Net mortgage lending increased by £0.5 billion in April, according to Bank of England figures. The growth rate for the month proved stronger than in March (£0.2 billion) but was below the previous six-month average of £1.3 billion. The number of loan approvals for house purchase also showed some improvement at 49,871, compared with the [...]
House purchase lending increased by 45% in March, marking the ninth consecutive month of year-on-year growth, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). Loans for house purchase were up 25% in volume (45,000) and 24% in value from February but for the first quarter of the year as a whole, there were 112,000 loans [...]
New figures from the Bank of England show the number of mortgages approved for house purchases rising in March, to 48,901, after falls in the previous three months. The total was up 17% on a year earlier, but somewhat short of the previous six-month average of 54,201. Remortgaging activity also increased, with March’s 27,880 approvals [...]
New figures from the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) show February’s gross mortgage lending at £8.6 billion, having staged a recovery from January’s low of £8 billion. The number of house purchase loans approved by the UK’s banks leapt 16% year-on-year, to 35,276, having managed a slight increase on January’s figure of 35,154. Furthermore, the value [...]
There were 49% fewer house purchase loans approved in January than in December, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported. According to the body, the steep decline “emphatically demonstrates” the impact of the end of the stamp duty holiday, in December. First-time buyers recorded the largest drop among house purchasers: in January, approvals were [...]
In a round-up of January mortgage lending, Bank of England figures show approvals for house purchases falling 17%, compared to a month earlier. However, the month-on-month decline takes into account the end of the stamp duty holiday, which resulted in transactions being pushed through in time for December completions, and winter weather conditions that would [...]
The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) has reported that mortgage lending in January was “relatively weak”, as adverse weather conditions and an inflated December market impacted on house sales. Last month, BBA members approved 35,000 loans to home buyers, down from 46,000 in December but up 37.8% on a year earlier. Remortgaging approvals stood at 20,252, [...]
First-time buyer mortgage approvals hit a two-year high in December as those buying properties costing up to £175,000 rushed their purchases through before the end of the stamp duty holiday. According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), 24,900 first-time buyer loans were sanctioned worth £2.9 billion, leaving both figures up 26% on November. In [...]
UK lenders sanctioned an additional £1.2 billion in mortgages in December 2009, according to Bank of England statistics. The figure fell below the revised November total of £1.6 billion, but remained above the previous six-month average of £0.9 billion. The annual rate of growth slipped to 0.9% (1% in November) but the three-month-on-three month measure [...]
Mortgage lending by Britain’s High Street banks strengthened slightly in December, although the end of the stamp duty holiday is likely to have prompted a surge in completions before the New Year. The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) reported net lending of £3.5 billion during the month, up from £3.4 billion in November and showing an [...]
Lenders are shunning the remortgage market, and the situation is unlikely to change until 2011, according to housing intelligence outfit, Hometrack. The firm’s strategy, risk and economics director, Gary Styles, explains that lenders have been focusing their attention on house purchase lending, in some cases because they have government targets to hit. In addition, remortgaging [...]
Home buyers needed to use less of their income to cover their mortgage interest in November than at any time for more than five years, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported. Home movers were particularly well placed, typically needing only 10.6% of gross income to cover mortgage interest payments, down from 11.1% in [...]
Gross mortgage lending in November showed a slight monthly rise, according to the British Bankers’ Association (BBA). The figure stood £9.2 billion but was still 12% down on a year earlier. However, banks approved £6.6 billion in house purchase loans, up from £6.1 billion in October and a 200% increase on November of last year. [...]
Gross mortgage lending fell to an estimated £12 billion in November, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported. The total represents a 10% decline from £13.3 billion in October and is 14% below the gross figure for November 2008. The lenders’ body suggests a modest seasonal decline between October and November is typical, but [...]
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported that approvals for house purchase loans increased to 55,000 in October, the highest level since December 2007 and up from a January 2009 low of 23,000. However, October remortgaging approvals remained static on a month earlier at 33,000 and apart from a total of 30,000 in August, [...]
Figures from the Bank of England show the value of mortgages approved for house purchases rising for the 11th consecutive month in October, to £8 billion. The total is up from £7.6 billion a month earlier and compares with a previous six month average of £6.7 billion. Volumes increased to 57,345, up from 56,205 in [...]
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has today revealed a slight fall in the number of home loans for house purchase in August. According to the CML, there were 53,000 new mortgages granted in August compared to 56,000 in July. While the figure represents a 5% fall on the month, the figure represents a 30% [...]
Mortgage lending activity in Scotland has begun to stabilise, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) reports. In the second quarter of 2009 there were 11,400 house purchase loans taken out across the region, a 50% rise from 7,600 during the previous three months, but nevertheless 39% below the figure for a year earlier. The increase [...]
The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) has produced July mortgage approval figures for the UK’s High Street lenders, showing approvals for house purchases up 7.4% on a month earlier, to 38,181. The figure has now risen for the seventh consecutive month. However, while both the number of mortgage approvals and the amount of new lending increased, [...]
Latest figures from the British Bankers’ Association show a “modest” increase in net mortgage lending. UK banks lent a net £2.6 billion in June, compared with £2.4 billion in May and a previous six month average of £3.1 billion. In terms of volumes, last month saw 35,235 loans approved for house purchases, up from 31,919 [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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