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Mortgage lenders are taking heed of environmental concerns with 26 "green mortgages" now available to borrowers. The deals promise lower mortgage rates to those whose homes have good energy efficiency ratings - typically a band A or B on the property's energy performance certificate. Until18 months ago there were no mortgages that offered discount rates for reducing a property's carbon footprint. Now, deals are from as little as 1.13% fixed over two years from NatWest for those with 40% equity in their home. That compares to the cheapest ordinary two-year fixed rate at the same loan-to-value, which is 1.24% t available from First Direct. Some lenders provide extra incentives, too, with Foundation Home Loans offering borrowers £750 cashback. Landlords are also eligible for the cheaper deals if they can show their properties have improved energy efficiency. Jeni Browne, director of Mortgages For Business, a broker specialising in buy-to-let, says: "At 14% of the UK's total emissions, housing has a greater carbon footprint than the farming industry and nearly as much as our shops and offices. We need a mass retrofitting programme on existing, inefficient properties in the private rented sector." |
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Property owners are more likely than renters to have been vaccinated, official breakdown of uptake figures in the over-50s has shown. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that the probability of someone accepting the jab is significantly linked to ethnicity, religion, language skills, job level and housing situation. It found that the vaccination rate among homeowners is 93.7%, but falls just 84.2% for those who rent privately. It was slightly higher for people renting social housing, at 86.6%. |
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The latest phase of the redevelopment of the old London Docks is now on the property market, with apartments in the new 18-storey Saffron Wharf tower up for grabs. Architects Patel Taylor have swept away old cobwebs with new shops, bars and restaurants, 1,800 homes and public spaces just a stone's throw from the Tower of London. “We want to retain much of the rich maritime and trading heritage of this neighbourhood”, developer St George City's managing director Marcus Blake said. “This includes workspace in the old Pennington Street Warehouse”, which has been refurbished into workshops with its historic brick walls and archways. Prices at the site start from £730,000. |
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House prices have rocketed over the course of the stamp duty holiday and there is a buying frenzy as the deadline looms, reports the Sunday Times. Figures from HMRC show almost 191,000 homes were sold in March - the highest number in a single month since July 2004. But the savings from the Chancellor’s tax cut have long since been cancelled out by property price rises. The average asking price in the UK has now hit £327,797, an increase of more than £4,000 on the previous record set last October. |
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Investors and developers are looking to provide alternatives to the Help to Buy programme and the Government’s 95% mortgage scheme. In one plan, banks will “top up” small deposit mortgages using funds from institutional investors. Banks will still provide 85% of the loan; an institutional investor will top up the remaining 10%, opening up the 5% deposit market for borrowers. Another plan, Deposit Unlock, would allow for the purchase of new homes with a 5% deposit. In this case, developers will put up funds to guarantee lenders against losses if a property is repossessed, up to the first 40% of a loan, but it would be backed up by insurance. |
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More lenders are launching 5% deposit mortgages onto the market in a further boost to first-time buyers. New deals announced by Metro Bank and Cambridge Building Society are not part of a new Government-backed mortgage guarantee scheme which was launched this week to increase the availability of 5% deposit loans. Major lenders including Halifax, HSBC UK, Barclays, NatWest and Santander are taking part in that scheme and unveiled new 5% deposit products earlier this week. The average two-year fixed-rate at 95% loan-to-value (LTV) is now 4.02%, down from 4.47% on April 1st, according to Moneyfacts. The average five-year fixed rate is 4.17%, down from 4.32%. |
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The Courier (23/04/2021) The I (23/04/2021) The Times (23/04/2021) |