House prices up 40% by 2012
August 21, 2007 | Leave a Comment
The National Housing Federation has forecast that house prices will continue to rise, increasing by 40% in only the next five years. This would take the value of the average property over £300,000. The Federation says this is likely to happen in spite of the government’s plans to increase its house building rate.
Fixed rate mortgages: some good news
August 20, 2007 | Leave a Comment
There do seem to be some chinks of light in the darkness of mortgages. After months of soaring rates, and sky-high fees good news is seeping through. Last week a number of lenders announced that they would not increase exit fees once they had been contractually agreed; some lenders even announced that they were going to scrap exit fees entirely. This week HSBC has announced that it is scrapping all fees on its mortgages (exit for arrangement fees on special deals) until October. Even though most deals carry higher than average interest rates, the HSBC are making some attempts to improve things.
Britons debts continue to rise
August 17, 2007 | Leave a Comment
As the Bank of England struggles to get inflation back to down to 2% from its June level of 2.4%, the British are beginning to feel the weight of their own debts.
English Heritage voice HIP concerns
August 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment
It was interesting to watch how the introduction of Home Information Packs (HIPs) developed. Originally scheduled for an implementation date of 1 June, the Government has to postpone their introduction owing to the lack of qualified energy assessors – the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) being the most controversial element of the packs. At that time there was a lot of press coverage and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) weighed in expressing grave doubts about the whole scheme.
Mortgage brokers fined
August 15, 2007 | 1 Comment
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has taken action against three mortgage brokers that may have resulted in clients taking out home loans that weren’t suitable for them. Lawrence Scoffield Mortgages of Ripon and Council Homebuyers (Midlands and North) have both been fined £10,500 each by the financial services watchdog.