First-time buyers

Majority earned less than the average home over past year

The average house in the UK earned more than the average worker in the...

CML: positive direction of travel for mortgage market

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has confirmed that gross mortgage lending reached £18.6...

Lending to higher LTV borrowers down 12%

E.surv has calculated that there was the smallest number of higher LTV borrowers last...

Surveyors expect SDLT changes to reverse sales dip

The latest RICS Residential Market Survey indicates that while national house price growth fell...

Gross advances up 13% year-on-year

The Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published the latest Mortgage...

SortRefer promotes its Stamp Duty-updated system

Online conveyancing portal SortRefer has changed its quotation system to reflect the changes to...

Chancellor reforms Stamp Duty

Stamp Duty Land Tax will be revised from midnight tonight. Chancellor George Osborne has announced...

The Autumn Statement in full

Mr Speaker, Four years ago, in the first Autumn Statement of this Parliament, I presented...

BoI UK launches intermediary pilot

Bank of Ireland for Intermediaries is rolling out a pilot to sell mortgages in...

Nationwide wants Stamp Duty shake-up

Nationwide Building Society is calling for reform of the Stamp Duty Land Tax system. The...

Government reveals Help to Buy stats

Figures released by the government today showed that over 66,000 households have been helped...

HTB1 activity still focused at lower end of property ladder

People buying homes using the Help to Buy equity loan scheme are only using...

FTB completions fall due to dipping demand

October saw the number of first-time buyer house completions stall, according to the latest...

NAEA: supply and demand seasonably low for October

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) has said that a "better balance" between...

COMMENT

Harpenden’s expat move could be bigger than the numbers suggest

Harpenden Building Society’s move into expat mortgages this summer has been good news for brokers and borrowers. But I think its importance goes beyond...

We need to wait to get a clearer picture

It's been a week where the political and economic backdrop has moved almost as fast as rates themselves, and it's worth taking stock of...

Leasehold valuation reform: the consultation is asking only half the question

The Government's consultation on leasehold enfranchisement valuation rates is important because it will help determine what leaseholders pay to extend leases or buy freeholds,...

What commonhold will mean for mortgage lenders and brokers

Commonhold is often presented as the straightforward alternative to leasehold. It removes the freeholder, gives flat owners greater control and avoids some familiar problems...

Why you need to know what sits behind the average review score

There’s a funny thing about review scores. The better they are, the less likely we are to question them. If a company is sitting at...

Latest news

Landbay adds 11 tracker products and cuts rates by up to 15bps

Landbay has expanded its buy-to-let tracker range with 11 new products and reduced rates...

Howden expands in North Wales with Wrexham office

Howden has opened its first commercial insurance office in Wrexham as the broker expands...

UK buyers reluctant to compromise despite affordability pressures

UK homebuyers remain committed to purchasing a property but are less willing than buyers...

Keystone trims buy-to-let fixed rates by up to 15bps

Keystone Property Finance has reduced pricing across a number of its buy-to-let mortgage ranges,...

PROFILES