Property Investment News and Analysis from Jet-to-Let Magazine

Gordon Brown warns economic storm not over

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:53:00 +0000

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has warned Britain of economic "bumps in the road" ahead but vowed "we will weather the storm together".

And in a pre-election swipe at his political rivals, he said "now is not the time to turn back", adding: "I will not let you down."

He also ...

UK economy's outlook improving, surveys suggest

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:36:00 +0000

Surveys from two industry bodies suggest there is growing optimism about the recovery of the UK economy.

The employers' organisation the CBI said service sector firms saw business stabilise in the last three months.

The manufacturers' lobby group the EEF also said its members were seeing improved levels of business. ...

Mortgage approvals drop sharply

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:05:00 +0000

Figures revealing a sharp drop in mortgage approvals in January have confirmed that the UK housing market made a slow start to the year.

The Bank of England said that the number of home loans approved for house purchases in January fell by 17% compared with the previous month.

The ...

Estate agency probe 'disappoints'

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:56:00 +0000

Satisfaction with estate agents has improved, a study has found, but a trade body says an opportunity to regulate the sector has been missed.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has given a largely clean bill of health to estate agents after a year-long study into standards in the industry. ...

House prices rose by 2.9% in 2009, says government

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:16:00 +0000

House prices in the UK rose by 2.9% last year, according to the latest government house price survey.

Prices rose by 3% in England, 3.8% in Scotland and 1% in Wales, but fell 6% in Northern Ireland, the Department for Communities and Local Government said.

The figures suggest that the ...

Stamp duty change prompts rush by house buyers

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 10:20:00 +0000

A rush to beat the end of the stamp duty concession saw a big rise in loans made to house buyers in December, says the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

There were 62,800 such loans, up by 23% from November and 90% higher than in December 2008.

The number of ...

Bank of England warns inflation will exceed 3%

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:54:00 +0000

The UK's inflation rate will rise above 3% in the coming weeks, the governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, has predicted.

Presenting the Bank's quarterly inflation report, Mr King said the increase in VAT and higher petrol costs would push up prices.

But, he added, inflation would then ...

House prices rise by another 0.6%, the Halifax says

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:56:00 +0000

House prices have risen for the seventh consecutive month - rising by 0.6% in January compared with December, the Halifax has said.

The average UK home was valued some 3.6% higher in January than a year earlier, at £169,777.

The figures show the continued trend of rising prices which has ...

Davos 2010 ends with bankers on the defensive

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:02:00 +0000

Bankers have indicated that they may agree to far-reaching reforms, as the World Economic Forum in Davos ends.

Top regulators warned that they could take drastic action to take some of the risk out of the financial industry.

However, the annual meeting of some of the world's most powerful business ...

Home buyers get more options

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:19:00 +0000

‘Cash is King’ has been the rule for some time for those buying a property, but new analysis from moneysupermarket.com has shown that providers are beginning to loosen the purse strings with more products now available to mortgage borrowers with lower deposits or equity in their properties.

Deals with an ...

Spending cuts 'could hit affordable housing'

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:07:00 +0000

The number of planned affordable homes built over the next 10 years could be halved by government spending cuts, a housing campaign group has warned.

The government has pledged to build three million new homes by 2020, a third of which would be affordable.

The National Housing Federation said pre-Budget ...

Houses 'are less affordable' than 50 years ago

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:32:00 +0000

Houses are less affordable than 50 years ago although the quality of homes has improved, according to the Halifax.

The lender, now owned by Lloyds Banking Group, said that over the last five decades UK house prices have risen by 2.7% a year, allowing for inflation.

This was above the ...

Mortgage lending sees 'seasonal dip'

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:49:00 +0000

There has been a "seasonal dip" in mortgage lending, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

The number of new mortgages granted to home buyers fell to 53,000 in November, a 4% drop from the previous month.

However, reflecting the upward trend seen for most of last year, the ...

Many homes 'using credit cards to pay mortgage'

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 11:50:00 +0000

Up to one million households have borrowed money on a credit card to pay their mortgage or rent over the past year, a charity's study suggests.

Housing charity Shelter said this figure represented 6% of UK homes.

Shelter said people in lower social groups had been most likely to need ...

House prices set to rise in 2010

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:10:00 +0000

Property prices are set to rise in 2010 but sellers may have to wait until the end of the year to benefit, according to the latest predictions.

With the New Year looming, industry bodies are already making their forecasts on the housing market, with the Building Societies Association (BSA) expecting ...

Households' fortunes 'mixed' in recession

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:35:00 +0000

Householders' disposable income has dipped sharply in the downturn but low interest rates have saved many from debt problems, a report suggests.

A safety-first attitude to savings was inspired, in part, by a fear of redundancy, the survey for the Bank of England found.

The poll, carried out in the ...

UK interest rate remains at 0.5%

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:45:00 +0000

recovery

The Bank of England has held UK interest rates at the record low of 0.5% in a widely-expected move.

