Swap rates rise to three-year high as increase in oil prices leads to fears of higher inflation
Homeowners in the UK are braced for a jump in mortgage rates, driven by higher inflation and interest rate increase expectations amid turmoil in the global bond markets.
UK swap rates, which lenders use to price mortgages, have risen to a three-year high, as this week’s global bond market sell-off ripples through the economy.
Continue reading...Premium of nearly 10% paid by housebuyers comparable with cost of a cheaper private school over seven years
A house near a top state secondary school costs an extra £40,000 on average, according to research that reveals education premiums that rank alongside some private school fees.
The average property in a postcode district that includes a top 50 state secondary commands a price tag of £415,791, compared with £375,217 across the wider local authority areas in which those schools are located, a UK-wide analysis by the estate agent Yopa found.
Continue reading...Victims have lost tens of thousands – and in one case £300,000 – due to fake emails from solicitor or estate agent
You are poised to move house and are awaiting the solicitor’s instructions that things are ready to go and it is time to hand over your deposit. When the email arrives giving you their bank details, you set up the transfer and move the cash. And then the solicitor calls to ask where the money is.
Conveyancing fraud involves criminals getting access to an email chain between homebuyers and their solicitors or estate agents and requesting payment to a bank account they control. Sometimes the solicitor has been hacked, but often the homebuyer has been the victim of a phishing exercise.
Continue reading...Fierce competition in some areas of London means landlord purchasers are making successful lowball offers
The average price of a home coming up for sale in Britain’s richest borough has dropped by almost £100,000 in a month as fierce competition among sellers in many areas prompts some to slash their price expectations, data shows.
The property website Rightmove said that for Britain as a whole, average newly listed asking prices for homes had fallen by 2% over the past month, the largest August price drop in eight years.
Continue reading...Analysis pinpoints areas most vulnerable to hotter, drier weather causing ground to shrink and drag foundations down
Millions of homes are at risk from climate-related subsidence, according toan analysis by the British Geological Survey (BGS).
As hotter, drier summers driven by global heating become more frequent, the ground under houses can shrink and drag down a property’s foundations. The most vulnerable areas include London, Essex, Kent and a tranche of land from Oxford up to the Wash on England’s east coast, according to scientists, who say mitigation measures will be needed.
Continue reading...Unexpected monthly drop of 0.1% in May leaves price of typical home at £298,806, says lender Halifax
UK house prices fell unexpectedly in May as rising mortgage rates fuelled by the war in Iran affected affordability and homebuyer demand.
The average price of a typical UK home fell by 0.1% in May to £298,806 compared with April, the third consecutive monthly drop recorded by the lender Halifax. Analysts had been expecting a return to growth, with a consensus of a 0.1% rise forecast for May. The monthly drop followed falls of 0.1% in April and 0.5% in March.
Continue reading...UK house price growth slowed in February as value of typical home rose 0.3% to £301,151
Halifax has warned that the US-Israel war on Iran could slow mortgage rate decreases this year, as it said that house price growth eased dramatically in February.
Halifax, which is part of Lloyds – Britain’s biggest mortgage lender – said the conflict in the Middle East was likely to affect global economies, stoke inflation and reduce the likely rate of interest rate cuts that influence borrowing costs for homebuyers.
Continue reading...Rachel Reeves’ upcoming spring forecast has not led to slowdown, as property tax rumours did in November
House prices in the UK increased in February as Rachel Reeves avoided a repeat of the pre-budget “negative speculation” that depressed the market, as she prepares to present the spring forecast on Tuesday.
The average price of a home rose to £273,176 last month, up by 0.3% from the month before, Nationwide said. It matched January’s monthly increase, and was above analysts’ forecasts of a 0.2% gain. The annual growth rate remained steady at 1%, the country’s biggest building society said.
Continue reading...November drop of 1.8% is biggest for this time of year since 2012, with chancellor’s plans looming
Budget speculation has depressed the UK property market, figures from a leading property website have suggested, with asking prices slipping in the run-up to Rachel Reeves’s much anticipated fiscal set piece on 26 November.
The average new seller asking price fell by 1.8%, or £6,589, month on month in November, the figures collated by the property website Rightmove set out, taking the average price tag on a British home put up for sale to £364,833.
Continue reading...Surprise finding by Hamptons shows age group comprises 50% of all new shareholders in firms set up this year
Millennials now account for half of new buy-to-let investors in England and Wales, signalling a generational shift in landlords, while rents have dipped, according to a report.
It is a surprise finding, as many millennials – people born between 1981 and 1996 – have struggled to afford a housing purchase, which means they are less likely than older generations to own their home. Even so, some have clearly fared better, and millennials are leading the charge in buy-to-let investment, according to analysis of Companies House data by the estate agent Hamptons.
