Market News Page 1

News on the general housing and mortgage market

Lending Criteria Relaxed for Buy to Let

Rather than the house price appreciation that lured property investors during the “boom”, it is now the prospect of rising rental income that is providing the attraction.

According to the Council Mortgage Lenders (CML) mortgages given to private landlords jumped 16% to £3.8 billion in the third quarter of 2011. Read more

The Global Housing Market

The ‘boom’ conditions that were experienced between 2004 and 2007, when global housing markets recorded double digit annual price growth, are now a distant memory.

Mounting pressures on the global economy, with politicians seemingly helpless to get to grips with the euro zone crisis, has reawakened fears of a double dip recession and not just for Europe but around the world. Read more

Mortgage Rates Look Set to Climb

With the euro zone crisis and concerns that the UK could face a second credit crunch it is looking all the more likely that mortgage lenders will look to raise their rates.

Although it seems that many lenders have been more competitive in recent months the amount of lending in the market has not increased and could therefore fall back further depending on how the euro zone pans out. Read more

Millions of Households Forced to Cut Back on Essentials

Most households have been faced with high living costs and deteriorating employment conditions for quite some time now. However the largest drop in inflation in nearly 3 year was reported earlier this month and therefore things look even bleaker for many households.

Family finances are under a much greater pressure than ever before, thus making it increasingly difficult, and for some impossible, to make end meet. Read more

Mortgage Approvals Defy Euro Zone Crisis

The economic environment still looks decidedly worrisome, what with the labour market on course to deteriorate rapidly in 2012 and the euro zone crisis also showing no signs of abating, the future appears very gloomy for the housing market.

On top of all this, it seems that there is also a significant number of people still finding it hard to get a mortgage and the is of course the threat that banks ability to lend to home buyers may be affected by difficult wholesale funding conditions. Read more

Buy to Let

It seems that as the lending criteria has tightened; the number of people able to buy property has shrunk, leaving a gap in the market which is being filled by the buy to let investor.

One of the reasons that buy to let investors have not been hit as hard by the mortgage market is that many property investors do not need a mortgage or have sufficient equity to put off sizeable deposits, this also puts them in strong bargaining positions. Read more

Renting!

Most potential first time buyers have now found themselves trapped within the rental sector, with no way out for the foreseeable future.

Ever growing numbers of first time buyers who have been unable to secure a mortgage have consequently pushed up rents by approximately 10% since the banking crisis struck in 2008. Read more

Lenders to Offer Better Deals!

Amid the deteriorating employment conditions, the failure of wages to keep up with ever rising energy bills and the general high living costs these days, most households have seen their budgets squeezed even harder.

Therefore there are now a high number of people who can not raise enough of a deposit to get a mortgage and the numbers keep on growing.

However the bank of England has suggested that over the year (2012) most lenders are planning to launch more innovative deals on high loan to value (LTV) mortgages. This news is particularly good for the first time buyer with a smaller deposit. Read more

The Housing Market 2012

The housing market is stuck due to a combination of prolonged mortgage rationing, home owners reluctantly willing to drop their prices and the gloomy economic news putting off potential buyers, all of which does not look to alter any time soon.

Falling incomes and higher unemployment are also putting households under further pressure, preventing many from moving home or forcing them to sell or else!

In 2011 according to some experts house prices dropped by approximately £6 a day. With the value of the average home dipping from £164,291 at the start of 2011 to around £162,095. Read more

New Mortgage Regulation Framework

During 2007 the global financial systems were in a state of collapse and turmoil. In the UK mortgage borrowers and savers alike started to see the financial market going through massive changes and disruptions.

The Financial Service Authority (FSA) decided to address the issues highlighted and coming fro the economic crisis through a mortgage market review (MMR). Read more