So I thought I would print some of their press release.

“Despite poor weather conditions throughout February, estate agents over the course of the month managed to increase the number of sales they agreed, report the National Association Estate Agents.

This increased number of sales can be explained in part by a time lag between the increased number of house hunters in January settling on a house purchase in February. The level of housing stock also remained stable this month which is another positive indicator of a strengthening market.

In addition to this, the FTB (first time buyers) segment of the market continued to fare well, with a slight increase on last month’s figures which brought them in line with the percentage of FTB buyers on the market this time last year.

The number of people registering with an agent dropped in comparison to last month’s figures. There are a number of reasons for this; the ongoing bad weather being an obvious barrier for many house hunters. February is also a tough month in terms of people receiving their credit card bills from Christmas.

The realisation of the end of the Stamp Duty holiday may also be a contributory factor. To conclude, February was relatively stable and continued to suggest strength in the gradually improving housing market

NUMBER OF HOUSE-HUNTERS

The number of house-hunters registered per branch decreased from 291 in January to 258 in February. This month’s figure is not totally unexpected, with the continuing bad weather making it difficult for people to attend viewings.

Many people are also receiving their credit card bills in February for their Christmas excesses which is likely to deter some house hunters from registering.

Even though it is the lowest figure recorded over the last 12 months, it isn’t a true reflection of the current level of demand. Levels are expected to pick up amongst house hunters as the weather improves”.

So as you can see, the estate agents are confident and so should we be as home owners, that the value of our property in Surrey is in demand should we decide to sell and other recent data suggests that the value in property has increased in the last 6 months.

Michael Usher Member SHBN
www.mumsltd.co.uk

One thing they all tell me is that house prices are up. Not to the levels they were 2 or 2.5 years ago, but thing are beginning to look up despite there not being enough houses on the market actually for sale.

This has been confirmed by the latest RightMove press release stating 3.2% rise in house prices nationally.

I thought I would print the article here:

—————–

Monthly rise of 3.2% has not been beaten since April 2007, reveals the latest Rightmove House Price Index

The stock-starved housing market saw a welcome increase in the number of properties coming to market during the month, with over 90,000 new listings on Rightmove. Sellers appear to be hoping for a prosperous new year, and are asking an average of 3.2% more than last month.

This average rise of over £7,000 is surprising given the difficult UK and global economic picture. However property in popular locations remains in short supply, supporting upwards price pressure, as seen in London where the average asking price this month is the highest we have ever recorded.

Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove comments:

“A price jump of over 3% is more comparable to the pre-credit-crunch boom-times. Sellers are setting their sights higher, and some agents are going along with them in order to win scarce instructions.

“Property for sale remains scarce in popular areas, but new supply to the market has to be priced at what buyers are willing and able to pay. An average increase of over £7,000 may prove to be a bit too spicy for some buyers’ tastes, now that economic constraints have forced them to develop a simpler palate.”

Supply of new sellers continues upward trend

The number of properties coming to market is up by 19.8% on the same period in 2009. It should be noted that the amount of new stock in January 2009 was constrained by the introduction of the ban on marketing a property until its Home Information Pack had been prepared, and this has exaggerated this month’s increase.

New property listings are still down around 37% on the average numbers of properties coming to market recorded in the same period from 2005 to 2008. Average stock for sale per estate agent branch remains static at 63, with property in the more popular locations still in short supply.

East Anglia and the South East show least recovery in new supply, still 45% and 43% down respectively on average levels seen at this time of year between 2005 and 2008. Conversely, the North region shows supply recovery to within 6% of 2005-08 levels.

Shipside comments:

“Where supply remains well below historic levels, which is especially noticeable in parts of the south, upwards price pressure looks sustainable. Sellers whose research indicates there are few properties like theirs on the local market have a spring window of opportunity.

“Where property supply is closer to pre-crunch levels, sellers should price more aggressively having critically compared their property to recent actual sales as well as to what’s currently on the market.”