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Voting in the Labour deputy leadership election opens today. Lucy Powell, the former Commons leader, is seen as the favourite and, as Jessica Elgot reports, Powell told supporters yesterday that, if she is elected, she will use the post to argue for changes in the way the government is operating. “We can’t sugarcoat the fact that things aren’t going well,” she said.
Powell is no longer a government minister and, if she is elected deputy leader, she will do the job from the backbenches. In an interview on Newsnight last night, Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary standing against Powell, said a Powell victory would be “destabilising” for the party. She said:
[Electing Powell] risks destabilising the party … we best achieve what we need to do together when we have those fierce conversations, including disagreements, behind closed doors.
Members need to understand that there’s a potential challenge around all of that – that if you’re not inside when the big decisions are being made, you’re not at that table, you’re not in those conversations.
Continue reading...Research finds it would take average worker saving all their earnings for 52 years to match wealth of richest 10th of society
It would take the average earner in the UK 52 years’ worth of earnings to become as wealthy as the richest 10%, according to new research by the Resolution Foundation.
In a new report, the influential thinktank analyses the Office for National Statistics’ latest wealth and assets survey, which covers the Covid pandemic period of 2020-22.
Continue reading...Proposed government overhaul of house purchase process looks at shifting some costs from buyers to sellers
Ministers are attempting to cut the time it takes to buy a home by four weeks under new proposals aimed at overhauling the housebuying process.
The UK government will also consult on plans to shift costs from buyers to sellers, including compelling sellers and estate agents to provide buyers with vital information – such as the condition of the home and the scale of any leasehold costs – upfront.
Continue reading...Nationwide survey in London, Manchester and Glasgow shows pandemic trends may be reversing as more people return to office
People buying homes in London 500 metres from a tube or railway station pay £42,700 more than buyers of similar properties 1,500 metres away from transport hubs, according to new data.
The figures indicate that despite the reshaping of the housing market sparked by the coronavirus pandemic and dramatic changes to working patterns, the traditional estate agent mantra of “good transport links” continues to wield its power over buyers.
Continue reading...Newcastle building society aims for those with smaller deposits and no help hoping to get on to housing ladder
First-time buyers are being offered the chance to borrow up to 98% of the price of a property – but they cannot get help with their deposit from the bank of mum and dad.
Newcastle building society’s First Step mortgage is designed to help those who have been saving to get on the housing ladder.
Continue reading...Those on typical £200,000 mortgages taken out between October 2020 and February 2023 may see costs jump by £3,996 a year this winter
More than 350,000 households who locked in to low-interest fixed-rate mortgages five years ago are expected to see their costs jump this winter as they reach the end of their deals.
Analysis by the bill management app Nous found almost half of mortgages taken out between October 2020 – as the housing market revived after an initial Covid shock – and February 2023 were five-year fixed-rate deals.
Continue reading...Stalling house prices and shift back to office working are affecting people’s ability to move out of city, say experts
Londoners are buying the lowest share of houses outside the capital in more than a decade as their moving plans are curtailed by a stalling local market and the shift back to office working.
They were behind just 5.3% of house purchases elsewhere in the country in the first seven months of this year, the lowest proportion since 2013, research has found.
Continue reading...Deputy leader election campaign will distract from Starmer’s reset and winner may well come from left of party
At 9.30am on Monday morning, as MPs made their way back to Westminster, Keir Starmer gathered the entire staff of No 10 in the Pillared Room of Downing Street to tell them they were about to enter the next, delivery, stage of government.
“We go into phase two in good spirits, confident and with conviction,” he told them, as some of those gathered shuffled awkwardly. His remarks, after all, followed a difficult summer during which Labour vacated the pitch to Reform UK and ahead of what is likely to be an even more turbulent autumn.
Continue reading...Monthly report from surveyors’ body sees ‘firmly negative trend’ that is expected to push up rental prices
The flow of new rental properties coming on to the market has fallen at the fastest rate since the first Covid lockdown five years ago, according to research by Britain’s property surveyors.
Although the demand for properties is steady, there are fewer new rentals from landlords coming available, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) found.
Continue reading...Some higher-earning couples with smaller deposits could borrow extra £130,000 as a result of overnight changes
Some couples applying for a Santander mortgage will see the maximum they can borrow increase by £130,000 overnight after the bank loosened its lending rules.
Santander is the latest in a line of lenders to allow some borrowers to access bigger mortgages after intervention by the City regulator and new guidelines from the Bank of England designed to help more people on to the housing ladder.
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