Are they or aren’t they? it’s what is on all potential homebuyers minds, but the Treasury has ended speculation as to if the proposal has actually been put forward from the government in regards to the much talked about delay on stamp duty payments, the answer from the treasury was that the speculation is “simply wrong and purely speculation”.

Alistair Darling did not rule out changing the tax in order to free up the housing market. But Tories have accused Darling of playing “short-term games”, the Chancellor seems to have upset UK estate agents too with showering them with uncertainty in an already troubled property market.

The Treasury has said the story are just speculation, and that they are looking at a number of options.

It seems clear that the Chancellor is scratching his head, and still needs to make a decision as to an economic recovery package to be put together.

It seems now homebuyers and owners are in an even worse position with a potential delay in property transactions, and with no definite proposal on the table whilst we all wait for Mr Darling to make up his mind.

In the recession during 1991, the Conservative party temporarily suspended the tax on homes worth less than £250,000.

What are your views, do you think that Stamp Duty should be suspended, and indeed do you think it will make that much difference?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7547584.stm

Read more about the British housing market here.

If you’re a new borrower then you may be able to take advantage of Abbeys cuts in mortgage interest rates.

You will see the two and three year fixed and tracker rates coming down by up to 0.1% this is on top of the similar cuts that the bank made last Friday.

Over the last month we have seen some of the major lenders reduce their rates, this week Halifax cut the cost on many of its deals, the two-year fixed rate by 0.38%.

36 deals were cut by the bank of Scotland, and some decreased by 0.7%, Bank of Scotland are part of the HBOS group who also own the Halifax. A spokesman for Halifax said that they are aiming for a one-in-five market share, so it’s down to what the other lenders are doing, that also want to ensure that they reach the target lending of 20% of all new mortgages.

It’s believed that house prices may fall by 15% and 20% over the next two years, so banks are reluctant to give larger loans in the event the borrower runs into trouble, the better deals out there are for borrowers who have 25% or more deposit.

The best rate for a two-year tracker mortgages is now 5.89% while its lowest rate for a two-year fixed is 6.19% with Abbey. With the standard upfront lenders fee at just under £1,000 for the 2 deals.
In another bid to win new business, Abbey has reduced their fee to £549 if you take out a load of £150,000 or less.

Source: bbc

Read more news about mortgage companies here.

Good news for first time buyers, Halifax have teamed up with building company Persimmon in a spectacular deal to save you some money whilst getting onto the property ladder. The deal is that whatever a first time buyer has in a Halifax instant access account up to the value of £5,000 they will match the amount which could give you £10,000 to put towards the deposit, provided you purchase a Persimmon home.

With this deal and the possible scrapping of the stamp duty for first time buyers raised by the government this week to kick start the UK housing market; it could be a perfect time to buy a persimmon home. With the tricky mortgage conditions, we have seen mortgage companies wanted on average at least 10 percent of the property value for a deposit, which amounts to around £15,000 for a typical house purchase. Also to remember the hiked up Lenders fees and the high interest rates we have been seeing this year, has made it almost impossible for a first time buyer in indeed a homeowner needing to move onto a bigger property.

Even though this is a great deal to be offered something for nothing, it still will not go far in the present mortgage market. Banks have been skeptical on lending on new builds, as they have been more susceptible to loss their value. Halifax is offering a 7.64 percent for buyers who have a 5 percent deposit on a 5 year fixed deal. On a £200,000 loan, monthly repayments on this deal would cost £1,122 a month. Halifax has also said that they cannot guarantee that they can offer the mortgage to anyone; they would need to see regular deposits for a minimum of six months.

A 10 percent deposit on a property worth £100,000 would qualify with most lenders but if you are looking to purchase a property for £200,000 you would need £20,000 as 5 percent deposit on a property of this value would restrict the number of lenders who would qualify you for the loan considerably.

To qualify for the best mortgage deals out there you would probably need to have a 25 percent of the house price for the deposit if you wanted to snap one of the cheaper deals up.

Source: Timesonline
Read more about UK mortgages here.

If you are looking for a little bit of security with your mortgage payments and want to insure you’re not hit with rising mortgage payments if there is a bank of England base rate increase, then there is good news, the number of long-term fixed rate mortgages on offer has doubled, offering a much wider choice.

A report from MoneyExpert.com who monitor financial products, say that there has been an increase of 7 percent for fixed 10 year mortgages available to us. It’s also reported that five different providers offer 18 different 25-year fixed rate deals between them, compared to last year’s 9.

The average 25-year fixed rate deal at 6.56 percent looks pretty attractive, according to moneyexpert.com that’s 0.3% lower than the current market average for all mortgages of 6.9 percent.

Borrowers like the safety these deals give them, those who have been stung before with their rate shooting up once their short term deal ended amidst the credit crunch. Sean Gardener, director of MoneyExpert.com also added, lenders are keen on signing the customers up to long-term deals as this gives them certainty, plus it locks the customer in.

