Primarily based on Halifax’s own house price info the average selling price in Woking was 16% higher than in the previous year increasing from £257,590 in 2010 to £299,654 in 2011. Woking of course is a large commuter town within easy reach of central London by rail.

Falkirk in Scotland experienced the second largest rise in house prices with a 12 per cent gain. Like Woking, Falkirk is inside straightforward commuting distance of major commercial centers of Edinburgh and Glasgow. The town also has comparatively low average property prices making it more reasonable than lots of other areas close to Scotland’s 2 largest cities.

Towns in London and the South East accounted for 9 of the 20 cities recording the biggest price increases in 2011.

28% of the towns surveyed saw some increase in prices over the year. Kettering in Northamptonshire and Dunfermline in Scotland experienced the largest falls in average selling costs in 2011 both recording declines of 15 per cent. 9 of the10 towns that saw the biggest declines in property values are outside southern England reflecting the generally weaker performance of the housing market outside of the south.

Martin Ellis housing economist at Halifax commented “Whilst house prices nationally have been largely unchanged in recent months, there have been significant differences in performance in towns across the country. The two towns recording the biggest rises are both within easy commuting distance of major commercial centres.

In contrast, the majority of towns that have fared worst in house price terms are outside southern England where economic conditions have tended to be less favourable.

“Uncertainty around the economy is unusually high as we go into the New Year. This makes it especially difficult to predict the course of house prices over the next 12 months. Overall, we expect broad stability in house prices nationally during 2012. Nonetheless, we expect some variation in house price movements across the country. Prices are likely to be strongest in London and the South East as these regions perform better economically. House prices outside southern England are expected to be constrained by these areas’ generally weaker economic performance and their greater dependence on public sector employment..

In August it was 30% higher than last year. In fact it’s believed that the UK mortgage market could be well on its way to recovery as new figures have revealed that 52,000 new house purchase loans were approved in August, an increase of 7%.

The report by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) whose members are banks, building societies and other lenders who together undertake around 94% of all residential mortgage lending in the UK said the new loans were worth £7.9 billion in total.

They also said that monthly mortgage interest payments are now an average of 9.4% of house buyers’ incomes, the lowest rate measured since the beginning of records in 2002.

An increase has also been noted in the number of loans available for remortgaging, which have risen by a third to 34,100.
Paul Smee, director general of the CML, said: “Even though it is impossible to ignore the knocks to confidence emanating from the eurozone, August lending showed welcome signs of life.
“With those moving house experiencing a record low in the proportion of their income needed to pay their mortgage interest, it is clear that the low rate environment is a benefit to those with mortgages, even against the backdrop of the gloom in the wider economy.”

Hey, I thought we were busy, obviously it’s not just us..

So if you want any help or advice on any aspect of new mortgages or remortgages, please get in touch.

Michael

www.mumsltd.co.uk

Borrowing money has never been cheaper and thats a fact..

But at this moment you can get a mortgage with a mortgage rate of 1.99%

Now I’ll grant you that you need a 30% deposit, but that’s not a stretch for some people who can easily find this as part of their current equity on their current home.

So are you paying more that 1.99% at the moment? If you can meet the criteria laid down by the lender, it may be worth you talking to us, to see if we can save you lots of money monthly and shorten your mortgage period.

Give us a call for a no obligation chat

01276 670777

Many experts believe that this will continue for the next year or two, which is not a bad thing in my opinion. After all we’re not here to make a quick buck with our homes but hope that, when we finish paying our mortgage off, we’ll own it outright.

We’re here for the long term, when it comes to our home, although I appreciate that not everyone feels the same and some do see it as a way of making lots of wonga!!

So I came across this piece from the BBC website that I thought you might to read about the “Stagnation Of Property Prices” in the UK…..

House prices in England and Wales continue to stagnate, according to the latest figures from the Land Registry.

Average prices fell by 0.3% in August to £162,347, leaving them 2.6% lower than a year ago.

It was the third fall in the past four months and means the annual rate of house price decline has changed little during that time.

With small fluctuations each month, house prices in England and Wales have hardly changed since the end of 2010.

The Land Registry said that prices in London continued to diverge strongly from the rest of the country.

