UK house prices grew at their fastest rate in London in the year to the end of July, according to the latest House Price Index from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). While house prices increased by 5.7 per cent in the capital, they increased by just 2 per cent in the rest of the […]
The Government is planning to make it easier for websites which display property for private sale to operate. Currently, these sites are governed by the Estate Agents Act 1979 and the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991, and are therefore required to make various checks such as ensuring that homes are described accurately in adverts. The government […]
The Government’s NewBuy scheme, which was launched in March, has already helped 1,300 first-time buyers onto the property ladder according to the Home Builders Federation (HBF). NewBuy was launched in an effort to increase activity in the first-time buyer market and to help the country’s ailing house building sector. The scheme, which was developed by […]
The government has outlined plans to boost Britain’s house building industry, including changes to planning regulations. The current restrictions on extending homes and businesses will be relaxed for a three-year period. This will allow detached homes to be extended by up to eight metres without the need for full planning permission, while all home owners […]
House prices have made their biggest jump since January 2010, Nationwide Building Society reports. Despite the recession, the price of the average house in the UK increased to £164,729 in August, just 0.7 per cent lower than a year ago. However, with mortgage approvals at low levels, the building society warned against reading too much […]
The state of the housing market is causing many couples to put off having children according to housing charity Shelter. A YouGov survey commissioned by the charity found that 20 per cent of childless couples between the ages of 31 and 44 are putting off starting a family because of high housing costs. Many couples […]
With soaring demand for accommodation pushing rents to an all-time high, a new report suggests that rules on affordable homes should be relaxed to encourage the building of homes for rent. The average rent paid by private tenants in England and Wales reached £725 a month in July according to property group LSL. The government […]
The Policy Exchange, a leading UK think tank, is calling for expensive social housing to be sold as it becomes vacant. This could raise £4.5 billion a year and the money could be used to create the largest social house building programme since the 1970s, the think tank suggests in a new report. Between 80,000 […]
House prices fell in July, to an average of £161,094 across the country, after increasing in the previous two months. Prices fell by 0.6 per cent in July, compared with the previous month, according to the Halifax House Price Index. Average prices are also 0.6 per cent lower compared with July 2011, the Halifax said. […]
Nationwide building society reported a faster fall in house prices in July, as the economy continues to falter. House prices fell by 0.7 per cent in July, the fourth time they have declined in five months, and the fastest fall in three years. The average house price is now £164,389, 2.6 per cent lower than […]
The fall in property prices has now extended to London and south east England, according to the latest figures from property analytics company Hometrack. Hometrack’s figures for July how that overall house prices fell by 0.1 per cent, representing the first fall in seven months. Compared with June, the number of new homes coming on […]
The average cost of rent increased to £718 in June, just below the record high of £720 in autumn last year. With mortgage lenders tightening their borrowing criteria and ongoing economic difficulties, demand for rented accommodation is outstripping supply, causing rents to soar. LSL Property Services’ monthly index recorded a 0.9 per cent increase in […]
Property website Rightmove recorded a drop in the average asking price for residential property this month, representing the first fall since January. Average prices have fallen by 1.7 per cent, a drop of £4,138, with demand low due to the wet weather deterring potential buyers from viewing properties. The website also blamed the Olympics for […]
The number of tenants more than two months behind on their rent has increased by nearly a quarter over the past year, according to chartered surveyors Templeton LPA, The number if tenants in serious arrears increased by 8 per cent in the second quarter of 2012 to 100,400, its highest level since tenant arrears tracker […]
House price growth stalled in June according to new figures from property analyst Hometrack. New buyer registrations were 0.5 per cent lower in June, the first time they have fallen on a month-on-month basis, for the past five months. Supply continued to increase, causing prices to fall even further. The only place which saw an […]
Prime Minister David Cameron has suggested cutting housing benefit for people under the age of 25, in an interview with the Mail on Sunday. Housing benefit is paid to adults on a low income, to help them pay their rent, either to the local council, a private landlord or to a hostel. It is currently […]
