Nottingham Letting Agent Property Blog

During the last year borrowing by landlords has increased by 32%, and nearly half of this money has gone towards buying up new properties. During the first three months of this year buy to let lending reached £3.7 billion according to figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders, and 32,300 mortgages were taken out. These figures are an increase of 32% on the same period last year. In spite of this increase the £3.7 billion spent on property was actually 5% less than during the last three months of 2011, and this could be due to the fact that buy to...

The buy to let market is still being forecast to grow, with more landlords adding to their portfolios, while growing numbers of first-time investors are predicted to enter the market. According to a survey from buy to let specialists, Paragon, first-time investor’s account for 23% of all buy to let business. Some 39% of their business came from existing landlords, and 31% was due to remortgages, demonstrating their confidence in the market The news comes as first-time buyers continued to struggle to get mortgages, and increasing numbers of lenders cut back on cut-price loans.During the first three months of this year...

Although 2011 closed with more mortgage lending activity and a higher level of housing transactions, the Council of Mortgage Lenders points out this is coming from low levels, and cautions against reading too much into those recent figures from the Bank of England. Gross lending reached £13.2 billion in November which is 7% higher than in October and 15% more than November 2010. However the CML is estimating that gross lending will have dropped to £11.7 billion in December which is mainly due to the holiday season, but even so this figure would still be 12% higher than December 2010 and...

Last week Grant Shapps announced more details about the revitalised right to buy programme. Social tenants will be able to receive discounts of up to £50,000, with more people will being able to access the scheme. For example, a tenant who had lived in social housing for five years would be able to purchase a £160,000 property for a discount of £50,000, whereas before they would have been eligible for a maximum discount of £26,000. It’s hoped this generous discount will breathe life into the housing market.Shapps has also promised that these new proposals will protect the housing stock as every...

The Council of Mortgage Lenders recently published its forecasts for the housing and mortgage market in 2012, after confirming that it expects gross lending in for 2011 to reach a total of £138 billion, with net lending accounting for £9 billion. It is forecasting gross lending for next year to reach £133 billion, with net lending accounting for £5 billion based on current predictions for a weaker economy.It is estimated that housing transaction numbers will reach 852,000 this year while figures for next year are expected to be around 825,000. However the CML is forecasting more repossessions next year due to...

New mortgage application rules announced by the Financial Services Authority this week look set to make borrowing easier for thousands of people trapped in their homes by negative equity. These are the kind of borrowers the banks would normally be falling over themselves to lend to, and who are generally perceived as being a good risk. The banks current reluctance to lend to people who have fallen into negative equity has led to the housing market stagnating, and some firms are finding it difficult to recruit new employees from other areas.These new rules should allow homeowners to transfer their negative equity...

The concession on first-time buyer stamp duty is due to end next March, but the Council of mortgage lenders is asking the government to reconsider as data shows the previous concession on stamp duty caused a spike in sales followed by a slump. The CML is worried that ending this concession could prompt another slump which would obviously not be very good news given the fragile state of the market.HM Revenue & Customs is due to publish a report on the impact of this current concession, but it seems unlikely that the cost to the government has been very high due...

Approvals for a home loans have fallen for two consecutive months, as October saw a 1.1% decline compared to the previous month. This decline is being blamed on mortgage lenders who are focusing their attention on borrowers who have larger deposits, and 90% loans account for just 1% of all lending. The cheaper end of the property market is seeing the fastest drop in approvals as buyers struggle to meet the strict lending criteria. Even though it appears as if higher loan to value mortgages are available, the truth is that most first-time buyers simply aren't eligible.In the past this might...

The Council of Mortgage Lenders recently published new research that found 1.8 million mortgage holders whose fixed-rate deals have ended, and who are currently on their lenders variable rate, are paying an average of £2,600 a year less than on their previous deal. This is no real surprise as the base rate is currently incredibly low, but the report also pointed out that half of those 1.8 million mortgage holders had more than 10% equity, allowing them to remortgage if they wish.At the moment it seems as if most borrowers are content to wait and see what happens with the bank...

Apparently the Council of Mortgage Lenders has seen new amendments to the EU’s mortgage directive which could exempt buy to let mortgages. The European Parliament’s Internal Markets and Consumer Protection committee recently published its report on the proposals, and agrees with the CML that the regulations should not be uniform right across different consumer groups and products.The IMCO report also suggests that some of the current obligations by lenders could be relaxed. These include not having to let mortgage applicants know why they have been rejected, as well as the requirement that advice should be given covering a wide range of...

At the moment is estimated that around one in six households in Britain rent their home privately, and there's no doubt that the private rented sector is increasing at the moment. The latest research from Savills predicts that by 2020, the private rental sector could account for 20% of the housing market, and letting agents in Nottingham could see even greater demand for good quality rental property. The percentage of owner occupiers is expected to fall from its current level of around 70% to just 60% as attitudes towards renting continue to change. Although the private rental sector is expected to...

A new survey has revealed that the cost of mortgage fees has increased by nearly 20% during the last 12 months, even though the average interest rate charged for mortgages is at an historic low, and it looks as if banks are offsetting these low interest rates by increasing the arrangement fee in an attempt to lure in borrowers.A miniscule 357 mortgage deals out of 2,873 don't charge any arrangement fees, and some banks are charging an arrangement fee of up to 2% of the total loan. Apparently these massive sums are even affecting the inflation rates which have just increased...

Apparently the last quarter has been the busiest since 2008 for buy to let lending, with a total of 32,000 loans being approved between April and July, worth £3.5 billion. Although these figures look good, the Council of Mortgage Lenders has pointed out that this is just a third of levels seen in 2007 when the market was at its peak.While demand from buy to let investors has definitely increased during the last few months, nearly two thirds of activity has been due to remortgaging. By the end of the second quarter in 2011 there were 1.34 million buy to let...