Widespread improvement in market conditions
The latest RICS Residential Market Survey shows that the gap between supply and demand is at its highest imbalance since May 2009. This imbalance between supply and demand has led to a widespread improvement in market conditions. Pricing expectations are good, with growth expected over the next quarter across all regions, except the North. RICS […]
SME firms performing well
According to research from chartered accountants HW Fisher & Company SME legal firms are recovering well from the impacts of the recession. In an annual poll of 75 SME law firms in London and South East England profits were up a record 17% from last year. The Legal Services Act (LSA) has so far had […]
Lending reaches highest level since 2007
The latest CML data has shown that lending during the third quarter of 2013 was at its highest quarterly level since 2007. Gross UK mortgage lending was £16.2bn in September, despite a fall of 14% in monthly lending from August to September this was a 21% year-on-year increase. Gross lending for the third quarter of […]
Fall in repossessions and arrears
According to the latest data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders the number of mortgages in arrears and the number of repossessions fell in the third quarter of the year. The total number of mortgages in arrears was down from 154,900 in the second quarter of the year to 149,400 mortgages. This represents 1.33% of […]
Chief Financial Ombudsman steps down
The board of the Financial Ombudsman service has announced that Chief Ombudsman Natalie Cenney has stepped down after almost four years with the service. During her time in post the service expanded to deal with complaints about the mis-selling of loan insurance by banks. As well as this the service became a Sunday Times “top […]
Which? urges caution on Help to Buy
In response to the Government declaring Help to Buy a success Which? Mortgage Advisers has urged first-time buyers to be aware of the full range of options available to them. Which? are keen to stress to first-time buyers that lenders not involved in the scheme are also offering competitive mortgages and that there are alternatives […]
BSA Chairman questions need for Help to Buy
Speaking at the BSA Annual lunch last Thursday, David Cutter, BSA Chairman and Group Chief Executive of the Skipton Building Society questioned whether the Help to Buy scheme was needed. He noted that so far no building societies have signed-up to the scheme, whereas all the major banks and a few challenger banks have done […]
Campaign group describes Help to Buy as “ponzi scheme”
According to analysis of housing market figures by PricedOut, a campaign for affordable house prices, first-time buyers would be better off renting than buying a house under Help to Buy. They claim that interest rates are so high under the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme that the monthly repayments for the average first-time buyer […]