Category archives: Mortgages & General Property News

A helping hand for mortgage holders was announced at the start of August by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt with a view to providing support to residential mortgage customers suffering from rising interest rates.  Three-part plan  The Mortgage Charter has three key elements:  More flexible  Further flexibility relates to customers approaching the end of a fixed-rate deal.  […]

First home, family home… then what? Maybe nothing, new research suggests1, with older homeowners standing their ground and not considering downsizing.  Indeed, seven in 10 respondents said that they are not looking to downsize, in a survey of 1,000 homeowners. Moreover, although 29% do plan to downsize within the next five years, only 13% of […]

Traditionally, when thinking about joint mortgages, most people picture a married couple. Increasingly, however, friends or siblings are taking out joint mortgages when they buy their first home together.  Stronger together  A joint mortgage is the most popular way for first-time buyers (FTBs) to fund their home purchase, with more than six in ten opting […]

Continued high inflation is prompting over 50s to reconsider whether they really need their life insurance policies, research has suggested1, sparking fears of vulnerabilities.  Cutting costs  A survey of 1,000 people aged 50+ has shown that 22% of customers are thinking about cancelling their monthly payments as a result of the rising cost of living. […]

Home renovations are a popular way to give your property a new lease of life. When undertaking large-scale projects, there is a lot to think about – and the impact on your home insurance should be part of this planning.   In the loop   As well as producing detailed plans, seeking planning permission and choosing your […]

Older buy-to-let (BTL) landlords are selling up in large numbers, new analysis suggests1, leaving a void when they ‘retire’ from the business.  Ageing population  The median age of individual landlords was 58 in 2021, according to the latest English Private Landlord Survey, significantly older than the general population. In contrast, only 15% were under the […]

Turning homes into short-term holiday lets could soon require planning permission if new government plans come into force.  Conversion crackdown  The motivation behind plans is to save residents from being pushed out of their towns, the government says. Specifically, the government aims to target the practice of ‘industrialising’ online rental platforms, whereby entire apartment blocks […]

Apartment sales drive recovery   Agreed residential sales have returned to pre-pandemic levels for the first time since September 20221. The number of sales in March 2023 was only 1% behind March 2019, with the recovery largely driven by sales of apartments, which are now 10% above 2019 levels. In total, agreed sales remain 18% below […]

The number of houses for sale has soared, new figures show1, further strengthening the position of buyers.  Supply surge?  Ever since the pandemic days of frenetic buying, demand outstripping supply has been a familiar picture in the UK housing market. As interest rates have risen sharply in the past year, moreover, some potential sellers have […]

Activity in the housing and mortgage markets is hotting up – and cooling down. According to the latest Residential Market Survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a run of thirteen successive negative monthly readings for new instructions ended in May, marking the strongest reading for new listings since March 20211. Yet house prices […]