Recent Event Highlights: Interest rates on popular mortgage deals at 6-year low, Chester Square, Britain's most expensive address, New-build dreams turn sour, Sell your home for only £999, Cheaper deals for borrowers with small deposits, House price dip may be good news in the end for economy, and 197 more...
Created by luciaadams on Feb 12, 2009
Last updated: 03/10/10 at 08:41 PM
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BORROWERS are being urged to fix their mortgages as the prospect of a hung parliament threatens to push up the price of new loans.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/property_and_mortgages/article7052228.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
Sterling plummeted to a nine-month low against the dollar today and could
tumble further, analysts warned, as fears mounted that the general election
could result in a hung parliament.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/construction_and_property/article7045133.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
The first fall in house prices for ten months could be a “positive
development” that prevents the housing market from racing ahead of the
general economy, Britain’s biggest building society has said.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/property_and_mortgages/article7043178.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
HALIFAX, historically Britain’s biggest lender, has been accused of making it more difficult for parents to help their children on to the housing ladder — the latest sign that banks are restricting lending.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/property_and_mortgages/article7034619.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
Repossessions and arrears problems could last for “years” as more homeowners struggle to recover from unemployment and mounting debts.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/property_and_mortgages/article7029686.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
State-owned Royal Bank of Scotland plans to launch a product in the next six
months that will allow investors to bet on house price falls.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/investment/article7026039.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
Nationwide, Britain’s biggest building society, told the Sunday Times
last week that house prices could stay flat or even fall in 2011 and 2012
despite the recent rally, adding to growing fears of a “double dip” in the
property market.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/property_and_mortgages/article7026038.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
Britain’s mortgage lenders are squeezing customers with inflated margins
despite £200 billion being pumped into the economy to lower rates — and the
worst offenders are the state-owned banks.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/property_and_mortgages/article7017573.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
It is the summer of 2007. The stench from US sub-prime slime has reached the
UK, but houses prices are still rising amid some disbelief. There was a
slight whiff of the same disquiet yesterday as the Land Registry and
Nationwide numbers were released.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/property_and_mortgages/article7009088.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
Sale-and-rent back companies will be banned from cold calling and using
high-pressure sales techniques under new rules announced today by the City
regulator.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/property_and_mortgages/article7007797.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
British banks doubled the number of home loans they approved in December,
compared with the same month in 2008.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article7002783.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
Mortgage rates tumbled last week as banks and building societies cut the cost
of fixed and tracker deals but Royal Bank of Scotland, which is 84%-owned by
the taxpayer, came under fire for bucking the trend.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/property_and_mortgages/article6990719.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
Housing associations are preparing for a funding crisis that will result in a shortfall of newly built social homes from next year.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/construction_and_property/article6988656.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
The housing market recovery suffered a slight setback in November as the number of mortgages extended to homebuyers fell by 4 per cent, according to figures published yesterday.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/construction_and_property/article6988662.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
Jon Hunt, the millionaire founder of Foxtons, has written off £50 million owed to him by the estate agency as part of a deal where the lenders will take control of his former business.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/construction_and_property/article6981569.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
House prices defied the economic downturn last year to rise 1.1 per cent, boosted by a second-half surge in demand from homebuyers.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article6980042.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
More mortgages were taken out in November than at any time since March 2008, triggering fresh hope for the housing market.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/property_and_mortgages/article6975937.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
Lending to households and businesses continued to pick up in the final three months of last year and is expected to rise further in the coming months, the Bank of England said yesterday, boosting hopes that its scheme of quantitative easing is working.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article6972924.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
House prices rose for the eighth consecutive month in December and are now
almost 6 per cent higher than a year ago, according to Nationwide, the
building society, which warned that the market remains uncertain.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/construction_and_property/article6972303.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
Foxtons is to appeal against a High Court ruling that millions of pounds of
fees it has charged landlords are unfair, after the banks’ overdraft charges
