bank of England should aim to freeze house prices for five years – report
Mortgage restrictions could end reliance on property investment to drive economy Mortgage restrictions should be imposed on UK homebuyers by the Bank of England to prevent house prices rising for at least the next five years, a prominent left-of-centre thinktank has...
Bank of England chief Carney raises expectations of August rate rise
Bank of England governor Mark Carney has raised expectations of an interest rate rise next month, after talking up the UK’s economic performance. Data points to a pick-up in growth in the second quarter of the year, after a disappointing start to 2018, according to...
Government confirms £1.67bn for affordable housing builds outside London
As part of a £9bn investment in affordable housing, the government confirmed a further £1.67bn to build 12,500 new homes outside the capital. Back in March, the government confirmed the same sum for 12,500 social rent homes in London. This funding will include homes...
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...