It also announced no changes to its programme of pumping newly-created money into the economy - so-called quantitative easing (QE).

In November, the Bank of England said it would inject ...

House prices up for fifth month in a row, says Halifax

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:21:00 +0000

House prices have risen for the fifth month in a row, says the Halifax, one of the UK's biggest mortgage lenders.

Its latest survey says prices went up by 1.4% in November, pushing the cost of the average UK home to £167,664.

Although that is still 1.6% lower than a ...

Stars ht by the Dubai property bubble

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:17:00 +0000

David Beckham and Brad Pitt are believed to be among the celebrities and sportsmen who bought villas in Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, a luxury development that juts out into the Gulf. But when the property bubble burst this year, residents saw the value of their investments collapse. Yesterday their situation ...

Mortgage double within a year.

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:01:00 +0000

Figures from the British Bankers’ Association showed 42,238 mortgages for house purchase were approved in October, up from 42,073 the previous month and 98 per cent higher than a year earlier.

It said mortgage lending, which strips out redemptions and repayments, also rose, by 4.6 per cent year-on-year to £3.1 billion in October.

David Dooks, BBA statistics director, said: “The longer it takes to emerge from recession, the longer we will see households and businesses continue to borrow with caution.

“The banks’ mortgage lending, still growing by more than 4 per cent a year, shows one aspect of consumer behaviour but unsecured borrowing is subdued and people are building up deposits.”

Lending figures remain a considerable way off the average number of mortgages approved of around 55,000 three or four years ago.

And experts warn that mortgage lending is unlikely to continue rising substantially next year.

Ed Stansfield, a property economist at Capital Economics said: “The surge in pent-up demand among cash-rich buyers, released in the early stages of 2009, appears to be fading. Still-tight lending criteria coupled with a weak economic outlook suggest there is little prospect of a marked rise in mortgage demand next year.

“With activity levels still depressed and the housing market still overvalued, we remain sceptical that the recent upturn in house prices will be sustained, let alone extended through 2010.”

Mortgage rates up ahead of ‘double dip’

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:46:00 +0000

Government-backed banks raised mortgage rates and introduced stricter lending criteria last week amid concerns that this year’s house-price recovery is not sustainable.

Northern Rock, which has boosted lending in recent weeks, increased its market-leading five-year fix for remortgages from 4.99% to 5.39%, while the equivalent deal for homebuyers went up ...

Nationwide sees risk of house price fall in 2010

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:47:00 +0000

House prices could retreat in 2010 if unemployment rises sharply, Britain's third-largest mortgage lender Nationwide warned on Friday.

A lack of supply and low interest rates have boosted the housing market this year, but Nationwide said prices could go into reverse with unemployment set to rise further and a stock ...

Seasonal rise in mortgage lending

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:27:00 +0000

UK mortgage lending rose by 5% in October compared with the previous month, according to a lenders' group.

However, the £13.5bn of gross mortgage lending recorded by the Council of Mortgage Lenders was down 27% compared with the same month a year ago.

The group said that the month-on-month rise ...

Bank split over stimulus package

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Bank of England rate-setters were split three ways about the decision taken earlier this month to pump £25bn more into the economy, meeting notes show.

Seven of the nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted for the £25bn extension, one voted for a higher amount and one for ...

34 Repossession hotpots named

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:06:00 +0000

More help was offered to struggling homeowners today as the government officially named 34 repossession "hotspots" across the country - including Sedgefield, Tony Blair's old constituency, and four areas of London - the move came as the Council of Mortgage Lenders published figures showing that the number of families forced ...

Firms 'struggle to get finance'

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:27:00 +0000
Access to finance remains a problem for small and medium-sized firms, despite the extra £200bn pumped into the UK financial system, a report says.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said a third of the companies it had questioned found access to finance had become harder in the past three ...

Eurozone emerges from recession

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:43:00 +0000

The eurozone economy has emerged from recession after growing between July and September, figures have shown.

The 16 nations that use the euro collectively grew 0.4%, after shrinking by 0.2% between April and June.

The French and German economies both grew for a second consecutive quarter, confirming the eurozone's two ...

Small rise in home repossessions

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:03:00 +0000
The number of properties repossessed in the July to September period rose by 3% to 11,700, according to figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

The total was up 5% from the same period a year ago.

But the CML said it was now cutting its forecast for total ...

House prices are to "keep on rising"

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:35:00 +0000

House prices are likely to keep on rising for the time being, says the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).

Its latest monthly survey shows that sellers are now beginning to return to the property market.

But they are still being outweighed by the number of potential buyers registered with ...

Prices to fall in 2010?

Jet-to-Let Magazine — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:34:00 +0000

Property group Savills is predicting ups and downs within the housing market over the next five years - according to the group, after a 3.7% rise in values this year, the market will see peaks and troughs...

Next year will see a drop of around 6-7%, while values will rise ...