They rose by another 0.5% last month and are now 2.1% higher than they were a year ago.

This makes London the only region to experience a rise in prices in the past year, with property prices now averaging £348,686.

By contrast, in that time prices have fallen by 7.8% in the North East of England and by 5.5% in Wales.

Lucy Pendleton, of estate agents James Pendleton, said the market was in a state of eternal to-ing and fro-ing.

“London, with its unique climate, once again stands out as the most resilient local market in the UK,” she said.
“While London prices float upwards due to a shortage of property and strong demand, not least from wealthy foreign buyers attracted by the cheap pound, for the rest of the UK it is not quite so positive.”

‘Tight funding conditions’

The continued stagnation of prices and sales has been mainly due to the rationing of mortgage funds by banks and building societies, which has been in force since the height of the banking crisis in 2008.

A report from the Bank of England – its latest quarterly Credit Conditions Survey – has found that lenders continue to find it difficult to raise funds in the financial markets, which they can then lend to customers.

Lenders told the Bank that there had been more demand for mortgages in the third quarter of this year.

And they expected to be able to offer a little more money to would-be borrowers in the coming months.

But the Bank warned that things might take a turn for the worse.

“In both the household and corporate surveys, lenders pointed to adverse wholesale funding conditions as a key factor which might constrain future lending,” the Bank said.

“More recent discussions with some of the major lenders suggested that although these factors had not yet led to reduced credit availability, a period of sustained tight funding conditions could act to constrain their ability to extend loans going forward,” it added.

Property market commentator Henry Pryor said that with asking prices still much higher than selling prices, sellers were still in denial about the true market value of their homes.

The property website Rightmove recently reported that this month the average asking price in estate agents’ windows had risen by 1.5% to just over £233,000 – a huge 44% more than the actual selling price of homes the previous month.

“The result of this difference of opinion is that the market is seizing up with low sales volumes reflecting that very few buyers and sellers can agree on a mutually uncomfortable price,” he said.

“Sellers need to wake up and realise that an optimistic guide price just makes you look greedy and unrealistic.”

In fact he has pledged 200,000 in a ‘right-to-buy’ revamp. this will be great news for people living in council houses that really want to buy the home they currently live in.

I borrowed this from www.yourmortgage.co.uk

David Cameron has promised up to 200,000 extra affordable homes as he unveiled plans to extend Margaret Thatcher’s ‘right-to-buy’ programme.

In an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr, the Prime Minister said the government is to increase the discounts available to council housing tenants in England who want to buy their own homes.

The move is an extension of the right-to-buy policy, which proved a vote winner for Margaret Thatcher, but critics said crippled the stock of social housing and fuelled a house price bubble.

Cash raised by the sale of council housing will be spent on buying further homes, which will then be rented out at a reduced rate.

Cameron told the BBC: “There are over two million homes that are still available to be bought.

“So this is something that will make a big difference. And again that could provide another 100,000 homes, another 200,000 jobs.

“So taking those two policies together that could be 200,000 extra homes, 400,000 extra jobs.”

The government’s aim is to build one new home – to be let at up to 80% of the market rent – for each property sold. On proposed changes to the planning laws, Cameron said changes needed to be made to give communities a greater say on the extra housing they need to keep their shops, pubs and post offices alive.

We have been finding mortgages for first time buyers and those who want to remortgage.

But according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders, not all advisers have been. It may be that prices have stabalised locally, despite the doom and gloom from city experts..

Here is there assessment from 14th June

“Loans for house purchase increased in April, according to data released today from the Council of Mortgage Lenders. But, with Bank of England data showing a fall in house purchase approvals in April, there could be a lull in house purchase completions in the next few months.

There were 40,900 loans, worth £5.9 billion, advanced for house purchase in April, up from 37,900, worth £5.5 billion, in March and down from 41,900, worth £6 billion, a year earlier. While this is a further increase compared to earlier in the year, house purchase activity is still below the level seen in April last year.

Remortgage lending fell in April. 24,700 remortgage loans were advanced, worth £3 billion, compared to 34,100, worth £4.1 billion, in March. This is fractionally higher than April last year.

