Archived Articles

Repossessions Rocket

According to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) the number of home being repossessed has gone up by a staggering 92% in a year. The authority’s statistics say that a total of 13,161 dwellings were repossessed in the third quarter of last year – 92% more than in the same period for 2007. More bad news was the number of borrowers who are behind on their mortgage has also increased by 24% during the year, up to 340,000 – a 10% rise on the previous quarter. read more...

Borrowers Told to Overpay on their Mortgages

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has advised borrowers currently benefitting from record-low interest rates to overpay on their mortgages to protect themselves from falling house prices. Its advice came as the latest CML figures showed that mortgage lending had dropped to its lowest level since it started collecting monthly data in 2002. This is based on just 33,000 mortgages approved for home purchase in November 2008, down 59% on the corresponding month for the previous year. Indeed if December’s figures also make grim reading, the last three months are on course to be the quarter with the lowest number of mortgages since 1974 – the year that quarterly data was first published. read more...

Interest Rates at an All-Time Low

The Bank of England has cut the basic rate of interest once more as it continues its efforts to aid economic recovery. The latest reduction of 0.5% takes the base rate down to just 1.5% - the lowest level in the Bank of England’s 315 year history. This is the fifth time since October, when the base rate was at 5%, that the bank has reduced interest rates. The bank said that its main reasons for this decision was a prolonged contraction in business activity and the continued weakening of consumer spending. read more ...

Latest Halifax Figures Spread More Doom and Gloom

According to the latest figures from the Halifax, house prices fell a further 2.2% in December – putting them on a par with levels not seen since 2004. The bank now cites the average house price at £159,896 with house prices falling a total of 16.2% over the year of 2008. This is the biggest annual decline since the Halifax starting keeping records in 1983. When set against earnings, property affordability is at its best since April 2003 says the bank. However, the lack of available mortgage finance makes something of a nonsense of this statement. read more ...

House Price Predictions for 2009

With around 10-16% wiped off the value of the average home, there is little doubt that 2008 was a terrible year for the housing market – but will 2009 be any better? At New Year it is a traditional time for the movers and shakers in the money markets to make a prediction about what will happen to house prices. This year, rather predictably, most forecasts are very negative and there are some notable exceptions in terms of who hasn’t predicted anything at all. read more ...

“Mortgage Help” Scheme for Homeowners in Trouble

Already The Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme announced to a big fanfare by Gordon Brown in early December is having major holes picked in it already. The government said that under the scheme, homeowners who suffer a “significant and temporary loss of income” as a result of the recession will have the chance to defer a percentage of the interest on their mortgage for up to two years. Householders who would look to the scheme to save them from repossession are going to have to fulfil so many criteria that critics say that fewer than just 10,000 could be allowed to join the scheme. read more ...

House Price Latest

Latest house price data suggests that property prices are continuing to fall. Halifax recently released their house price index for the month of November; in it they stated that house prices had fallen 2.6% in the month and that the average house price in the country now stood at £163,605. Lower prices and a decrease in demand was blamed on “high house prices in relation to earnings, constraints on householders’ incomes and spending power and the decline in the availability of mortgage finance”, according to Halifax Chief Economist Martin Ellis. read more ...

Pre-Budget Report Provides Little Seasonal Cheer for the Housing Market

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, announced his 2008 pre-budget report to the House of Commons on 24th November. In it he unveiled a £1.8bn package to kick-start the housing market but many experts say that there was little in the report to restart this ailing sector of the economy. read more ...

A Good Time to Self-Build?

Building your own house is something that a lot of us aspire to but, after doing a bit of research into the subject, most of us bottle out when we realise just how much work is involved and opt for a ready-made one instead. However, the latest research shows that falling house prices have had a knock-on effect into falling land prices (down 33% on their 2007 peak outside of London), suggesting that building your own home could be a real bargain in the current market. read more ...

