Mortgage News
Property values fall below last years for the first time
Nationwide's house price index reports a fall in value of 1.1% in April, which in addition to the falls of the last six months, eats up any equity that the average home has increased by in the past 12 months, leaving the final value at 1% lower than this time last year.
Economy will slow, but lenders expect UK to avoid recession
Lenders and intermediaries agree the economy will continue to slow, but respondents to IMLA's latest member survey think the UK will avoid a full-scale recession.
Prudential reports market leading lifetime mortgage sales
Prudential has reported a strong first quarter performance for its lifetime mortgage business, and believes its sales during this period made it the number one provider in lifetime mortgages.
CML: Bank of England mortgage approvals data
Responding to mortgage approvals data from the Bank of England, CML director general, Michael Coogan said: "It comes as no surprise that approvals for house purchase have continued to decline. This will result in a substantially lower level of housing transactions in 2008 than we saw last year.
Mortgage lending continues to slow
The increase in total net lending to individuals in March (£8.2 billion) was below the increase in February and the previous six-month average, according to figures from the Bank of England (BoE).
Natwest & RBS cuts rates on new fixed and tracker mortgages
With mortgage rates continuing to rise across the industry, RBS today announces that from Wednesday, 30th April, it is to cut rates by up to 0.30% - with the prices of all new fixed and tracker mortgages lowered by at least 0.10%. These deals are available through RBS and NatWest branches.
Abbey and Nationwide's latest borrowing restrictions
Commenting on Abbey and Nationwide's latest borrowing restrictions, Louise Cuming, head of mortgages at moneysupermarket.com, said:
Bradford & Bingley selects Just Retirement Solutions
Bradford & Bingley has announced it has appointed Just Retirement Solutions to offer its customers advice on equity release products.
MoneyExpert.com: Minimum mortgage deposits
Sean Gardner of MoneyExpert.com said: "The biggest struggle now is not being able to afford a mortgage - it's being able to get one. Availability is the biggest hurdle despite all the Government efforts to get lenders lending.
HSBC's Rate Matcher mortgage appeals to UK consumers
The results of a fairinvestment.co.uk poll show that the launch of the new HSBC Rate Match mortgage has been generally well received by UK consumers.
Nationwide changes mortgage range
Nationwide Building Society will, from Thursday 1 May, launch a new offer to help first time buyers who deal with Nationwide directly.
Take a break with a mortgage holiday
Hard-pressed homeowners are being urged to check the terms of their mortgage as they could be eligible for a break from their monthly payments, according to MoneyExpert.com.
uSwitch.com: OFT judgement
Simeon Linstead, Head of Personal Finance at uSwitch.com, the independent price comparison and switching service, comments on the judgement today that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) can apply consumer contract regulations to decide if bank overdraft charges are fair or not.
Skipton's SVR remains lowest of top 10 building societies
Skipton Building Society has announced that, in response to the cut in Bank of England Base Rate, it will reduce its SVR to 6.45% from 6.70%.
Gilty Government plan can only bring slow relief
Despite the Bank of England's £50bn swap of gilts for cash for mortgage backed securities, lenders' cost of borrowing is yet to show a significant improvement, dropping a negligible 0.04%. The spread between LIBOR and Bank rate remains a significant 0.88%.