Mortgage approvals begin to rise slightly

The number of new mortgages approved for home buyers increased slightly during December, according to the Bank of England.

There were 41,000 mortgage approvals, up from 37,000 in November, but still the second lowest figure on record. Read more

Northern Rock cuts rates on mortgages

Privatised Northern Rock bank has become the most recent lender to cut its mortgage rates in the wake of last week’s cut in Bank Rate. Its standard variable rate (SVR) will reduce by 0.25% to 5.08% in February.

Existing tracker rate borrowers will receive the full 0.5% reduction, in line with their contracts. The Bank of England’s 0.5% cut in Bank Rate to 1.5%, its lowest level yet, has prompted several other big lenders to cut their mortgage rates. Read more

London property market crashes

London house prices crashed by an average 14.5 per cent in the last 12 months the fall accelerated through “a year of turmoil” with a drop of 2.4 per cent last month alone.

The worst hit areas were City of Westminister which plunged 21 per cent. The borough of Waltham Forest 17 per cent. Other borough breakdown reveals how even the current depressed values are far higher than levels at the start of the economic boom times nearly a decade ago. Read more

Home repayments are first priority

Homeowners within the UK are no longer cashing in on the value of their properties to fund spending, latest figures show.Quarterly figures released from the Bank of England on housing equity withdrawal showed a second successive negative reading during July and September. Read more

Buy-to-let market remains resilient

Buy-to-let investors have shrugged off a slide in the value of rented houses with almost half of existing investors planning further purchases in the market.

Nine out of 10 landlords have no intention of selling their properties, according to the fourth-quarter survey of the Association of Residential Letting Agents. Four out of 10 expect to invest further in the private rented sector this year. Read more

Banks fail to pass on interest rate cuts

Further cuts to UK interest rates will not guarantee cheaper mortgages, brokers have warned. Last month a number of lenders cut their standard variable rates (SVRs), including Abbey, Coventry Building Society and Standard Life. But only one of them Standard Life mirrored the most recent half per cent base rate reduction.

Since UK interest rates were cut to 4.5 per cent in late September, half of all mortgage lenders have resisted passing on any of the reduction in their variable rates. Read more

Tax Man to clamp Buy to Let Mortgage Investors

With the United Kingdom facing the most substantial budget deficit in the coming year than any other nation in Western Europe, HM Revenue and Customs has announced plans to extract additional taxes from approximately 80,000 landlords who may not have paid enough in taxes over the course of the past six years on their buy to let mortgage investments. Read more

Homeowners face mortgage shock

Hundreds of thousands of UK homeowners could pay more for their mortgages during 2008 even though the Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates to at least 5.50%.

Around 1.4m will come to the end of cheap fixed rates over the next 12 months. While failing rates for new mortgage borrowers, analysts warn many will see a leap in repayments as the credit crunch fallout continues. Read more

Will second homes derail property prices?

Nearly one in four second-homeowners could sell up in the current financial downturn, prompting even more dramatic house-price falls, according to new report.

Until now many financial commentators had thought but-to-let could be the weak point that topples the market, but the research from consultancy Capital Economics suggests the second home market is where the danger may indeed lie. Read more