November rise in first-time buyers getting on the housing ladder January 17, 2019 First-Time buyers bolstered the UK mortgage market in November, as competitive deals and schemes such as Help to Buy boosted the number of young homeowners in the run-up to Christmas. There were 36,200 new first-time buyer mortgages completed in November, rising 5.8 per cent from the same month in the previous year, according to UK [...]
Five ways to clean up your buy-to-let portfolio in 2019 January 9, 2019 While January is a great time to be making financial resolutions, with many over-spending at Christmas, it’s sometimes best to concentrate on making the most of what you already have. For 2.5m people owning £1.4 trillion of buy-to-let, investment property is the best place to start. It comprises an enormous part of personal wealth, it [...]
First-time buyer mortgage approvals hit 10-year high despite higher UK house prices January 2, 2019 First-time buyer mortgage approvals hit their highest level in more than 10 years in 2018, the latest data shows. An estimated 367,038 first-time buyers took out mortgages last year, up from 362,800 in 2017, according to analysis from Yorkshire Building Society using UK Finance figures. The number exceeded 2007 levels, when 359,000 first-time buyers secured mortgages, [...]
UK house prices 2019: What experts say will happen after Brexit December 31, 2018 Has there ever been a more difficult time to predict the future of UK house prices? Political uncertainty looms large over the UK’s property market, but experts have nonetheless given their expectations for the year to come. Bank of England governor Mark Carney showed how dangerous the numbers game can be in November, when he had [...]
No-deal Brexit would hit house prices – but not as hard as the financial crisis, says Moody’s October 24, 2018 UK house prices could tumble in the event of a no-deal Brexit, but would not fall as far they did during the financial crisis a decade ago, rating agency Moody’s said. There would be “outright declines in house prices nationally” if Britain crashes out of the European Union without a deal next March, analysts said. [...]
Ministers urged to give tax breaks to landlords who sell to long-term tenants in push to get renters onto housing ladder October 8, 2018 Ministers have been urged to get private renters onto the housing ladder by offering big incentives to landlords who sell their property to long-term tenants. Campaigning think tank Onward laid out proposals to give buy-to-let properties 100 per cent capital gains tax relief if the home is sold to a tenant who has lived there [...]
Paragon share price jumps as loan sale pushes up profits amid strong buy-to-let pipeline September 18, 2018 Challenger bank Paragon today announced a "reverse profit warning" after it sold a portfolio of loans, while it also sees a strong pipeline of buy-to-let loans. In an unscheduled trading update published today, Paragon said the premium for which it sold the assets will have a positive impact of seven pence per share on final [...]
Super Thursday: Interest rate rise by the Bank of England could end the buy-to-let boom August 6, 2015 It looks like momentum to raise interest rates could be building over at the Bank of England (BoE), however a legal advice service has warned this could spell disaster for the UK's booming buy-to-let market. Minutes due to be released later today are expected to show between two to three members of the nine-strong rate-setting [...]
Buy-to-let enthusiasm can drive new supply if we demolish housing barriers July 28, 2015 It was at the time of another landmark Budget – Nigel Lawson’s in 1988 – that the UK’s rental market as we know it first began to emerge. The Housing Act’s deregulation measures of the same year, notably liberalising rents, set the scene for rapid growth in the private rented sector. This was fuelled by [...]
Bashing buy-to-let landlords will push up rents and hit the UK economy hard July 23, 2015 Buy-to-let landlords have a huge advantage in the market as they can offset their mortgage interest payments against their income, whereas homebuyers cannot.” That’s how the chancellor explained his decision in the Budget to require that landlords, unlike other businesses, effectively pay tax on their borrowings – their buy-to-let mortgage. But the chancellor has made [...]