The current downturn in house sales and extreme difficulty in selling houses has led to FSBO (Property For Sale By Owner-s) approach, rise in advertising on property portals and sacking of agents, predominantly for sale of second homes overseas. These measures give greater exposure to property and enhance chances of selling. Read the rest of this entry »
Following Northern Rock’s announcement of lending £14 billion over next 2 years, Lloyds banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) are also increasing mortgage loans to SMEs and homeowners in exchange for taxpayers’ assistance of £500 billion. Read the rest of this entry »
A new lobby group has urged the Government to construct over 100,000 affordable homes in a span of next 2 years.
The 2020 Group, comprising of housing associations, local authorities and unions and headed by the ex-Government housing adviser, Kate Barker, is insisting that a construction programme on a massive scale, costing around £6.3 billion, can help kick-start sagging economy. Read the rest of this entry »
The early predictions from analysts that buy-to-let boom will be short-lived are getting confirmed by the rental returns that are falling sharply and tenants, suffering job losses, are failing to pay rent. This in turn is making it extremely difficult for landlords to meet mortgage repayments. Read the rest of this entry »
According to the UK’s largest building society, Nationwide, house prices fell by 17.6% since February 2008, while the drop was 1.8% in February 2009. The mortgage lender informed that average cost of home now stands at £147,746 and predicted that the UK housing market would still be falling down. Read the rest of this entry »
Buy to let investors are under tremendous pressure as much as mortgage lenders due to surge in arrears. The latest data from the National Landlords Association indicates that 74% of calls seeking advice pertain to tenants not paying rent. Read the rest of this entry »
The housing downturn has hit house builder Redrow very hard, as its sales tumbled down by 50% and revenues fell sharply.
According to company report, number of completed home sales was 1,042, as against 2,111 sold in the same period in 2007. Read the rest of this entry »
The British Bankers’ Association has revealed slight increase in number of mortgage approvals in month of January.
BBA reported that banks had sanctioned 23,376 mortgages in January, the highest number in last four months and up from 22,416 that were approved in December 2008. But the number is still less by 43% when compared with January 2008. Read the rest of this entry »
The rise in home repossessions is alarming as revealed in the data by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). A large number of homeowners in the UK are losing their property.
Repossessions in the year 2008 rose by 54% to 40,000, making it a 12-year high, although this figure was less than forecasted by the CML. Read the rest of this entry »
The credit crunch, which forced most building societies and banks to withdraw 100% lending, are being called by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling not to provide these types of loans, once lending conditions normalise. Read the rest of this entry »