victory gave the estate agent hope that it could win a renewed legal battle
against the Office of Fair Trading.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/property_and_mortgages/article6967049.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
Nicola Daglish, 32, a recruitment consultant from Sutton Coldfield,
Birmingham, is paying an extra £250 a month on her mortgage payments.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/property_and_mortgages/article6965733.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
Elmbridge in Surrey is the closest thing to paradise in the UK, according to a new report, topping a list of the best places to live for the second year in a row.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/property_and_mortgages/article6962298.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
Hundreds of thousands of homeowners overpaying on their mortgage would be better off putting their cash into a deposit account, according to research carried out for Times Money.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/property_and_mortgages/article6961977.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
The seemingly inexhaustible demand for property meant that house prices
continued to rise last month, despite a fresh supply of stock coming on to
the housing market.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/property_and_mortgages/article6956613.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
The number of mortgages taken out to buy a home rose to the highest level for almost two years in October as the housing market continued to rally.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/construction_and_property/article6952469.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
The managing director of Berkeley Homes said yesterday that the feel-good factor was still missing among British homebuyers, as the housebuilder reported a profit fall of 35 per cent for the past six months.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/property_and_mortgages/article6945370.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
The legal dispute over the collapse of Britain's most expensive housing
project could avoid going to trial for a payment of £68.5 million in
damages, the High Court was told yesterday.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/construction_and_property/article6940100.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6939666
The Government has come under fire for failing desperate homeowners after it emerged that only 92 families had been assisted by the £285 million mortgage rescue scheme since it was launched in January.
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/7192c83/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cbusiness0Cindustry0Isectors0Cconstruction0Iand0Iproperty0Carticle69148990Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
There are six lottery winners in the area already, so it was always going to take something special to excite Newport about a jackpot win.
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/7058ffb/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cnews0Cuk0Carticle6910A350A0Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
After a headlong rise of 50 per cent since March, the stock market has tumbled in the past few weeks. The question investors are asking is: does this mark the start of another savage downturn or are shares pausing for breath before continuing a longer bull run?
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/6f729d2/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cmoney0Cinvestment0Carticle690A63120Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
Homeowners have seen the mortgage market change seemingly irredeemably in the past two years, as lenders batten down the hatches and restrict the availability of deals. However, banks and building societies are more flexible than many borrowers realise.
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/6f729d3/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cmoney0Cproperty0Iand0Imortgages0Carticle690A6340A0Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
I applied for a shared ownership mortgage from Halifax through my broker. Halifax took the valuation fee of £430 from my account but then refused to offer the mortgage. It said that it could no longer offer the loan because it had reduced the amount it could lend on its share of a shared ownership mortgage from 90 per cent to 80 per cent. My broker says that he spoke to Halifax twice to confirm the price and the share. Halifax will not refund me the valuation fee.
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/6f729d9/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cmoney0Cconsumer0Iaffairs0Carticle690A63960Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
Complaining about the price of petrol has gone spectacularly out of fashion. It wasn’t long ago — only nine years, in fact — that the country was so furious at petrol prices of 80p a litre that protests broke out and refineries were blockaded. How times have changed. The cost of a litre of fuel now averages 109p, according to PetrolPrices.com, 35 per cent more expensive than in 2000, yet there is barely a whimper of discontent.
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/6f729da/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cmoney0Carticle690A63890Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
Fixed-rate mortgages used to be the preferred choice for homeowners unsure about future changes in the cost of borrowing. However, despite continuing uncertainty about the movement of interest rates in the coming years, two thirds of borrowers are taking a gamble and opting for variable-rate deals, according to figures from mortgage broker John Charcol.
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/6db3166/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cmoney0Carticle68970A970Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
Npower, the energy company, has been accused of overcharging its gas customers by more than £100 million, paving the way for compensation for millions of people.
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/6db316c/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cmoney0Carticle68971330Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
Estate agents are preparing for a period of hibernation in the housing market until the beginning of next year, as more homeowners choose to delay moving until after Christmas.
