Category Archives: Property

UK government made £2.4bn from ‘mortgage prisoner’ loan sales, says Martin Lewis

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Tens of thousands of borrowers had their loans sold on to providers at which they were unable to switch

The UK government made a £2.4bn “profit” when it pushed tens of thousands of mortgage borrowers “into poverty” after selling their loans on to new lenders, the campaigner Martin Lewis has claimed.

The MoneySavingExpert founder was speaking at the launch of a report, which he funded, into the plight of “mortgage prisoners”: a group of borrowers caught up in the fallout from the 2007-08 financial crisis.

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Moving back in with parents boosts ‘boomerang’ adults’ mental health

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Returning home was once seen as something shameful but new research finds a benefit

Moving back into the parental home as an adult was once seen by many youngsters as a retrograde step and even something to be ashamed of. Now, a new study suggests that such a move actually improves the mental health of these “boomerang adults”, thanks in no small part to a stressful and increasingly expensive rental market.

The findings of of the first study in the UK to look at the mental health impact of moving home on the adult children surprised demographers at the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), who were expecting to find it had the opposite effect on wellbeing.

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UK property demand declines as house prices in England fall

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Further slowdown likely amid interest rate rise and cost of living crisis, says surveyors’ body Rics

Property sales and house prices continued to decline across the UK in January, while new buyer demand and fresh listings were also down, surveyors have reported.

A net balance of -47% for new buyer inquiries was reported, down from -40% in December, according to the latest monthly snapshot from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics). The January return marked the ninth successive negative monthly reading for new buyer inquiries.

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Gulf royals own more than £1bn of UK property via tax havens

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New government register shows how offshore jurisdictions used for ownership of nearly 200 properties including hotels and country estates

The royal families of Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar own more than £1bn of UK property via offshore jurisdictions, such as Jersey and the British Virgin Islands, the Guardian can reveal.

Nearly 200 properties, including hotels, London mansions and country estates, belong to a few small but super-rich dynasties, according to analysis of a new government register that reveals who is behind offshore companies that own UK property.

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UK private renters could save billions if energy efficiency minimum is raised

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Bill payers stand to collectively save billions if minimum standard raised to a C rating, research suggests

Raising the minimum standard of energy efficiency to a C rating for privately rented homes would save bill payers about £570 a year, research has found.

This would amount to annual savings totalling £1.75bn across the UK, according to the thinktank E3G in a report called Cutting Energy Bills and Raising Standards for Private Renters.

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Average UK house price falls for fourth month in a row, says Halifax

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Figure of £281,272 comes as property values drop by 1.5% in December, after 2.4% decline in November

The average UK house price fell for the fourth month in a row in December, according to Halifax, with experts expecting a further slowdown amid a long recession.

Property values decreased by 1.5% in December, the lender’s monthly index revealed, after a 2.4% drop in November, a 0.4% decrease in October and a 0.1% dip in September.

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UK house prices fall for fourth month in a row, the longest run since 2008

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Annual growth rate cools in December and average price of property drops to £262,068, says Nationwide

Property prices in the UK fell for the fourth month in a row in December, the longest run of declines since 2008, according to Nationwide.

Annual house price growth also slowed sharply as the year drew to a close, to the lowest rate since mid-2020, with all regions of the country affected, according to the building society’s monthly survey.

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Experts predict housing market will cool in 2023 as UK enters a recession

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The slowdown is expected to intensify with price declines between 5% and 12%

The housing market will cool sharply next year after a bumpy 2022, industry experts are predicting, as the UK contends with recession and higher mortgage rates.

As the cost of living crisis has intensified amid soaring inflation and as interest rates have increased, house prices have already started falling month-on-month. The average house price dropped 2.3% in November from October – the most since the start of the financial crash in 2008 – according to Halifax.

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Labour targets new swing voter ‘middle-aged mortgage man’

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Party sees identifying 50-year-old male home-owners as key to electoral success

You’ve met Mondeo Man and Worcester Woman, now meet the key swing voter Labour hopes will win them the next election: middle-aged mortgage man.

Party insiders say they are being ruthless about targeting exactly the kind of voters they believe will put them back into power, homing in on people who previously lost faith with Labour but have been personally affected by the spike in interest rates caused by Liz Truss’ “mini-budget”.

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London extends lead as most searched UK location on Rightmove

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Capital now top location by some distance after Cornwall led for several months during pandemic

The lockdown dream of leaving the city behind and owning a spacious house in the countryside or by the sea faded in 2022 as homebuyers picked up where they left off before the pandemic: house hunting in London.

Rightmove said the capital was 2022’s top location by some distance with searches 9% higher than last year. Meanwhile the number of searches for homes in Cornwall and Devon fell sharply although the counties, famous for their spectacular coastlines, hung on to second and third place on the property website’s annual list of most searched for locations.