With remortgage activity currently linked to expectations of interest rate movements, future activity will be subdued as an imminent increase in the bank rate is now looking less likely. There was also a fall in remortgage approvals in April so remortgage completions are likely to remain modest in the coming months.”

We like to think we are busy despite the current recession. A lot of our customers have been with us for years and have changed their mortgage (remortgaged) many times over last 20 years to onbtain different deals

“Boost for first time buyers with 10 per cent deposit as mortgage rate falls below 6 per cent for first time in three years

The average cost of a 90 per cent loan-to-value (LTV) mortgage, typically taken out by first-time buyers, is now 5.98 per cent -  0.4  per cent less than in May last year.

In a further boost to people trying to get on to the property ladder, the number of different deals available to those with only a 10  per cent deposit has soared by 41 per cent during the same period to 229″

Naturally there are better deals out there for those with a bigger deposit. If you have 20-30-50% or more then, you could expect 3.91% (40%)

But of course, only those with existing properties, will have those kind of deposits. But a lot of my existing customers are looking for and getting better deals all the time.

But, first time buyers are an ingenious bunch and they seem to find lots of ways to come up with the 10% deposit that is often required.

They borrow from parents or grand parents, or they they go out and get two or three extra jobs to help the save for a deposit.

No different now, than it was when I bought my first property back in the 80′s.

More competition please

So now there are more 10% deposit mortgage deals on the market and about time too. We need more competition in the market….That’s what drives this business and makes the banks lend at more competetive rates.

Its true there are more deals available now and if you need some help and advice, give me a call.

Because your monthly payments on a mortgage could well be less.

There are some caveats to this and I cannot give you any actual advice here, because I do not know your particular financial position.

After all, mortgages are not a “One Size Fits All Solution”, we arrange mortgages only after a personal discussion to determine what I think would be best for your situation, followed by researching the whole of the mortgage market.

But Suren Thiru, who is a housing economist at Halifax, said earlier today “a marked decline in mortgage costs has improved affordability for those able to enter the market”

He said this because, there has been a fall in mortgage rates during the last 3 years, which means that the average three bedroom property costs £608 per month to buy, compared to £709, that you may pay in rent. But in March 2008, the same 3 bedroom property, would have cost £1,060 per month, compared to £761 to rent.

In 2008, the average rates were 5.28% compared to 3.59% today.

The only problem is the deposit, a minimum of 10%

Now who in your family can lend you 10% as an investment.

We provide many mortgage solutions, we may have one for you.

If you think we can help, give me a call.

Michael Usher,
The Friendliest Mortgage Adviser In Town.

According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders,

(whose members are building societies and other lenders who together undertake around 94% of all residential mortgage lending in the UK)

Gross mortgage lending was up 21% in March.

According to their chief economist Bob Pannell……
“The housing market has emerged hesitantly from hibernation. Household finances are under a lot of pressure, and as a result demand for house purchase loans fell in the first three months of 2011. Lenders expect mortgage credit availability to improve this quarter, and this should help to underpin house purchase activity albeit at pretty low levels”

“Remortgage demand, meanwhile, continues to firm, presumably linked to expectations of higher base rates. Remortgage approvals in February were the highest for more than two years. Stronger remortgage activity looks set to continue propping up overall lending.”….Well done Bob

A lot of my clients are moving from tracker mortgages, to fixed, this may not be the best option for you, but if you want some free advice just give me a buzz

Take care

Michael

,

You know I like to report good news, after all we hear bad news all the time and there are plenty of doom and gloom merchants out there.

So the latest news is, Mortgage providers expect to make more loans in the next three months, offering a ray of hope to the struggling housing market.

Lenders were at their most positive in two years about the prospects for mortgage availability, which they put down to their market share targets and the improving cost and availability of their funds.

Those polled in the central bank’s quarterly survey were also more willing to lend to those with a small deposit, reporting that they have increased access to loans for buyers with deposits of less than 25pc.

However this is tempered by the fact that there has been an increase in the number of households defaulting on their mortgages payments.The first rise in two years.

Lenders are expecting the number to rise, because of the likely higher interest rates. which of course would effect many householders not on fixed rates.

If you need help on getting your mortgage fixed for the next 3-5 years, give me  a call for a chat, as there are some great deals out there.