The Growing Trend of the House Swap

It was recently reported in the media that asking prices had been cut by 5% but homes were still failing to sell. The research comes from Rightmove, the country’s biggest property website who say that sellers have reduced their asking price by an average of 5.4%, compared with one year ago. However, this would appear to be nowhere near enough as agents say that sales are being agreed at around 20% lower than last November. The large gap between the two is the reason that most sales are currently falling through. read more ...

House Sales Reportedly at a 30-Year Low

According to figures released by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), property sales are at their lowest level for 30 years. The number of sales being recorded by RICS agents are at their lowest since their records began in 1978. The amount of properties being sold by estate agents now stands at less than one per week with the average agency recording just 10.9 sales in the last three months. London has been the worst hit with RICS figures saying that agencies in the capital sold an average of just 6 in the same period. read more ...

What the Big Base Rate Cut Means to You

Unless you’ve been living on the planet Mars for the past few weeks you will have realized that the Bank of England has made massive cuts in the base rate of interest in a desperate attempt to help stave off the predicted recession. Half a percent in October followed by a shock one and half percent in November has brought it down to just 3% - the lowest figure since the 1950s. So as homeowners, we should all be expecting big cuts in our monthly mortgage bills, shouldn’t we? Well the reality is that mortgage lenders did their best to delay the inevitable but after government pressure they have finally caved in with most lenders passing on the rate cut in full. read more ...

Bargain Hunting at the Auction

Auctions have become particularly popular in the current property downturn; savvy buyers see them as an opportunity to pick up a bargain with desperate sellers wanting quick sales. They are traditionally the place to find unusual properties, run-down ex-housing association houses or repossessions, but now there also tends to be a number of private sellers who haven’t been able to sell via a traditional agent. The auction offers the attraction of a quick sale without lengthy discussions with lenders, surveyors, solicitors and estate agents read more ...

No Property Slump Here

We hear a lot of statements about how the price of the average house in the country has dropped. Whilst this is undoubtedly true the key word that recurs in these statements is the word average. Indeed there are a number of locations spread across the length of the country that are defying gravity – locations that estate agents like to say have the “x-factor”. The good news is that these locations are not confined to the most salubrious areas or indeed to the most expensive properties – there are some surprises in this list. Here are some of the places where property is tipped to hold its value over the coming months and even, in some cases, to gain in value. read more ...

Mortgage Market Unaffected by Banking “Bail-outs”

Latest reports are indicating that mortgage lending is continuing to tumble despite the recent flood of public money into the banking system. Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) for the month of September show that gross borrowing totalled £17.7bn – the lowest figure since January 2005 and the lowest September total since 2001. Although mortgage lending traditionally dips between August and September, this year’s trough is particularly pronounced – adding weight to the CML’s prediction that gross mortgage lending will fall by 30% this year to £255bn. read more ...

What to do When Your Discounted Mortgage Deal Ends

The recent 0.5% cut in the Bank of England base rate should have been good news for all homeowners looking to remortgage but the ongoing mortgage drought is continuing to make things tricky for people coming off their fixed rate deals. It won’t be easy finding a decent deal but by adhering to the following points you should be able to spare yourself the indignity of resorting to your current lender’s standard variable rate (SVR). read more ...

The Great Home Raffle

How desperate would you get to sell your house if it had been on the market for a while and just wasn’t budging? Would you be desperate enough to raffle it off? Well if you did you definitely wouldn’t be alone – with the current slump in the market, house raffles are becoming a growing trend. However, beware; if a lucky lottery is something that tweaks your interest, it is advisable to seek legal advice first because if you fall foul of lottery legislation you may end up in court. read more ...

Grim Mortgage Lending Figures from the Bank of England

Bank of England figures on mortgage lending for August showed a near total collapse in the market. Although August is traditionally the quietest month for home sales, August of 2008 was spectacularly quiet compared to one year earlier; £143m worth of new home loans was just 2% of the figure recorded for August of 2007. To emphasise just how much lending has dropped, the figure was just 5% of July’s total. Potential buyers have been put off from taking the plunge by a combination of falling prices and a serious lack of confidence in the market, brought on by so much talk of recession. read more ...

