The government launched its NewBuy scheme today, to help people afford a mortgage on a new property. The mortgage indemnity scheme will help people borrow up to 95 per cent of the value of new homes, for example on a newly built £200,000 property they would have to provide a £10,000 deposit. Since the credit [...]
Despite record levels of search activity on its website this month, estate agency Rightmove reports that the number of new homes being put up for sale has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded. More than 44 million property searches were carried out on Rightmove’s site during the first ten days of 2012, a 27% [...]
Lenders and financial experts have highlighted a number of potential problems with the Government’s mortgage indemnity scheme, which was announced yesterday. Banks and building societies have commented that the scheme was rushed through with insufficient thought, while financial commentators warned that first time buyers taking advantage of the scheme could end up owning a house [...]
Barratt Developments completed 11,377 homes in the year to the end of June, down from 13,277 in the previous 12 month period. Furthermore, over the 10 weeks since the group’s financial year end, net private reservations averaged 0.48 per active site per week, down from 0.51 in the same period of 2009. Cancellation rates remained [...]
New regulations aimed at preventing inflated property valuations have come into force this week. The measures are aimed at protecting mortgage lenders who have in the past become the victim of deliberately inflated valuations. In the case of new build city centre flats and apartments, prices have plummeted in the past year because of a [...]
The National Housing Association (NHA), which represents 1,300 not-for-profit housing associations in England, is asking the Government to use up to £1 billion to buy new homes from housing developers who cannot sell the properties they have built. The sale of new homes has plummeted since the beginning of the year and many developers have [...]
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has published plans that will sharpen up lending practices in relation to new homes. From 1st September, new standards for the professionals who act for lenders on newly-built property transactions will apply. They aim to ensure that valuations and conveyancing procedures reflect the market value of a property and [...]
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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