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/6c10d70/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cbusiness0Cindustry0Isectors0Cconstruction0Iand0Iproperty0Carticle68881970Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
There was a slight increase in home loan approvals in September, but low remortgage levels left overall loan figures substantially below last year’s.
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/6c10d6c/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cbusiness0Cindustry0Isectors0Cbanking0Iand0Ifinance0Carticle68881790Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
I took out an offset mortgage with First Direct at the end of January as I had a large sum on deposit and wanted to have the benefit of this offset against my mortgage interest. However, my cash (about £80,000) is in an e-saver account, which apparently does not count towards the offset. Only certain accounts can be offset. I complained that this was confusing. First Direct said that it had sent me a text message on January 12, before the mortgage was in place, to explain which accounts are eligible for offset.
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/6c10d78/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cmoney0Carticle68876620Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is urging taxpayers who had been planning to submit their tax return by post to deliver it by hand to their nearest tax office to ensure it arrives on time.
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/6c10d66/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cmoney0Ctax0Carticle68876850Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
Thousands of women due to retire soon are being urged to seize a last chance to top up their state pension entitlement. Of the 180,000 women who reach state pension age next year, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) says that 20,000 — one in nine — could get a full state pension if they take action now. Thousands more could boost the amount they receive by making top-up payments before they retire.
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/6c10d76/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cmoney0Cpensions0Carticle68876990Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
Headhunter is one of those alarm-bell words. In common with expressions such as “profit warning”, “strategic importance” and “corporate jet”, it is enough to instil fear in any wealth-respecting investor. It is not so much that headhunters sit at the bottom of the social respectability pecking order with journalists, politicians and estate agents, it is more that a company in need of headhunters may need help on other fronts too. It smacks of weakness, lack of foresight and drift.
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/6a68d13/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cmoney0Cinvestment0Carticle68779950Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
Staff at banks and building societies are trying to push new mortgage deals on to existing customers that would add thousands of pounds to the cost of their loan.
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/6a68d14/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cmoney0Cproperty0Iand0Imortgages0Carticle68779980Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
Britons are taking their finances into their own hands as they become fed-up with paying fees for advice or being pushed into poor-value products by financial salesmen.
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/6a68d1a/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cmoney0Carticle68780A230Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
Kevin McCloud, who has reported on so many other people’s building projects in Channel 4’s Grand Designs, is finally set to embark on his very own development of 42 eco-conscious houses in Swindon.
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/69dec99/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cbusiness0Cindustry0Isectors0Cconstruction0Iand0Iproperty0Carticle68752880Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
The basic state pension will increase by £2.40 next year, but experts claim this is not enough to combat rising bills.
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/69693b7/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cmoney0Carticle6872740A0Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
The basic state pension will increase by £2.40 next year, but experts claim this is not enough to combat rising bills.
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/69693b8/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cmoney0Carticle68727410Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
The Conservative Party this week outlined a series of cuts and wage freezes designed to rein in government spending. George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, announced: “We are all in this together.” But who would suffer most from the austerity measures? Times Money examines what the proposals would mean if the Tories won the next election.
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/68bcfe7/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cmoney0Ctax0Carticle68681820Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
Is it worth moving to Isas from a good dividend portfolio?
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/6385608/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cmoney0Csavings0Carticle6840A80A0A0Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
Britain’s “big six” energy companies have rebuffed calls to cut prices, despite a halving of the wholesale cost of gas and electricity over the past year.
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/6354e5d/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cmoney0Cconsumer0Iaffairs0Carticle6840A3710Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
The battle to attract cash-rich residential borrowers intensified this week after Woolwich, the mortgage brand of Barclays, unveiled a new one-year tracker loan with a mouthwatering pay rate of only 1.98 per cent.
http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463706/s/6361aa7/l/0L0Stimesonline0O0Ctol0Cmoney0Cproperty0Iand0Imortgages0Carticle68399790Bece0Tcid0FOTC0ERSS0Gattr0F2876189/story01.htm
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