Home Enhancements on a Budget

The latest research from Abbey suggests that you shouldn’t spend a fortune doing up your home. The bank say that previously profitable home improvements such as extensions and new kitchens are not adding value in the current market and could leave you thousands of pounds out of profit if you intend to sell your home. They have concluded that costly home improvements are not being reflected in the asking price, so the more you spend, the more you stand to lose. read more ...

How to Improve Your Chances of Getting a Mortgage

Recent events in the USA are having profound effects on the major banks in this country. Consequently they are now likely to be even more twitchy about who they lend to. So if you need to get a mortgage you’re going to have to be squeaky clean. Here’s a few tips on how to get your house in order so that you can attract those few good deals that are still available. read more ...

Government Help for the Housing Market

In a bid to keep the housing market moving, the government stepped in this week by announcing a number of measures that will help first time buyers and home owners facing repossession. The most publicised of the steps was the temporary scrapping of stamp duty for all transactions of £175,000 and below. The threshold has been moved up from £125,000 for 12 months only and the government claims that this will make half of all property transactions free of stamp duty for that period. read more ...

Tough Measures for Tough Times

Do you fear the repo man? Statistics say that tens of thousands of us will be doing just that this year if we aren’t doing it already. Double digit rises in utility and food bills – not to mention fuel prices, are taking their toll. Inflation is directly related to the Bank of England base rate of interest, and because it is running high at the moment, it seems unlikely that there will be a rate cut anytime soon. Unfortunately, because of the credit crunch, even cuts in interest rates won’t be necessarily passed onto the borrower by the banks. read more ...

The Rise of the Reluctant Landlord

One rather strange phenomenon of the current downturn in property prices is the rise of the reluctant landlord. These are people who have tried to sell their houses but have been so reluctant to trim the asking price with the various market falls, that they have decided to rent out the property instead. On the face of it, this seems to be perfectly reasonable behaviour – hanging on to the asset until the market picks up and therefore realizing a better price. However, a lot of these reluctant landlords have moved on to another rental property, therefore becoming tenants themselves. read more ...

The Threat of Negative Equity

With the downward trend in UK house prices seemingly well established, the threat of negative equity looms large for many. An estimation for this figure, one year from now, has been placed at 1.7m home owners according to a predicted figure of house prices falling by a further 17% in the coming year. This figure has come from the credit ratings agency, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) who estimate that 14% of all mortgage holders will be in negative equity one year from now. S&P, who specialize in assessing the credit worthiness of organisations trying to raise money by issuing bonds, looked into a sample of 2 million outstanding mortgages and established that the average borrower has a loan worth 54% of their property’s value. Around 70,000 homeowners (0.6% of all UK borrowers) are already in negative equity. read more ...

Repossessions on the Rise

According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) there has been a 48% rise in the number of property repossessions within the last year. The actual number was cited at 18,900 in the six months up to June this year and the comparison comes from the 12,800 in the same period of last year. The CML had previously predicted a pessimistic year total of 45,000. This news is not entirely unexpected given the recent slowdown in the economic markets but the magnitude of the rise is more distressing. read more ...

How to Beat the Housing Slump

You may have spent every bit of spare cash on it over the years, and you’ve probably lost lots of weekends and holidays working on it, but the chances are very high that your home is now betraying you, by dropping thousands of pounds off its value. So how do you get the darn thing to repay some of that time, money and effort? read more ...

Making the Most of the Downturn

You may be excused for feeling a bit blue at the moment, with every newspaper you pick up and every news bulletin you catch talking about the housing market downturn and all money talk seems to be about a coming recession. What you need to remember that with every slump in the market there are always winners as well as losers. Many smart purchases were made in the housing recession of the early 1990’s by people who have been reaping the rewards in the last few years. So here are some tips on making the best of the current market. read more ...

