Here in the UK mortgage approvals fell to a 19 month low.

As always the news headlines that you see and hear in the media are for the UK nationwide.

Here in Camberley and surrounding areas, we are in a unique position. Here at Michael Usher Mortgage Services, we are rather busy with obtaining mortgages for our clients.

Although it is more difficult that than it was 2-3 years ago to get a mortgage, there is a shortage of property in the south of England.

It all comes down to the mortgage deposit that you have.

People still want to buy, but have to either save more for their deposit, or find money from an external source to help them achieve getting their deposit together.

Often young people will go to their parents for help, or a friend or relation.

They work out a deal whereby, the deposit is lent to the buyer on the understanding that when the house is sold, the parent, friend or relation will be repaid with interest or a cut in the profit.

I have known many parents do this and it makes sense.

In the good old days, “well off” parents always (if possible) lent their kids money for their deposit.

If you are thinking about how you can get a mortgage and you need some advice on raising enough money for a mortgage, give me  a call.

For mortgage advice in Camberley, Farnborough Aldershot and Basingstoke…

Call me 01276 670777

We keep hearing and reading in the news about house price and values falling, that may be the national picture, but in Camberley, Farnborough and other local areas this is not actually the case.

As I have mentioned on this blog many times before, I talk on a daily basis with estate agents at Romans, Bridges, Vickerys and many other independent estate agents and prices have held.

This mostly due to a lack of properties on the market.

But anyway here is the piece that was featured in the Daily Telegraph today…

British house prices fell at their sharpest pace in eighteen months in October as a lack of mortgage finance and an uncertain economic outlook put off buyers.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ house price index showed a balance of 49pc of surveyors saying prices were falling, compared with 36pc during the previous month and the highest level since April 2009.

The number of people looking to buy a home fell for the fifth month in a row during October as activity in the housing market continued to slow.

There was also a drop in the number of sellers coming to the market for the first time since January, when the extreme winter weather caused people to put their plans on hold.

“With both supply and demand falling, transaction activity is set to remain at relatively flat levels for the foreseeable future,” said RICS spokesman Jeremy Leaf.

RICS said those who did want to press ahead with a transaction continued to struggle to raise the mortgage they need.

You can read more here

Every body wants the lowest rates on their mortgage.

Here at Michael Usher Mortgage services Frimley, we try and achieve that.

With bank rates at all time low at 0.5%, you might wonder why you are still paying 5-6%. Quite rightly, but no matter how loud we shout, we as consumers, just do not get heard.

One of the top questions I am asked is what’s the best rate you can get for me. The problem is….Its not simply pulling out a rate card and saying “there you go”.

The best rate that I have achieved for one of my clients recently,  is 2.29%, could anyone get that rate, no not really, because of the criteria set by the lender.

But I do believe that most people could reduce their mortgage payments significantly, if they started to look around.

I think I have my finger on the pulse, I am informed immediatley of the offers from all the big lenders, so I can jump on those offers as they come out.

So if you have a mortgage, that you think you are paying too much for, give me a call and I’ll see what we can do.

In the intrests of openess, the 2.29% mortgage was a 2 year tracker with a deposit of over 25%

Michael

Well there isn’t actually a house price index for Camberley, Aldershot, Farnborough or any of the the other local towns.

However the Halifax has released its latest figures showing the national trends.

As I have written before, the south of England, still has a shortage of properties to sell, even though it currently is a buyers market at the moment.

Here are the key facts from their report…

• Prices in the three months to October were 1.2% lower than in the preceding three months. House price data on a quarterly basis provides a clearer indication of the overall market trends, smoothing out the volatility caused by the reduced number of monthly transactions in all house prices indices’ monthly figures. All the major house price indices are indicating an underlying slowdown in house prices notwithstanding a divergence in monthly reporting.
• Prices in October were 2.3% lower than at the end of 2009 on a seasonally adjusted basis (-1.2% unadjusted).
• The underlying pace of house price growth has turned moderately negative in recent months. The rate of decline, however, is significantly lower than the quarterly rate of decline of -5% to -6% during the second half of 2008.
• House prices remain higher than a year ago. Prices in October were 1.2% higher on an annual basis as measured by the average for the latest three months against the same period a year earlier. This continues the recent downward trend from a high of 6.9% in May.
• House prices in October were 6.6% higher than in April 2009. Despite the recent downturn, prices remain above the trough reached in spring 2009. The average price is now £164,919; £10,256 higher than in April 2009.