January search activity sets new records

Rightmove site traffic is a good barometer of prospective buyer intent, with January proving to be a record month. Pages viewed were up 29% on January 2009, at 710 million. Mondays are the busiest days, with the post weekend period being the most popular time to search for what is available, including new listings and price reductions.

For the first time, the number of visitors to our site passed the one million threshold in a single day on the 25th of January, and seventeen days in the month exceeded the previous record day from August of last year.

January is the traditional time for bargain hunters to start shopping around, though with prices recovering there will be fewer bargains to be had this year, and agents and sellers may have to work harder to put a deal together.

Shipside observes:

“The record site activity ties in with the findings of the Q1 Rightmove Consumer Confidence Survey, where 62% of the 32,000 surveyed stated they believe it is a good time to buy. However, many of those searching are likely to have a degree of nervousness about the economic outlook, with only 11.1% of those surveyed believing that the country’s current economic conditions are favourable.

“With finance still tight, properties will have to be beautifully presented and keenly priced in order to convert this high level of buyer interest into firmer commitment.”

Can financial fundamentals support this rate of increase?

Average national asking prices are now 6.1% (£13,300) higher than a year ago. We forecast that new property coming to the market will continue to be at higher prices in the first half of 2010, though sellers must be aware of the paradigm shift that has occurred in the residential mortgage-backed securities market.

Before the deregulation of the late 1980s, lenders relied upon savers’ deposits to fund a more restricted mortgage market. This deregulation was then followed by ten years or more of competitively driven innovation to create a seemingly virtuous circle of mortgage supply and demand.

The circle has been broken by the banking crisis. A return to the peak levels of sales and mortgage transactions will have to await a return to previous wholesale funding methods, or a new variant, as the gap is too large to be filled by retail deposits when the Bank of England winds down its support for the mortgage market.

Shipside comments:

“Sellers are starting to appear in greater numbers, but they must realise this market is more akin to the mortgage-rationed times of the 1970s and 1980s than to more recent times of relatively easy mortgage availability.

“For individual sellers it’s hard to grasp the bigger picture and they rightly hope they will find a buyer who can get the required share of the rationed finance that is available. This works after a fashion while the number of sellers remains limited. However if sellers return to the market in larger numbers the current upwards price pressure will not be sustainable with the restricted number of buyers.”

Hope you find this useful.

If I can help you in any way please do not hesitate to give me a call.

Michael

email; michael@mumsltd.co.uk

Things continue to improve, especially with the Bank Of England holding rates at 0.5%

House prices are up

• House prices rose by 1.2% in January and are up 8.6% year-on-year
  
• Recent economic data has been a mixed bag for the housing market
  
• Inflation uncertainties highlight interest rate risk

Please click here for the Nationwide house price calculator.

*seasonally adjusted

Commenting on the figures Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide’s Chief Economist said:

”House prices strengthened their upward momentum at the start of 2010, increasing by a seasonally adjusted 1.2% month-on-month in January.

The 3 month on 3 month rate of change – usually a smoother indicator of the near term trend – dipped slightly from 2.3% in December to 2.1 % in January, but this primarily reflects the smaller price increases recorded in November and December.

At £163,481, the average price of a typical UK property cost 8.6% more than a year earlier in January, up from 5.9% in December. Unless there is a fall in property values in February, annual house price inflation is likely to move into double-digit territory next month for the first time since May 2007.”

All sounds good to me.

Need help or advice in getting a mortgage, please give me a call

Michael Usher
01276 670777

First of all Nationwide Building Society put out a press release saying that property prices were up 0.9%. Wow we all thought as we listened to the news, things are bottoming out, meaning house prices have got to their lowest value since the recession began and now they are starting to rise.

Now where’s that copy of the Star newspaper, I’ve got to buy me some houses…

But then the following day, The Halifax came out with an opposing story saying that prices had fallen 1.9% in March..Who do you believe?

The Facts of Life

The sad fact is and I have said it before, the public relations machines of these large institutions have to justify their existence by putting out the odd story that gets the attention of the media.

Of course I haven’t read up on where Nationwide get their information from, they do have a lot of statistics to go on, as they give out quite a number of mortgages each year. But statistics can be interpreted many different ways and The Nationwide Pr/Media department, took one “headline” statistic and that became their story.

