HOUSING NEWS

A lack of available properties is helping to push up house prices, surveyors say. As a result, a majority of Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) members think prices will continue to rise over the next year. The shrinking supply meant the number of new properties coming to the market fell by a third in […]

Stamp duty rates in England and Northern Ireland are changing from 1 July. The stamp duty holiday introduced in June 2020 will start to be phased out. It means house buyers will have to pay stamp duty again for purchases above £250,000. How is stamp duty changing from 1 July? Stamp duty is a tax […]

Two big players in the leasehold sector have agreed to change the way they operate, following an investigation by the competition watchdog. Housebuilder Persimmon will allow its leaseholders to buy the freehold of their property at a discount. Insurance company Aviva, which buys leaseholds from house builders, will repay homeowners who saw their ground rents […]

UK house prices leapt another 9.5% in the year to May, boosted by the government’s stamp duty holiday which ends this month. The Halifax said prices rose by more than £22,000 to an average of £261,743. But it said buyer preferences are shifting “in anticipation of new, post-pandemic lifestyles”. “There’s greater demand for larger properties […]

UK house prices are soaring. Official figures show they have been increasing at their fastest rate for more than a decade despite the country being gripped by a pandemic. The UK’s biggest building society, the Nationwide, has described the UK housing market as “bouyant”. Potential first-time buyers and movers may have more of a sinking […]

Banks and building societies want ministers to extend help for those struggling to pay their mortgage owing to the financial effects of Covid. Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) is a loan available to some people in the UK on benefits, which is usually repaid when their property is sold. Applicants have to wait for 39 […]

The “mad rush” to buy properties to take advantage of stamp duty holidays waned in April, official figures suggest. Transactions fell by 36% compared with the record level of UK home sales in March, according to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). An extension to the deadline for stamp duty relief into the summer is likely […]

The number of homes being put on the market is failing to meet demand from buyers, resulting in rising property prices, a report has found. The frequency of “for sale” signs slowed in April, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). One prospective buyer told the BBC that homes with gardens had “disappeared” […]

UK homeowners borrowed a record £11.8bn more on mortgages than they repaid in March, according to figures from the Bank of England. This net borrowing level was the highest of any month since comparable data began in 1993. The market was stoked up by stamp duty holidays and by low mortgage rates. These factors encouraged […]

UK house prices rose by 7.1% compared with a year ago, the Nationwide has said, prompting one analyst to suggest the market is “on the boil”. The building society said the average property price had risen by £15,916 in the last year, to reach £238,831. The Nationwide said increased savings during lockdown meant some first-time […]