How to Remortgage in a Difficult Market

Recent figures from the Bank of England and the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) reveal that the number of remortgages taken out has fallen 14% from April to May this year. Over 12 months the figure is more marked; down 23% since May 2007. Although remortgaging is the best way to save several hundred pounds per year, these figures are hardly surprising; in the current climate, so many mortgage products have been withdrawn, there is no longer much out there to tempt the homeowner into switching. Many borrowers are opting to stay with their existing lender at the end of the initial fixed period, even if this means a substantial hike in monthly payments on the lender’s standard variable rate (SVR). read more ...

The Rise of the Eco-Town

Unless you’ve been walking around with your head up your backside recently, you’re bound to have heard of the term “eco-town” and about the growing opposition towards them. The term refers to the government’s plans to meet housing demands in an environmentally friendly way. read more ...

Homeowners Stay Put

House price survey figures for June show that there is no end in sight for the general stagnation in the property market. The statistics show that most homeowners, weighed down with an ever-increasing cost of living, are in no mood for relocation. This is extremely bad news for the professions that depend on this; lean times indeed for developers, estate agents and removal firms. Two prime examples of this was the news on 4th July that the building company Barratt intend to cut nearly 15% of its workforce and a few days earlier the announcement by Taylor Wimpey that they plan to close one third of their offices. read more...

The Spanish Property Crash

If you thought that things were bad at home, spare a thought for the Spanish property market. After a decade of boom, in which house prices doubled, the latest figures make depressing reading for the tens of thousands of Britons who have bought property there. The market shrunk by a massive 39% in March alone and sales by developers are down by 60% in comparison to last year. Combined value of sales has plummeted from £1 billion to less than £240 million. read more...

Selling in a Difficult Market

Selling houses in a buyers market is never going to be an easy task. Everyone knows that prices are falling at the moment, so the expectation between what the vendor wants to sell at and what the buyer wants to pay, are often poles apart. This situation is compounded by the difficulties in the mortgage market and a shortage of first time buyers. Worse still, property sales rarely happen in isolation and you can find yourself being part of the dreaded chain. Being part of a chain normally means that it only takes one link to pull out and the whole thing falls apart. However, some estate agents can be quite helpful in keeping it together by organising alternative pricing and sometimes even chipping in themselves. It may end up costing you money, but if you really want to sell it may be short term pain for long-term gain. read more...

The Cost of Home Improvements

Improving our homes is something of a national pastime for Britons. Every year we spend millions of pounds making them bigger and better. According to the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), planning was granted for 295,074 extensions, 43,761 self-build projects and 39,462 loft conversions in the UK last year. With house prices on the wane, it could make even more sense than ever to stay put and do up your existing property, rather than moving to a bigger one. read more...

Nationwide Downbeat on House Prices

According to the latest house price index figures compiled by Nationwide, house prices fell by 2.5% in May. This is not only the largest drop since the building society started compiling a monthly index in January 1991 but also its seventh consecutive monthly fall. Gloomy news indeed, bearing in mind that if the data is accurate, the month has wiped out about £4,500 off the value of the average property. To put that in perspective; if that happened every month, it would wipe a whopping £54,000 off the value of an average house, in one year. read more...

Rent Increases Set to Create Buyers

With the market for selling houses currently experiencing difficulties, some would-be sellers are turning to renting out their properties instead. The latest letting survey by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) suggests that more homes are being made available for rent as sales stagnate and values drop. This may well be a smart move as Hometrack, a property data website, have suggested that the average cost of renting has risen 6.15% in a year. According to RICS, the key areas for rental growth include the South East and the South West, but not London, which was cited as the weakest area for rental growth. read more ...

A Return to Self-Sufficiency

It has been documented that a well-kept garden can add around 20% onto the value of a property. Hardly surprising when bearing in mind that in the summer months it can be like having an extra room. According to Jeremy Leaf, estate agent: “A well presented garden supports a valuation. It shows that the owner has cared for the whole of the property.” However, in the face of ever-rising prices in the supermarket the humble home garden is seeing the resurgence of another use, other than just to add value to the property; that of the home allotment. read more ...

