The self-employed face a looming crisis as millions are being locked out of home ownership due to mortgage lenders’ failure to understand their finances, experts have warned. Contractors, sole traders, gig economy workers, freelancers, and even early-stage start-ups all make up the UK’s 4.8million strong self-employed workforce. This number is growing rapidly, particularly among younger…
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House prices fell unexpectedly in September as uncertainty around Brexit dampened activity, according to Nationwide’s index. The building society recorded a 0.2% fall from a month earlier, below a 0.1% forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts. Compared with September last year, the average house price across the UK rose by 0.2% to £215,352. But quarterly measures in Nationwide’s…
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HELP TO BUY ISAS are currently available for new savers to open, however the deadline for doing this is looming. What will happen to savings in a Help to Buy ISA after this date? The Help to Buy ISA scheme is a type of ISA which sees account holders able to benefit from a government bonus of…
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Homeowners whose 2-year, fixed rate mortgage deals are about to end have been warned to act now to avoid standard variable rates. In September 2017, the average 2-year, fixed mortgage rate hit its lowest ever level at 2.17%, according to Moneyfacts. Borrowers can swap to deals almost as cheap as that now, but those who…
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Official figures have confirmed that almost 2,000 more first-time buyers climbed onto the property ladder in July than in the same month last year. Data released today by banking trade body UK Finance revealed that there were 32,640 new first-time buyer mortgages completed in July, some 5.8% more than in the same month last year. …
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Mortgage rates and savings rates are part of a complex financial web that draws on official lending costs, ie base rate, money market funding costs, and competition for savers’ deposits. The traditional influence on fixed rate mortgages over the past decade has been swap rates, the cost of obtaining fixed term funding on the money…
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It’s the best time in seven years to take out a longer mortgage as new data shows the gap between 2 and 5 year fixes has reduced to near record lows. 2 year fixes have plateaued in price over the past few months, following a prolonged period of falling rates thanks to fierce competition among…
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Number of leasehold new-build houses soars ahead of Government ban The number of houses sold under leasehold agreements soared last year ahead of a Government crackdown on unfair ground rent increases. An analysis of Land Registry data by the Office for National Statistics has shown that 15.6% of new build houses, which excludes flats and…
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Millennial housing crisis engulfs Britain. Figures showing the problem is not confined to London raise concerns about inter-generational fairness. Home ownership among young families has plummeted across every corner of Britain over the past 35 years, according to a devastating inquiry into the housing crisis facing millennials. The proportion of families headed by a 25-…
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What next for interest rates? May hike off the table as forecasts drop from ‘almost certain’ to less than 5% chance Expectations of a May rate rise have been killed off by poor data Struggle on High Street and 0.1% GDP growth have seen chances of a rise drop A fortnight ago markets were pricing…
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