Over a lifetime, a tenant will pay nearly £200,000 more for their accommodation than a homeowner, Barclays suggests in a new study. Over a fifty-year period it costs an average of £429,000 to purchase a property through a mortgage and to maintain it, the study says, while renting a home for fifty years would cost […]
Housing charity Shelter is receiving a higher number of calls from tenants worried about losing their deposit on rented accommodation, despite regulations being in place to ensure this doesn’t happen. Calls to Shelter’s helpline over rental deposits have almost doubled from 1,764 in 2009-10 to 3,288 in 2011-12. Problems may arise when a tenant moves […]
Although house sales have plummeted in the past five years, most people still hope to own their own home in the future. Eight out of 10 people surveyed by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said they hoped to own their own home by 2022, while three quarters said they hoped to achieve this ambition […]
The Halifax expects house prices to be the same at the end of the year as they were at the beginning, with uncertain economic conditions stifling demand. The bank, which is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, reported a 0.1 per cent fall in house prices in May 2012, compared with May 2011. However, compared […]
Gender directive could slash men’s annuity payouts
The EU Gender Directive, which came into force today, could see men losing up to £10,000 from their annuity payouts, according to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Under the new rules insurers are no longer allowed to take gender into account when setting annuity rates and premiums on insurance products. Men previously enjoyed higher annuity rates than […]
Home rental costs down in November
The cost of renting a house in England and Wales fell by 0.4 per cent in November, its first dip since March, according to a survey by LSL Property Services. Average rent was £741m during the month, returning to the level seen in September. However, it was 3.4 per higher than in November last year. […]
Lloyds TSB halts sale of packaged accounts in branches
Lloyds TSB will stop selling packaged account in its branches from 1 January 2013, until its sales procedures are brought into line with those operated by sister bank The Halifax. Lloyds TSB is one of the main providers of packaged accounts in Britain, with around one in three of its customers choosing to pay fees […]
Housing market recovery to continue next year
Recent improvements in the housing market should continue into next year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) Gross lending is estimated to have increased to £12.9 billion in November, helped by the Funding for Lending scheme which provides banks and building societies with lower-cost funding, which they are then supposed to pass on […]
Newcastle Building Society exits interest-only mortgages
Newcastle Building Society has stopped offering interest-only mortgages to new borrowers, following the lead of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Nationwide, Co-operative bank and Coventry Building Society. The decision will not affect existing Newcastle customers and applications for interest-only mortgages received before 14 December will still be processed. Prior to the credit crunch, interest-only mortgages […]
Less than half of Brits considered creditworthy
Fifty-seven per cent of UK adults are at risk of having an application for credit turned down by a mainstream lender according to a new report. The ‘Mind the Credit Gap‘ report commissioned by aqua credit cards suggests that even people with a good credit rating and earning more than £50,000 could have a credit […]
Monthly incomes £22 lower in 2012
The average monthly income of UK households fell by £22 in real terms compared with last year, according to a survey carried out for the Bank of England (BoE) by NMG Consulting. People on lower incomes have seen their income eroded more than higher earners and households still have high levels of debt the BoE […]
Savers dig deep to fund Christmas
New research from the Halifax suggests that savers are funding their Christmas spending with money set aside for other purposes. Thirty-seven per cent of 2,138 savers surveyed by the bank at the end of November had withdrawn savings in the last three months. The average amount withdrawn was £1,186, more than double the average savings […]
Financial data at risk from unsafe passwords
According to a survey by the Payments Council the problem of having to remember a different password for several accounts means that many internet users are compromising the security of their financial data. Internet users have 22 password-protected accounts on average and many use the same log-in details for more than one account, even though […]
Wonga launches Paylater loans on retailer website
Payday loan company Wonga has launched a new Paylater service on furniture firm Cotswold Company’s website. The service, which allows customers to “buy now, pay later” will be introduced on other retailers’ sites in the near future. Although the Paylater branding is similar to Wonga’s, the Wonga name only appears in the small print. A […]
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