Mortgage lending increased by 24 per cent to £12.2 billion in May, after a fall in April, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). The figure was 13 per cent higher than a year ago. However, when the effect of the end of the stamp duty holiday on first-time buyer properties is excluded, the [...]
UK house prices increased by £3,687 to £236,939 in March, a 4.9 per cent increase compared with the 2011 first quarter. The figures, from Rightmove’s house price index, represent the largest first-quarter rise in property prices since 2004, boosting hopes for an continued improvement in the market for the rest of the year. In London, [...]
Signs are emerging that the UK property market is slowly starting to improve. According to the latest figures from The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the number of house sales increased in January, helped by first-time buyers rushing to secure a purchase before the end of the stamp duty exemption on homes under £250,000. [...]
Paula John, the editor-in-chief of Your Mortgage magazine, has advised first-time-buyers to consider paying for their home through an offset mortgage. Offset mortgages are “the way forward” she said, suggesting they are “the most tax-efficient way of using any excess income”. However offset mortgages are only suitable for potential house buyers who have a significant [...]
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 [...]
Gross mortgage lending plummeted in January, adversely affected by the end of the stamp duty holiday. The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) puts the gross figure at £9.1 billion, down 32% from £13.4 billion in December and 21% year-on-year. While a decline is typically experienced between December and January, advances were at their lowest since [...]
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 [...]
First-time buyers were in short supply during November, according to the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA). Figures from the body show only 19% of house sales involved those getting a foot on the property ladder, a substantial drop from a May peak of 45%. The proportion is also at its lowest since December 2008, [...]
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has chosen not to extend the stamp duty holiday, which comes to an end on 31st December, despite hopes that the UK’s housing market would be buoyed by a further concession on the tax. From 1st January, the duty becomes payable at 1% on properties worth between £125,000 and £175,000, [...]
As commentators on the UK property market mull over the impact of the end of the stamp duty holiday, Zoopla.co.uk is claiming that far fewer home buyers have benefited from the concession than the Government intended. The threshold on the duty was raised from £125,000 to £175,000 in September 2008 and is due to revert [...]
The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) is calling on the Government to extend the stamp duty holiday on properties worth up to £175,000. The threshold at which one per cent stamp duty is paid was raised from £125,000 to £175,000 in September of last year, creating an opportunity for homebuyers to save up to [...]
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 [...]
About | Privacy | Disclaimer | Resources | XML Feeds | Press Releases | Directory | Contact us
