HOUSING NEWS

A trend for longer-term fixed-rate mortgages is set to test homeowners’ appetite for certainty over cost – but brokers warn risks will still remain. On Tuesday, Kensington Mortgages launched a mortgage product with a rate that can be fixed for up to 40 years. Borrowers already have a choice of long-term fixes beyond the traditional […]

A fast internet connection is now one of the most important factors for homebuyers, according to a survey of 294 estate agents across the UK. Questions about connectivity, usually “full fibre” broadband, are up 69% since the pandemic began, the research, by Omdia for telecoms equipment maker Huawei, suggests. Speeds of more than 300Mbps are […]

Share                              “I just don’t understand their reasoning. I was just totally stunned.” Andrew Bennett is describing the moment he learned that despite building a brand new, super energy efficient home, he  couldn’t be able to borrow money against its value, a […]

Growth in UK house prices accelerated again last month, with the average property price now £270,027, according to the UK’s largest mortgage lender. Prices rose 8.1% in the year to October, up from an annual rate of 7.4% the month before. With interest rate rises still on the horizon, the lender said it expected house-buying […]

Mortgage experts are expecting a “slow and measured” increase in the cost of home loans amid predictions of rising prices elsewhere. All eyes turn to the Bank of England which will consider this week whether to raise the base rate. Some mortgage lenders have raised their interest rates slightly, after a period of intense competition […]

Home buyers have benefitted from lower or no stamp duty, a tax paid on property purchases, in some parts of the UK, for more than a year. The tax holidays on stamp duty or its equivalent taxes, were introduced by ministers to stimulate the housing market as the country emerged from the first national Covid […]

Thousands of leaseholders who bought homes from a major housebuilder will no longer be subjected to ground rents that double every 10 or 15 years. Countryside Properties will keep rents at the same level as when they first bought their home after a probe by the Competition and Markets Authority. Countryside is the latest housebuilder […]

Within days of going on the market, one picturesque, two-bedroom stone cottage in the upper Yorkshire Dales had been viewed 10 times, leading to eight offers… Another 10 people are still on the waiting list to see it, attracted by its views over a small waterfall and beck. Potential buyers are coming in with offers […]

UK house prices accelerated in August, the Nationwide has said, with values now 13% higher than before the pandemic. The building society said that annual house price growth sped up, to 11%, with the average home costing £248,857. It said property prices recorded their second largest month-on-month rise in 15 years, up by 2.1%. The […]

House prices have fallen for the first time this year, according to property website Rightmove. It said the average price of property coming to market in August fell 0.3%, a drop of £1,076, to £337,371. That was prompted by the ending of the stamp duty holiday and a subsequent fall in demand for bigger homes. […]