Sir Mervyn King, the outgoing governor of the Bank of England warns that a government plan to boost the housing market should not become permanent, saying there “was no place in the long run” for Chancellor George Osborne’s Help to Buy scheme.
The scheme whereby the government will guarantee up to 15% of a mortgage on properties worth up to £600,000 is due to run from Jan 2014 for three years. The idea is that it will provide help for buyers that cannot afford a big deposit in order to get a mortgage.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders says that the buy-to-let sector now accounts for a record portion of mortgage loans in the UK according to data from mortgage lenders.
Property investors have been attracted by low interest rates and high rents thus fuelling the demand for property suitable for letting.
More families are shunning full building surveys so they can raise enough cash to buy a home
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) warns that that purchasers are risking nasty surprises and huge repair costs by not obtaining a pre-purchase survey.One in five of those who did not bother obtaining a survey later uncovered faults, according to research involving more than 1,000 buyers conducted by ComRes for the RICS.
Remedial work cost £5,750
Increase In First Time Buyer Activity , says CML
A more stable and “positive” year in the UK housing and mortgage markets can be expected in 2013, a lenders’ group has said. Increased activity in the number of first time buyers has been reported in Wales, London and other areas of the UK. Data showed that first time house buyers are regaining their confidence and re-entering the housing market.
House prices in the UK have recorded their first annual rise since October 2010, rising by 1.3% in January compared with a year earlier, Halifax has said. They did however, note that property values were 0.2% down on December.
The “signs of improvement” in the market, which started in late 2012, continued into the new year, the lender said.
They added that the outlook for prices was somewhat unclear.
In the three months to January prices were 1.9% higher than in the previous three months, with the price of the average home valued at £162,932.
The figures, based on the Halifax’s own lending data,
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