Mortgage Lending Drops

Latest figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) for the first three months of this year, suggest that the number of new mortgages approved (142,000) has fallen to its lowest level since the first quarter of 1975. To put these figures in perspective, the figure for March stands at 46,500. This is down 1% from February’s total but is down a whopping 48% on the 89,000 loans approved in March 2007. That means that mortgage lending to first-time buyers and home movers has nearly halved in one year. read more ...

The Demise of Buy-to-Let Giant Inside Track

Britain’s biggest property investment company, Inside Track, has gone into administration. The company that promised to turn a generation of Britons into “property millionaires” fell victim to a combination of a series of property price falls and the ongoing mortgage crunch. read more...

Analysis Rejects Repeat of 1990s Housing Crash

Financial analysis recently carried out on behalf of the Financial Times suggests that house prices would have to fall by a massive 25% if there were to be another 1990s-style negative equity crisis. That’s more than double the 12% fall that sparked off the crisis in the last decade, where 7% of households ended up in negative equity. The FT’s figures are derived from the Council of Mortgage Lenders database and are consistent with a Bank of England survey carried out last year and the annual accounts of the largest lenders. read more...

10 Projects for Your Home That Don’t Need Planning Permission

There are a surprisingly large number of alterations and extensions that you can carry out without planning permission. Such projects are known as “Permitted Development and can be carried out with only building regulations consent. Note that many of these projects will not apply for listed buildings and conservation areas. read more...

Gordon Brown to the Rescue!

Gordon Brown has stated that people worried about their homes and jobs that the economy was “safe for them over the next few months”. This statement came after a Downing Street meeting with bank chiefs at which the Prime Minister pledged a further £15bn of funding from the Bank of England for the cash-strapped UK banking system. read more...

More Tightening in the Mortgage Market

With the so-called global credit crunch came a new reluctance for banks to splash the cash. First to go was the slightly ridiculous 125% mortgages, offered by the likes of Northern Rock (say no more), followed by 100% mortgages with banks indicating that a 10% deposit was needed for first-time buyers to enter the market. Now we seem to be entering into a phase of even greater stinginess on the part of the lenders that helped create this era of uncertainty in the first place. read more...

House Price Latest

According to figures just released by Nationwide, house prices have fallen for a fifth consecutive month and have faltered to their slowest growth rate in twelve years. Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide’s Chief Economist said: “The price of a typical house fell by 0.6% during the month, bringing the annual rate of house price growth down to 1.1% - its lowest rate since March 1996.” She went on to state that house prices are now 1.5% lower than three months ago, at an average price of £179,110, which is only £2,027 more than this time last year. The Nationwide’s figures also show that, although it hasn’t been great news for homeowners recently, prices are still 11% higher than two years ago and 47% higher than five years ago. That equates to a rise of £30 per day, every day, for the last five years. read more...

The Green Homes Initiative

Back in November 2007, the Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn, announced that homeowners across the country would have access to a one-stop shop service to help make their homes greener and save on utility bills. The Government’s Green Homes Service is due to be launched on April 1st this year, so what can homeowners expect from it? read more...

How the Budget Has Failed First-Time Buyers

By failing to align the stamp duty threshold with soaring house price inflation, Mr Darling has done nothing to help the vast majority of first-time buyers who do not qualify for key-worker schemes. Chris Coates, managing director of Galliford Try Homes summed it up by saying: “The Chancellor is out of touch with the financial pressure facing this group and seems unable to grasp their importance in the housing market.” read more...

How to Avoid the Repo Man

The evidence is stacking up that the economy is starting to suffer. For 15 years we have enjoyed low inflation, low interest rates and low unemployment whilst watching the value of our homes rise steadily. Despite this, Britons have drifted ever deeper into debt with personal borrowing going up by a staggering £1 million every five minutes. Most have borrowed heavily to climb the property ladder. read more...

Just who is Eligible for Affordable Housing?

Although most affordable housing schemes are for key workers such as nurses, teachers, fire-fighters and police officers, thousands of first-time buyers from other backgrounds are also able to take advantage of these government funded incentives, as some are open to anyone with a steady job. read more...