Source: reuters

Read more about mortgages here.

It’s no secret that we could possibly be slipping into recession, although the Bank of England kept the benchmark interest rate at 5 percent this month, the Banks have all raised their mortgage rates, and make it much harder for people to borrow, the supply of credit is limited so we are faced with problems obtaining money.

The growth of Britain’s economy is matching the slowest pace since 2001 and a mere 0.2 percent in the second quarter. Homebuilders and banks have been forced to cut jumps resulting is the highest jump in unemployment in June since the aftermath of the last recession in 1992.

The subprime mortgage market has cost financial institutions $469 billion worldwide in write downs and losses, which has caused banks to curb their lending. Meanwhile British Bankers Association as reported the lowest slump of mortgage approvals in June for a decade.

The Royal Institution of Charted Surveyors said for the first time since 2005 there has been a decline for farmland, the gloomy economic outlook has affected the pound’s 12 percent decline against a currency basket of Britain’s main trading partners, making exports cheaper for overseas buyers.

Source: Bloomberg

Read more about the economy here.download State of Play

For the tenth consecutive month British house prices have fallen, in July, housing data firm Hometrack reported 1.2% decrease as demand continues to fade.

Home prices are the same now as they were back in October 2006, which is an average price drop of 4.4% in the last 12 months.

The director of research at Hometrack Richard Donnell, says it’s simply because homeowners do not need to move, and that the purchasing volume has been the biggest decline in demand over the last 12 months.

Most homeowners who can stay put in their property have, so there hasn’t been any increase in supply of homes for sale in the last four months, although there has been a 20% drop in demand for purchasing property over the last 3 months.

Homeowners are not getting their full asking price for the properties they are selling, infact according to the hometrack survey, the proportion of the asking price has gone slipped from 91.6% to 90.9% over the last month, this against what homeowners got a year ago, 95.1% is making us all worry, it’s actually the lowest level drop since the survey began in 2001.

The report also showed that the average house price for July was £168,500.

Source: marketwatch

Read more property news here.

I spoke to a friend just a few hours ago who owns 24 properties, he was hoping that their was going to be a reduction in the base rate by 0.25%, so he was little upset that interest rates remained the same.

If the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee had made the choice to reduce the base rate, then I am sure my friend would have had a different tone in his voice when he rang me.

But it is not just landlord’s who is affected by this decision; my father spoke to me to say how unhappy he is that the rate did not go up. The thing is my father has a nice amount of money in many kinds of savings accounts, so a rate increase would have been great news to him.

I keep telling my dad that if the rates did go up then it could affect thousands of people who have a mortgage, like his son, my brother.

Are you one of those who were shocked with the Bank of England decision?

The startling facts are that more than 250,000 properties or one in every 501 households are now in some stage of foreclosure, this is according to a statement issued by RealtyTrac Inc., an Irvine, California-based seller of default data.

In that report, RealtyTrac Inc. state that the highest rates for foreclosures are in Arizona, California and Nevada. Moody’s Economy’s chief economist, Mark Zandi, has said “The foreclosure problem is getting worse and will stay with us well into the next decade.”

Since the spring in 2006, about $3.5 trillion in homeowner equity has been wiped of housing prices from when they were at their peak.

Around 53 percent of borrowers, who have subprime loans for those who have poor or incomplete credit histories, will almost certainly be in negative equity by the end of the year, this number will rise to around 63 percent by 2009.

Read the full article from Bloomberg

Tishman Speyer Properties, a New York landlord, still keeps the remaining 10 percent; he will also manage the property.

ADIC has purchased their share of the Chrysler Building from a fund that has been managed by Prudential Real Estate Investors, who are a unit of the insurance company Prudential Financial Inc.

The credit crunch that has hit the U.S. has had a big effect on the sale of property; sales are almost at a crawl, so this sale is a great result for the building.

The current slow down in property sales have seen a lot of interest from foreign sources, which are looking to invest in Capital throughout the world, especially the U.S.

The Chrysler Building is a 77-story Art Deco building which was built in 1930 and at that time was the highest building in the world.

Source

If you are a couple in the bottom quarter of earning, then you will need at least £27,738 for your deposit and fees, this is according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

However; according to the institution, getting on the ladder is now more affordable than ever thanks to a decline in how much a house is worth however: the credit crunch has now cancelled that out as it is now more difficult to climb on to the first rung of the ladder.

Senior economist David Stubbs has said Access to the housing market has deteriorated as the credit crunch has taken hold of the mortgage lender sector.” He also added “With mortgage approvals declining, the picture does not look like improving in the latter part of 2008 and first-time buyers will find their path to home ownership increasingly blocked.”

Mr. Stubbs did add that those who are able to find more deposit to put down on a house will then benefit from lower mortgage repayments each month, talk about state the obvious.

Source