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15th December 2017
A third of all Londoners aged between 21 and 35 still live with their parents, new research has revealed. Some 54% said they could not afford to buy or face paying the expensive rent prices in the capital, the survey by consumer credit reporting agency Experian found.. Meanwhile 12% revealed they had previously moved out and then returned home because it was too expensive. Despite this, 36% said their main financial goal was to buy a home.
Evening Standard (12/12/2017)
15th December 2017
House price growth in the UK slowed again in October, for the third month in a row, according to official figures. Property prices rose 4.5% in the year to October, down from 4.8% in September and 5.1% in August, while on a monthly basis prices fell 0.5% to £223,807. House price growth reached 7% in the East Midlands, 6.7% in the South West, while London suffered the lowest annual growth of any region, with average prices up just 2.1% in the year to October and falling 0.9% to £481,102 between September and October. Overall, Prices in England went up by 4.7% over the year, compared with 4.5% in Wales, 2.8% in Scotland and 6% Northern Ireland.
BBC News (12/12/2017)
15th December 2017
Analysis by Moneyfacts shows that mortgage costs have barely moved following the Bank of England’s base rate rise, with interest costs at roughly the same rate they were a year ago. While November saw the base rate climb from 0.25% to 0.5%, the average two-year fixed mortgage has only risen from 2.31% before the shift to 2.34% since. On standard variable rate activity, Charlotte Nelson of Moneyfacts said: “Just 56% of providers have passed on a rise to their SVR, with seven of them choosing to increase their rates by less than the 0.25%, which has caused the average SVR to rise more modestly.”
The Daily Telegraph (11/12/2017)
15th December 2017
UK Finance has warned that a number of households will be at risk of losing their homes due to the decision to replace the support for mortgage interest (SMI) benefit with a Government loan, saying the issue will be exacerbated by the switch to universal credit. The combination of both factors mean it's “inevitable” that more of the families who fall behind on their mortgages will be evicted, the banking trade body has said. The UK Finance report, Challenges for our Home Ownership Safety Net , says that without SMI there is little incentive for lenders not to evict struggling borrowers. It adds that, for the most part, “owner occupiers who are unable to negotiate a means of catching up with their payments are expected to sell and what government assistance they continue to receive is within the rental market”.
The Mail on Sunday (10/12/2017)
8th December 2017
IHS Markit's purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the UK construction sector rose to 53 in November, smashing expectations, as housebuilders and developers forged ahead. Business activity rose at the strongest rate since June, IHS Markit said, while new orders and employment numbers also increased by their most in five months. Housebuilding rose to 56.6 in November, its highest level since June. Meanwhile the commercial construction index remained in negative territory at 48.4 while the civil engineering component edged up to 49.4. “Extended tepid economic activity an d heightened economic, political and Brexit uncertainties are clearly hampering the construction sector,” Howard Archer, chief economic advisor to the EY Item Club, said.
Financial Times (04/12/2017) The Daily Telegraph (04/12/2017)
8th December 2017
Rachel Springall, a finance expert at Moneyfacts, has told would-be buyers that improved mortgage deals may soon hit the market, saying December usually sees lenders launch best buy rates to drive interest and help them hit end of year targets. “While fixed rates are gradually rising, lenders are still launching some decent offers to entice new borrowers,” she commented.
Daily Mail (05/12/2017)