Over the last few years, during the lead up to the recession, Nationwide were always coming out with sensationalist stories, (they must have a very imaginative head of media who came from the School of Media Sensationalism).

Of course, we all want the value of property to rise and Nationwide wants to put out positive stories, but they have been premature.

The Halifax Building society came out the day after Nationwide’s sensational 0.9% story saying that property prices are down 1.9%, so who do you believe.

What local estate Agents are saying

Well I can tell you the there is definitley movement in the market, more people are looking at property locally. My friends who are estate agents tell me that there has been an increase in the number of people registering for property alerts in Camberley, Frimley Farnborough and Aldershot.

Also people are becoming more realistic about their selling prices.

I have been in the property related business for 20 years starting off as an estate agent, before moving into the financial sector 12 years ago.

In my opinion, people are waiting for the the value of property to “Bottom Out”, before they get involved in the buying and selling of property again and my estate agent friends are saying that this is happening, that prices are not falling like they were two or three months ago and that now is a good time to buy…But they would say that wouldn’t they.

Conclusion

When the headlines say the value of property is up 0.9% or down 1.9%, they are talking about the national picture, which does not relate to surrey and hampshire.

My advice is talk to a good estate agent who knows his stuff, yes there are plenty of good ones out there and not one who waffles the same old sales lines, that they are famous for.
I can recommend a number of local ones if you wish,  just drop me an email

In the meantime take care and don’t believe everything you hear in the news.

Michael Usher

01276 670777

Of course statistics don’t lie, although they can be manipulated to suit the cause especially in the politics game.

Look at unemployment, up to over 2 million and it could get worse with some economists saying 3 million is likely, even a spokesman for the TUC acknowledged  that 3 mill. could be possible.

Most of the jobs lost are not local and its far worse up north, especially in the former industrial areas. But let’s not get complacent down south. I know quite a few people who have lots their jobs and others who are also very concerned about theirs.

Lord Turner, he’s the guy who has been given the job of reviewing the role of the FSA (the Financial Services Authority), has said that mortgages may become harder to get, with the loan to value of the mortgages having a minimum of 10-15% deposit required.

I don’t see that as a bad thing, its good that a buyer shows some commitment to buying a property by working harder to save for a deposit. But mortgage companies, banks and building societies should not make it tremendously hard and difficult to get a mortgage. There has to be a balance.

So I hope the government and the FSA do not go over the top, after all this is the same government that was talking about allowing mortgages with 7 times your salary.

International Monetary Fund report.

Yikes more bad news… according to the IMF the Uk is in a worse financial position than most of it G20 partners in fact it has said “Britain will take longer to recover from the recession than any other major economy”

Hold on to your hats, but don’t panic.

Need to Remortgage

There is no doubt mortgages are cheaper at the moment, but still people are not taking advantage of this.

I recently agreed a 250k remortgage for a couple who were on a 6.5% loan down to 3.9%…can you imagine the savings they made monthly, but more about that in another blog post.

If I can be of service please call me 01276 670777

Bye for now

Michael Usher

Home owners in Surrey and Hampshire have seen their mortgage payments slashed in the last 5 months, well those that have a tracker mortgage or those we have helped recently to secure low mortgage rates.

Now the Bank of England have decided to print more money as well, (what a good idea, I wish I could do that) what we need now….is more lending please and all we can hope is that the banks do start to make funds available for desperate house buyers.

But of course we will all have to pay for it in the end. You can’t just print more money like its going out of fashion and not worry that this kind of action will not come back and bite you on the bum, because it surely well.

But, like the government, let’s not worry about that now, lets get the economy going again and worry about those other things in the future.

The local housing market.

I have been talking to quite a number of estate agents in Camberley, Frimley and Farnborough and they have all been saying that they are busier now than in the last 12 months and in some areas and with certain types of properties, prices are stablising.

But the banks and buiding societies are making things tougher all round. They are still insisting 0n 15, 20, or even 25% deposits, in fact its said that the government are contemplating on making it a law that there should be a deposit of at least 15%. Not sure about that.

10% deposit would seem fair and indeed workable. My first mortgage in the 80′s required 10% and yes it was hard to find that money, but I worked harder, did a job on the side and finally saved enough money to get my first house.

Prices of houses are higher now, but we all earn a lot more now.

Houses are also more affordable than they were this time last year and I know I keep saying it, but you can still get an even better bargain if you negotiate!!!!

So now its a case of saying hooray to 0.5% interest rates if you have a certain mortgage, but boo!!!  if you are a saver. Swings and roundabouts comes to mind. After all some savers had it good for so long.

As Forrest Gump said “Life’s like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”

If I can help you in any way with you mortgage, please email me through the website or just pick up the phone, I wont bite.

Michael 01276 670777

website

Northern Rock is leading the way, but now all the building societies and banks will have to follow (if they want to retain their market share), as the Government backed Northern Rock is going to make £14Billion available for the mortgage market.

Finally some “Balls” is the market, this just what’s needed to get the housing market going again.

Here’s the full story from the Financial Times

N Rock to lend £14bn to revive housing market

By Martin Arnold and George Parker

Published: February 22 2009 22:05 | Last updated: February 23 2009 07:57

Northern Rock is to embark on a £14bn mortgage sales drive to resuscitate Britain’s sluggish housing market, fuelled by a hefty injection of fresh government funding for the state-owned lender to be announced on Monday.

The Newcastle-based lender will split into a “good bank/bad bank” structure, allowing it to lend about £5bn of new mortgages in 2009 and £9bn from 2010, depending on market demand and funding, the government said on Sunday night.

EDITOR’S CHOICE

Buy-to-let mortgage advances hit five-year low – Feb-21

Alistair Darling, the chancellor, will present the move as an effort by the government to help responsible, hard-working families get mortgages, arguing that even those with a 20 per cent deposit are struggling to get finance.

Northern Rock’s new mort­gage lending will be a far cry from the aggressive policy it pursued before its crash, a business model decried on Sunday by Gordon Brown, the prime minister, who said he wanted to see an end to 100 per cent mortgages.

The Treasury has been informally discussing the Northern Rock plan with the European Commission, which last year insisted the bank quickly repay its £27bn taxpayer loan to minimise distortion to competition.

But Mr Darling argues that much has changed since February 2008, when Northern Rock’s nationalisation was a rare event in European banking and when Brussels took a much tougher line on state aid.

The government hopes that by giving Northern Rock – once the UK’s biggest mortgage lender – the firepower to increase significantly its lending to homeowners it will halt the slide in new mortgages, which hit a 34-year low last year.

By the end of December it had repaid £18bn of its £27bn government loan, allowing it to end its policy of encouraging mortgage redemptions in order to shrink its loan book.

Mr Darling has been surprised at how quickly the bank has fulfilled its commitments to Brussels and now wants to reverse that process to fill the gap in mortgage funding.

The old mortgage book will be split from its other businesses, allowing it to focus on using fresh capital from the government to finance new lending, rather than covering losses on older loans. The “good bank/bad bank” split will leave the worst parts of Northern Rock’s mortgage book in a separate vehicle, expected to managed alongside the book of the nationalised Bradford & Bingley, which is being run down.

Both are expected to come under the auspices of UK Financial Investments, the arm’s length body handling the government’s banking interests. The aim is to position the “good” Northern Rock for an eventual sale to the private sector.

The new mortgage lending will be financed by a fresh government loan of up to £10bn, as well as a longer repayment schedule for state loans still outstanding and income from the bank’s deposits and repayments.

Last year gross mortgage lending was £258bn, down from £364bn in 2007, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. There were 516,000 mortgages last year, down 49 per cent from 2007 and the lowest since 1974.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

Good news in all the newspapers

Nationwide has announced interest rate cuts on a number of its fixed-rate mortgages, and has launched a new range of tracker mortgages.

As of 17th  February, new fixed-rate mortgage customers at the building society will be able to sign up for deals 0.2% lower than current rates.

The lower rates will also be available on remortgages and to current Nationwide customers renewing their mortgage contract.

Nationwide’s re-launched range of new tracker mortgages include two and three year deals. Two year tracker products start at 3.98%.

Andy McQueen, mortgage director, said: “We are increasing our mortgage product range with the re-launch of a two year tracker and a new three year tracker for those customers who are looking for a longer term tracker deal.”

Nationwide subsidiaries Cheshire and Derbyshire Building Societies recently launched a new range of fixed-rate bonds.

The housing and mortgage market is changing and there definitley more interest from buyers at the moment.

I’m not saying that the housing market has bottomed, but the scares from the media saying house prices would fall another 20% this year seem to be totally at odds with whats going on in the market,

I believe this is truly a good time to buy a property…for the long term, but also as an investment.

Back in October last year, the Bank of England rate was 5%.

Great news for house buyers, especially with tracker mortgages, but of course bad news for savers.

Of course this is the 5th interest rate cut in five months and I believe this will help to stimulate the housing market.

Already I have seen some loosening in the market and some banks are willing to listen and offer mortgages.

The media/press continue to churn out the bad news, which is not helping, but we as independent mortgage brokers are making headway and getting mortgages for our clients, today, this week, YES THIS WEEK.

I’m not saying its easy, but we are constantly in contact, on a daily basis with banks and building societies checking on the latest deals around.

It may suprise you to know that certain banks and building societies put out offers for just a couple of days, before withdrawing them after selling the multiple that they wanted… Thats where we come in and win as independents, because we hunt out the latest deals.

I do feel sorry for the savers, but with interest rates lower, those on tracker mortgages especially,  have benefitted by having reduced mortgages, meaning these mortgage holders will have more money to spend in the local and national economy, which is good for us all.

So with all the savings you have made on your mortgage, go spend some in the local restaurants and shops and do your bit, but don’t spend it all, save some, put it into Gold, prices still going up and you can invest in a gold bar for less that £80….

If you would like to change your mortgage to a tracker or fixed rate, give me a call 01276 670777

Michael

Visit our website

I thought I would publish something that appeared in one of the mortgage business trade journal “Mortgage Introducer”.

I think it goes to show that money is still being lent for mortgages, despite what we hear consistenly in the TV News

“27 January, 2009

In December, net mortgage lending by banks rose by £2.9 billion according to the British Bankers Association (BBA).

This was lower than in November and below the average of the previous six months. Consumer credit remained subdued, falling by £0.4 billion net, while personal deposits rose by £4.0 billion. However, the significant falls in Bank Rate and the financial sector turmoil affected both lender and customer activity in November and December, so monthly movements are less indicative than usual of trends, according to the BBA.

BBA statistics director, David Dooks, said of the latest data: “This first opportunity to compare 2008 with 2007 shows that gross mortgage lending by the main high street banks totalled £170 billion, some 23% below 2007’s total of £221 billion.

However, lending by the rest of the mortgage market was half the previous year’s total, showing how mortgage lending became much more concentrated during the year. The banks approved less than half the 2007 number of loans for house purchase, reflecting falling demand from households facing greater economic uncertainty and double-digit falls in house prices over the year which led to a wait-and-see mentality.

“Consumer credit was very weak in December as people reined in their credit card spending, despite early Sales and heavy discounting by retailers. This consumer caution was also reflected in personal deposits, which rose strongly.”

The annual growth rate for net mortgage lending was still in double digits at end-year and reflects the main banks replacing other lenders in the market. During 2008, banks’ net lending rose by £48 billion, compared with £62 billion in 2007. In 2008 as a whole, gross lending was £170 billion, some 23% lower than in 2007.

Approval activity appeared to increase slightly during December, but was more likely to reflect delayed activity from November. In 2008, house purchase approvals were 52% lower than in 2007. Approvals for remortgaging were 14% lower than 2007. Approvals for equity withdrawal & other purposes were 33% lower in 2008 than 2007″

A lot of technical info, but interesting never the less.

Michael www.mumsltd.co.uk