Housing minister announces Affordable Housing Guarantee scheme
After their initial announcement on 6 September 2012, the government have now officially opened Housing Guarantees for business. The licence to provide the Affordable Housing Guarantees Scheme has been granted to Affordable Housing Finance plc (AHF), a subsidiary of The Housing Finance Corporation Limited. The Housing Minister Mark Prisk said in a written statement to […]
Home Market Turnover Indicator shows significant supply drop
In a couple of articles in the past week industry leaders have raised the issue of restricted housing supply in the market. To track the rate of flow of stock, Home.co.uk has created the Home Market Turnover Indicator (HMTI), which combines monthly data on overall stock levels and average marketing times from 2005 to the […]
Manchester promises thousands of new build homes
Manchester City Council has set out ambitious plans to accelerate house building to cope with the need for an estimated 55,000 new homes in the city by 2027. The “Residential Growth Prospectus” sets out the city’s plans to become the fastest growing city in the UK. In good news for conveyancers in the north-west, their […]
£91 million ploughed into empty and derelict homes
The Communities Minister Don Foster has announced that 6,000 empty and derelict homes will benefit from a £91 million fund to bring them back in to use. The money will be used to address issues such as squatting, rat infestation and collapsing house prices, driving remaining residents away. Funding is being allocated under two programmes; […]
Unexpected fraud hot spots should be warning to conveyancers
Altrincham in Cheshire has been identified as the top location for identity fraud outside London. The global information services company Experian has revealed that the Cheshire town recorded 13 fraud attempts for every 10,000 adults, with residents targeted at over three times the national average. The perhaps surprising appearance of green and leafy Cheshire at […]
Signs for optimism as house prices pick up
Despite a yearly decrease of £1,982 from the year to April 2013 prices are up £2,430 from than December 2012. The latest figures from LSL Property Services also show the average house price is now £143,965. Alan Penman of Walker Fraser Steele, part of LSL Property Services, said: “There has been an uplift in […]
Mortgage broker receives record £1m fine
The Telegraph has reported that a record fine of £1m has been handed to Birmingham-based mortgage broker Gurpreet Singh Chadda. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said Mr Chadda had told customers the price offered was based on an independent valuation of their property, when this was not the case. In some cases investigated the seller […]