Mortgage news for home buyers  in Surrey and Hampshire

According to the latest figures released by the Bank of England on Friday, October 29th showed that residential mortgage approvals remained low in September 2010. The data suggests that UK housing market is still fragile and might not be ready for another quantitative easing (QE) planned to be implemented by the national bank.

As such, the statistics published by the Bank of England demonstrated that the number of approved mortgage fell from 47,498 in August to 47,474 in September. Although the decrease is not dramatic and is clearly more positive than experts’ expaectations, it is nonetheless a decrease.

In the opinion of Hetal Mehta of Daiwa Capital, the low level of mortgage approvals is due not only to restricted lending policies, but also to subdued demand of UK borrowers.

Financial experts expect the situation on UK mortgage market to worsen in 2011 as government’s cuts will come into force.
(Source: E1 BTL Finance)

Here’s some news that might make choosing a conveyancer in Camberley even easier.

The Law Society will make the life of UK conveyancers even harder in the coming year as it will launch a conveyancing quality scheme (CQS) to help homesellers and homebuyers make competent choices.

CQS will be awarded to those conveyancing firms that provide services and advice of high standards.

The introduction of the quality scheme by the Law Society is approved by such leading organisations as the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), the Building Societies Association (BSA) and the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

The Conveyancing Quality Scheme will provide a recognised quality standard for residential conveyancing practices. Achievement of membership will establish a level of credibility for member firms with stakeholders (regulators, lenders, insurers and consumers) based upon:

* the integrity of the Senior Responsible Officer and other key conveyancing staff.

* the firm’s adherence to good practice management standards.

* adherence to prudent and efficient conveyancing procedures through the scheme protocol.

This scheme will create a trusted community which will deter fraud – year on year we will drive up standards.

I have seen local Mortgage approvals up in Camberley, Bagshot and Farnborough up on previous months.

But according to some, especially The British Bankers Association, mortgage are in decline.

Here’s a piece as reported in www.thisjusthappened.com

“Mortgages in the United Kingdom are continuing to decline, with net lending among British banks now progressing at one of the slowest rates seen in almost a decade.  Data released on Monday by the British Bankers Association reveals that mortgage approvals – traditionally a reliable indicator of housing activity and prices for the foreseeable future – eased to just over 31,100 in September, the lowest overall figure since March 2009.

Likewise, seasonally adjusted net mortgage lending grew to just over one and a half billion last month, a sharp decrease compared to the 2.5 billion in August, let alone the almost three billion figure recorded in September of the previous year.

David Dooks, statistics director for the British Bankers Association, notes that the figures showing the subdued level of mortgage activity are a clear indication of the level of uncertainty that has been generated by the British government’s Spending Review, which were announced just last week.

“Demand for new mortgages remains low despite more properties on the market and falling house prices,” Dooks notes.

As Dooks points out, house prices in the United Kingdom are also declining, with Halifax announcing that September saw the largest fall in house prices ever recorded in the UK during a single month.

“Coming before the full impact of the fiscal contraction, the pain of which was fleshed out further in last month’s Spending Review, the latest fall in mortgage lending is another sign that a normalization in housing market activity levels is a long way,” says Paul Diggle, a housing market economist at Capital Economics”.

Sorry not seeing this locally
Michael

The National Association Of Estate Agents, say that house sales are up.  I must say that here in Camberley and Frimley we have seen  an increase in enquiries from local people here at Michael Usher Mortgage services mums

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. Read more »

I talk to a lot of local estate agents in Camberley, Blackwater, Farnborough, Aldershot, you know all the local big towns, on a fairly regular basis.

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 Read more »

Just picked this little gem up from the press wires.

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 Read more »