Mortgage News

A staggering 86 per cent of Brits are taking some form of measure to combat rising inflation, according to research by Abbey Mortgages.

Legal & General has launched a fast conveyancing service through its Mortgage Club, offering customers an essential service at a competitive price and advisers the opportunity for new revenue streams.

Cheshire Building Society has introduced a family value mortgage to reward its members and their family for their membership offering £500 off the £999 arrangement fee on its competitive two-year fixed rate mortgage at a rate of 6.49 per cent.

Ray Boulger of John Charcol, the UK's leading independent mortgage adviser commented, "Today's no change decision by the MPC was widely expected.

Woolwich is cutting the rates on its most popular Lifetime Tracker product in an effort to encourage customers to take advantage of these fully flexible, fee free products at a time when many are sitting tight waiting for better news on short term fixed rates.

Darren Cook, mortgage expert at Moneyfacts.co.uk, comments: "Twelve months ago, a mortgage borrower could pick and choose from in excess of 15,000 mortgage products and handed an advance of 125% of the actual property value.

Lending for house purchase increased slightly from April to May, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. Loans for house purchase increased by 4% in volume to 52,700, and by 2% in value to £7.9 billion; although both were 44% lower than May last year.

Statistics published last week by the BoE are not for bespoke Equity Release products, but for all re-mortgages for purposes other than a new house purchase.

As the global credit crunch tightens its grip on the UK housing market and industry experts predict we are yet to see the worst, the equity release market continues to buck the trend and prosper.

Cheshire Building Society is offering a Shared Ownership mortgage for those struggling to get on the property ladder.

Abbey is reducing the rates by up to 0.20% on a number of its 75 per cent loan-to-value fixed rate and tracker mortgage deals.

HSBC head of mortgages Martijn van der Heijden said: "We would whole-heartedly agree that home buyers should shop around and compare the market because more often than not in recent months they would have come to HSBC.

Nationwide Building Society has announced that it is cutting the price of some of its fixed rate and tracker mortgage deals by up to 0.27%.

"There is clearly a lot to be said for peace of mind when it comes to financial products, after all, the King of mortgage protection - the fixed rate - is as popular as ever.

Commenting on the MarketGuard Interest Rate Insurance launch, Louise Cuming, head of mortgages at price comparison site moneysupermarket.com, said: