General news

First-time buyers 'reliant on HomeBuy schemes'

Those looking to get on the first rung of the property ladder are "reliant" on schemes such as the MyChoice HomeBuy scheme, it has been suggested. Helen Adams, managing director at first-time-buyer advice website First Rung Now, claimed that these initiatives provide people with "one of the few opportunities" to purchase an inaugural home. "There ...

14th May 2009

NAEA: Mortgage report is too draconian

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) has called the Institute for Public Policy Research's (ippr) paper on mortgages "draconian". Peter Bolton King, the organisation's chief executive, said that the millions of people who own property in the UK will not agree with the report's assertion that falls in house prices are "a welcome necessity". ...

13th May 2009

New mortgage measures called for

Self-certified mortgages which do not require documentary support should be halted and there needs to be a restriction of buy-to-let mortgages to a maximum of 75 per cent of property value . These are two measures recommended in a new paper from the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) called The Madness of Mortgage Lenders: Housing Finance and the Financial Crisis. ...

13th May 2009

Government makes smart meter announcement

The government's Department of Energy and Climate Change has revealed that all properties in the UK will have smart meters by 2020. Homeowners, landlords and tenants will all be able to benefit from real-time technology, which shows how much gas and electricity the property is using. Politicians believe that the implementation of the smart meter will be better for the ...

12th May 2009

Bank keeps interest rates at 0.5%

The Bank of England's monetary policy committee (MPC) opted to hold interest rates at 0.5 per cent yesterday. It is the second month in a row the base rate has been frozen following the MPC's decision in March to bring rates down from one per cent. Homeowners with tracker mortgages will have been waiting to see if the cost of borrowing would rise, but many experts have ...

8th May 2009

Housing market upturn 'boosts consumer confidence'

The "tentative signs of improvement" highlighted in recent housing market surveys have contributed to an upturn in consumer confidence in the UK. At least that is the view of Nationwide Building Society's senior economist Martin Gahbauer, who was reflecting on the latest Nationwide Consumer Confidence Index. Every month, the index gives an indication of people's ...

6th May 2009

Cable issues property market warning

Liberal Democrats' economic spokesman Vince Cable has warned that the housing market is someway off a full recovery. In a statement that followed the British Bankers' Association's (BBA) latest announcement that mortgage approval figures dropped in March, the politician said purchasing a property is often the "last thing" on people's minds during times of ...

28th Apr 2009

Rics responds to latest mortgage figures

The recent pick-up in housing market activity is not running out of steam already, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics). A statement from the regulatory organisation claims that there will be higher amounts of housing transactions in the coming months. Rics' comments followed the latest publication of mortgage approval figures from the British ...

28th Apr 2009

Politicians urged not to scrap Hips

The consensus among a number of housing industry professionals at a public meeting this week was not to scrap Home Information Packs (Hips). Mike Ockenden, director general of the Association of Home Information Pack Providers (AHIPP), said that he was delighted that the property industry was more united about Hips. "Hips aren't perfect, but scrapping them entirely ...

24th Apr 2009

'Opportunity' for homeowners to improve their mortgage position

Homeowners who can afford to overpay their mortgages should see it as an "opportunity", according to the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA). Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the NAEA, said that while the base rate is at 0.5 per cent, homeowners could consider paying back some of their mortgage capital. "If somebody is able to afford the ...