Estate agents would have to go back to school and achieve minimum level of qualifications as part of Labour plans to drive cowboy operators out of the housing market. Labour’s shadow housing minister Matthew Pennycook has tabled an amendment to incoming housing reforms which would require all estate agents to…
What proportion of exchanges take place on a Friday? Turns out that over the last three years, on average, the proportion of exchanges increases through the days of the week, starting from 14% on Mondays through to a high of 28% of Friday. So that sorts that. Our social media…
HSBC yesterday announced a policy change, increasing its maximum mortgage term from 35 to 40 years. The lender said the criteria changes, which covers all lending types including purchase, remortgaging and additional borrowing, will come into effect through mortgage brokers today. Customers making direct applications will be able to apply…
Ignore the negative market headlines because the UK’s property market is booming – if you know where to look. Lomond says it wants to “counterpunch” a gathering storm of negative headlines focused on the UK property sector by pointing out that its letting portfolio has increased 8%, while sales have…
A number of estate agency practices are at risk of going out of business due to the amount of time conveyancers are taking to complete property transactions, according to national law firm Dutton Gregory. The highest interest rates for 15 years have taken some heat out of the housing market,…
Mortgage lenders saw a sharp rise in the number of homeowners defaulting on their loans in the three months to the end of June, and expect significantly more borrowers to miss payments overt he next few months, owed to higher borrowing rates. The Bank of England’s Credit Conditions Survey, published…
Interest rates raised to 4.25% by Bank of England – property industry reaction
Given that the Budget yesterday was designed to boost economic growth, it was somewhat surprising that housing was completely overlooked. Not even given a mention by the chancellor Jeremy Hunt. With no fresh support for first-time buyers, a failure to provide solutions to the widening supply-demand imbalance in the market,…
Mortgage interest relief changes, the scrapping of the ‘wear and tear’ allowance and the introduction of the 3% stamp duty surcharge have hit landlords’ profits over the past few of years, which largely explains why so many people are exiting the buy-to-let market and in doing so reducing the supply…
👉You don’t have to set any New Year resolutions but if the new year tends to be the time that you set new goals or projects for yourself, here is what the science says about willpower and how to make those new changes stick: Our ability to force ourselves…
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The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, has said he expects interest rates to fall, albeit gradually, which will be welcome news for thousands of mortgage borrowers. Bailey said he was “very encouraged” by falling inflation and “therefore I do think the path for interest rates will be…
Barclays will today launch a range of new mortgage products, including a new lowest home loan rate on the market, just 24 hours after Nationwide released the first sub-3.75% deal. Barclays will today introduce a five-year fix at 3.71% for those buying their home with a 40% deposit. The deal…
A new property portal called NI Bricks has launched in Northern Ireland. To commemorate the launch, estate agents are being invited to join NI Bricks’ platform with the opportunity to list properties for free for up to three months. Founded in November last year and launched this week, NI Bricks…