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UK house prices fall at fastest pace since 2020 amid fallout from mini-budget

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Nationwide warns inflation and rising interest rates will weigh down housing market

UK house prices have fallen at their fastest rate for two and a half years as the fallout from Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget put buyers off according to Nationwide, which warned inflation and rising interest rates would weigh on the market in the coming months.

The price of an average home dropped 1.4% to £263,788 in November, according to the lender’s house price index, accelerating a slowdown that saw prices fall 0.9% in October. It was the third monthly fall in a row, and the biggest drop since June 2020.

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Shares in UK’s top housebuilders fall as housing market cools

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Large estate agent chain’s profits also hit as interest rate rises and cost of living crisis put off potential buyers

Shares in one of the UK’s biggest estate agent chains and some of the largest British housebuilders fell on Friday, amid the latest warnings about the outlook for the housing market, as potential homebuyers are squeezed by rising interest rates and the cost of living crisis.

The share price of LSL Property Services, one of the UK’s largest estate agent chains, tumbled by as much as 11% after it warned on profits for the second half of the year and said conditions in the housing market had become more challenging than anticipated.

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Exodus of first-time buyers puts brakes on UK housing market

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Hike in mortgage costs after mini-budget cuts 20% off buyer demand in October

First-time buyers pulled back most from purchasing a home after the increase in mortgage costs following the mini-budget, according to a report showing a widespread slowdown in the property market.

Figures from the property platform Rightmove show buyer demand fell 20% in October compared with a year ago, as house-hunters put their property searches on hold in response to soaring borrowing costs and rising economic uncertainty.

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UK house prices fall after ‘significant shock’ of mini-budget

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Halifax reports steepest monthly drop since February 2021 amid interest rate rises

UK house prices fell by 0.4% in October after Liz Truss’s mini-budget drove a sudden rise in mortgage rates, the lender Halifax said.

The decline in the average price to £292,598 was the third in the past four months and the steepest since February 2021. The annual rate of growth in house prices slowed to 8.3% in October from 9.8% in September.

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UK mortgage rate rises ‘will put extra 400,000 people in poverty’

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Analysis from Joseph Rowntree Foundation comes after Bank of England raised base rate

Higher monthly home loan costs will pull another 400,000 people into poverty in the coming year as the fallout from dearer mortgage rates ricochets through the housing market.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) said an extra 120,000 households, the equivalent of 400,000 people, will be plunged into poverty when their current mortgage deal ends.

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UK housebuilder Bellway expects sluggish sales as interest rates rise

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Company warns that next 12 months will be tougher, with economy likely to go into recession

The UK housebuilder Bellway has said demand for houses has moderated since the summer and it expects the number of sales to be roughly flat over the next year against a backdrop of rising interest rates and a deteriorating economy.

The company completed a record 11,198 homes in the year to 31 July, up 10.5% on the previous year, as a booming housing market drove £3.5bn of revenues, up 13% and also a record.

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Five million UK families ‘face mortgage rising by £5,100 a year by end of 2024’

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Increase adds up to a £26bn rise for homeowners, says Resolution Foundation thinktank

More than five million families could see their annual mortgage payments rise by an average of £5,100 between now and the end of 2024, heaping fresh pain on households already struggling with higher food and energy bills.

The increase adds up to a £26bn mortgage rise for homeowners, according to the analysis by the Resolution Foundation thinktank which said nearly a fifth of British households would have to spend more on their housing costs by the end of 2024.

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UK’s 13-year housing market boom to end in 2023, surveyors predict

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RICS report says rise in repossessions will add to supply while soaring interest rates price buyers out of market

Homeowners will struggle to make mortgage repayments and repossessions will rise next year as soaring interest rates and falling prices mark the end of the UK’s 13-year housing market boom, according to a sobering report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

The number of inquiries from potential homebuyers fell for a fifth month in a row in September, while sales fell to the lowest level since May 2020 when the housing market all but ground to a halt during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, it said.

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Kwarteng considers extending mortgage guarantee scheme

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Initiative may continue beyond December as bank bosses raise concerns over mortgage market

The chancellor is considering extending the government’s mortgage guarantee scheme after UK bank bosses raised concerns over the state of the UK’s mortgage market at a high-level meeting at No 11 Downing Street.

The meeting on Thursday – which was attended by chief executives including Alison Rose of NatWest, Charlie Nunn of Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC UK’s Ian Stuart, Mike Regnier of Santander and TSB’s Robin Bulloch – was scheduled amid mounting fears about the potential fallout from rapidly rising mortgage rates.

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Battersea power station: timeline of a modern classic

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Begun in 1929, the building was a collaboration between architects Theo Halliday and Sir Giles Gilbert Scott

Battersea power station was built in two phases, as a collaboration between the architects Theo Halliday and Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.

Halliday was responsible for the overall shape and the interior.

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