20 - Monday 20th February
90 Percent mortgages invaluable
With the number of rented properties growing, with some 33 percent of properties owned now being lived in by renters, 90 percent mortgages are becoming invaluable to first time buyers as they try to get on the property ladder. Deals on buy to let mortgages also have had some influence on the new figures, with more deals being made available.
According to figures released by the Department of Communities and Local Government, only 10 percent of homeowners are under 35. 90 percent mortgages, requiring a smaller deposit, are expected to help improve this figure and help get the mortgage market moving again with the purchase of properties with first time buyers.
- Abbey ditches proc fees for interest-only ports
Abbey for Intermediaries will no longer pay a proc fee to brokers for borrowers who port their interest-only mortgage over 50% LTV.
Mon 20th Feb 2012 10:59am - Accord expands BDM team
Accord Mortgages has expanded its sales team by recruiting four new business development managers and four business development advisers.
Mon 20th Feb 2012 1:34pm - Twitter is no place for brokerages to promote products
Mortgage brokers should not use Twitter to promote mortage products, a regulatory expert says.
Mon 20th Feb 2012 12:36pm - Leeds makes interest-only changes
Leeds Building Society has cut its maximum LTV from 70% to 50%, for interest-only loans where the repayment strategy is the sale of property.
Mon 20th Feb 2012 11:27am - FSA fines Santander £1.5m over structured products
The Financial Services Authority has fined Santander £1.5m for failing to confirm under which circumstances its structured products would be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Mon 20th Feb 2012 11:08am - Yorkshire BS to open 12 new branches
Yorkshire Building Society is planning to open 12 new high street branches over the next two years.
Mon 20th Feb 2012 10:21am - Lloyds to clawback senior exec bonuses over PPI mis-selling
Former Lloyds chief executive Eric Daniels will lose at least £360,000 of his 2010 bonus, while four other directors are each set to lose £250,000.
Mon 20th Feb 2012 10:20am - CML lowers estimates of business by brokers
The Council of Mortgage Lenders has reduced all its past intermediary lending estimates after changing the way in which it calculates intermediated sales.
Mon 20th Feb 2012 9:50am - Gross mortgage lending up 10% year-on-year in January
Gross mortgage lending totalled £10.5bn in January, 10% higher than the £9.5bn lent in January 2011, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
Mon 20th Feb 2012 9:37am - Fear of being sued makes lenders toughen criteria
Fears that they could be sued if a borrower’s repayment vehicle fails to pay off their interest-only mortgage are behind lenders’ recent criteria changes, trade bodies have claimed.
Mon 20th Feb 2012 8:30am - Decline in home ownership: one in three properties rented as under-35s struggle to buy their own houses
Only 66 per cent of homes are owned by those who live in them compared with a peak of 71 per cent nine years ago, new figures reveal.
Mon 20th Feb 2012 9:06am - Asking price for average UK house reaches £233,252 in February
Asking prices for homes in the UK are rising at their fastest pace in almost 10 years, and now average £232,252, according to a new report from Rightmove.
Mon 20th Feb 2012 11:18am - Households feeling less pessimistic as inflation falls
Lower inflation has helped to ease the financial gloom hanging over UK consumers, according to the latest Markit household finance index.
Mon 20th Feb 2012 8:32am - Treat Property as a Business
When I sit down with investors and they ask me what area of property investing they should go into, I almost always will say go for buy to let and will relate it to business.
Mon 20th Feb 2012 2:36am - Overseas Mortgage News
New directive that will tighten up mortgage lending in Europe. EU intends to speed up property repossessions. Mortgages in Kenya now available to foreign investors. A new directive aimed at ensuring European banks make better lending decisions has been given the go ahead this month by the European Parliament. The directive “on credit agreements for residential property” will require lending institutions within the European Union to better assess whether a client is able to repay a mortgage before it is granted and refuse any client finance that is not deemed as creditworthy. As part of this new initiative solvency databases will be introduced across all EU countries so to provide financial organisations with a unified mechanism to independently assess their client’s financial situation. In the event that an individual should not meet the required standard set out by the assessment, then the finance provider will be forced to refuse that client credit under these new rules. Although introducing responsible and sensible mortgage lending across the EU should be welcomed, it is debatable whether a strict yes no policy is the right answer. One major concern is that if these new guidelines are too strict that individuals who can currently demonstrate an ability to repay a mortgage to an mortgage underwriter, will be automatically black balled when it comes to securing finance under this new scheme. As things stand this new directive has not yet been passed and while there is uncertainty about what mortgage safe guards may be put in place in the future, it may be worth people who are considering obtaining mortgage finance in the EU with less than an a A1 credit history acting now.
Mon 20th Feb 2012 12:19pm - UK economy and Sterling looking brighter
Sterling found strength over the past week, experiencing a rally from Wednesday onwards, improving its position on the Euro and the US Dollar. This is good news for anyone hoping for a strong Pound for their overseas property investments with Sterling moving up to start this week at a rate of 1.204 on the Euro and 1.582 on the US Dollar.
Mon 20th Feb 2012 10:20am - Rightmove: House asking prices up 4.1% in a month as seller confidence rises
Last month, the average property asking price was £233,252, compared to £224,060 in January, according to figures from the Rightmove House Price Survey.
Mon 20th Feb 2012 11:54am - Mortgage lending rises 10% in January
CML chief economist’s said the prospect of a stamp duty holiday closing at the end of March may be responsible for the uptick in demand
Mon 20th Feb 2012 7:21pm - Mortgage lending rises 10% in January
CML chief economist’s said the prospect of a stamp duty holiday closing at the end of March may be responsible for the uptick in demand
Mon 20th Feb 2012 7:21pm
