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Risks are highest for borrowers already on higher interest rates, such as those in the second charge mortgage sector, according to Jonathan Davidson, the regulator’s executive director of supervision, retail and authorisation. The FCA found lenders are not always properly assessing whether payment plans for customers in long-term arrears are affordable, which could erode equity […]

Uncertainty in the economy, as well as a squeeze on household budgets, is keeping potential buyers out of the housing market, a lender has said. The Nationwide Building Society said that demand from buyers was “subdued” and unlikely to pick up soon. UK house prices had risen by 1.9% in the year to November, it […]

Properties are taking longer to sell than a year age, analysis suggests, at an average of more than three months in urban areas of the UK. Homes in cities and major towns were on the market for 102 days on average before being sold or put under offer. This was six days longer than in […]

Mortgage lending slows ahead of Brexit…

House prices in the UK could fall in 2019 if the government fails to reach a Brexit deal, one senior economist has said. Howard Archer, chief economic adviser to the EY ITEM Club, said he expected prices to fall “modestly” if there is no agreement with Brussels. However, a negotiated deal could see prices rise […]

The North-South divide in house prices will narrow in the next five years as property values in northern England rise by a fifth, a report suggests. Estate agent Savills has predicted that British house prices will rise in line with average incomes from 2019 to 2024. But house price growth will range from 21.6% in […]

British house prices rose at their slowest pace in more than five years, according to data published by mortgage lender Nationwide. Annual house prices rose 1.6% in October, down from 2% in September, the Nationwide Building Society said. Before Britain decided to leave the European Union in June 2016, house prices based on the Nationwide’s […]

More help for first-time buyers and plans for homes on the High Street have been announced in the Budget. Most first-time buyers of shared ownership properties will now no longer pay stamp duty, under the measures. Chancellor Philip Hammond also said that the Help to Buy scheme would end in 2023 – an extension of […]

Further evidence of the slow-down in the property market has emerged, with fewer people taking out new mortgages to buy a home. Britain’s High Street banks approved 38,505 such loans in September, a drop of 10.1% on the same month last year. It is the third month in a row that the number of approvals […]

  A rise in the Bank rate in August had little effect on the number of mortgages advanced during the month, new figures show. The Bank of England increased its benchmark interest rate for only the second time in a decade, up from 0.5% to 0.75%. There were 38,000 new mortgages completed by home movers […]