Choosing the Right Mortgage

Picking the right mortgage from the thousands available on the market can be very confusing. Even though you know that it is a decision that could cost you a lot of money if you get it wrong.
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The 20 Best Places in Britain to Buy

What’s the worst that can happen to the property market? Well if interest rates were to go up and unemployment levels increase, then we could well be looking at a recession and house prices would undoubtedly go down. r ead more...

latest halifax figures show market resilience

The latest Halifax price index figures to be released show that the average house price for January has remained steady at £197,244. read more...

Repossessions set to Rise in 2008

If you’re a home owner, chances are you’re fed up to the back teeth about the grim predictions for the property market this year.read more...

Escape to the Country

Sleepy villages are as much a part of the English identity as leather on willow and afternoon tea, but as anyone who’s picked up a property paper recently will testify, they are very expensive places to live. read more...

A Lesson in House Price History

With opinion divided on what will happen to UK house prices in 2008, can we look to the past to predict what will happen next? read more...

Halifax Report December Rise in House Prices

The latest Halifax house price index, released on 8th January, showed an unexpected 1.3% rise in house prices for December. read more...

Reasons Against Another Property Crash

In addition to the Berlin wall coming down, the year of 1989 saw the start of a property crash that was to last until 1994, during which prices fell by about 15%. Is history about to repeat itself?
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Taking Advantage of Falling Property Prices

Prices are falling, buyers are pulling out and repossessions are rising - could this be a good time to buy? read more...

The Hidden Costs of Buying a Home

Buying a new home can come with a much heftier price tag than you thought you were letting yourself in for. read more...

Is it so Bad to Rent?

With Britain currently in the grips of the so-called "global credit crunch" and the average house price standing at a whopping £230, 474 its no wonder that its residents are having a tough time getting onto and moving up the property ladder. read more...

Hips for All

There's now officially nowhere to hide as the government's controversial Home Information Pack (HIP) scheme was rolled out to include all houses up for sale. read more...

The Bank of England Plays Santa

On the 6th December the Bank of England finally bowed to pressure to cut interest rates by one quarter of a percent, taking the base rate down to 5.5%. read more...

A Fall In House Prices

According to the Nationwide building society, house prices fell at their sharpest rate for more than twelve years in November. read more...

Buying a House on the Internet

In the days of being able to buy everything from groceries to an imported car with the click of a mouse, just how feasible would it be to buy your next home online? read more...

Alterations to Increase the Value of Your Home

Building an extension will significantly increase the value of your home. It's a simple equation; more square footage equals more value. Creating an extra room or two is normally the objective but extending an existing room, a kitchen for example, could change the use of another room and therefore have the same effect. read more...

Could Slowdown Turn Into Crash?

There seems to be no shortage of doom and gloom surrounding the British housing market at the moment as some of the movers and shakers make grim predictions. read more...

How To Be A Good Landlord

f you've been smart or just plain lucky during the housing boom and are in the enviable position of owning one or more buy-to-let properties, its time to think about just how good a landlord you are. read more...

Britain's Empty Homes

A recent article in the Time's "Bricks and Mortar" supplement has highlighted the vast number of empty homes in Britain. read more...

Getting a HIP to work for you

The most controversial aspect of the Home Information Pack (HIP) is the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), which gives your home an energy rating. However, this could prove to be a useful tool for saving money. read more...

HIP Scheme Extention

From 10 September, all homes in England and Wales with 3 or more bedrooms will need a Home Information Pack (HIP), which includes a home energy rating. read more...

House prices set to fall

According to a recent article in the Times, the country's biggest mortgage lender is set to increase its interest rate for many borrowers and remortgagers. read more...

A New Prime Minister with New Promises

Gordon Brown has extended this promise with a familiar ring that was simply not delivered under Mr Blair. He intends to succeed where his predecessor failed by liberalising the planning system to force through projects such as the Millennium Communities Programme. read more...

Property Snake

With an ever increasing interest rate, the property market is looking somewhat patchier. This isn't great news for sellers of course but if you're planning to buy there's a website out there that will help you to avoid paying over the odds for your next home. read more...

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