Sir James Crosby’s report into mortgage lending was released yesterday giving further impetus to the government’s financial bailout, concluding that lenders’ inability to obtain capital to lend to homebuyers was the ‘sort of market failure that might call for government intervention, perhaps even on a significant scale’. The report suggested that without help the shortage
The Office of National Statistics has revealed the January inflation rate is at its lowest level since April 2008, down to 3 per cent, from 3.1 per cent in December. The drop follows record falls of 15.2 per cent in fuel prices. The retail price index, which includes mortgage costs, was at the lowest level
The government has confirmed its commitment that social homes are to be built to ‘lifetime homes standards’ by 2011, and all new build homes will meet the standard by 2013. The standards are a set of design features that ensure homes can be easily adapted as its occupants become older and less mobile. House builders
Councils across the UK have been urged to pool their cash reserves in a nationwide ‘mutual bank’ worth up to £3 billion, to support local infrastructure projects and avoid a repeat of the chaos caused by the collapse of Iceland’s banks, when hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money was frozen. The New Local
The average British household pays £679,042 in domestic bills over their lifetime a new study has found. The largest outlay over 52 years is the mortgage or rent which comes in at £313,000, with food second (£222,000) and council tax third (£67,000).
The north-south divide in the housing market will worsen this year according to house builder Bellway. The third largest house builder in the country said that its business in the south of England had become ‘marginally strongerâ with prices beginning to stabilise and predicted that by the year end its turnover in the south would
Houses for first time homebuyers now cost five times their income according to research by Hometrack. And the percentage of income mortgage payments take up, seen as a fairer measure of affordability, has virtually doubled since 1990 to 32 per cent. Figures indicate that just under a quarter of working households have any chance of
The average price of a house sold at auction has dropped 31.1 per cent in the three months to November, compared with the same period a year ago, auction specialist Essential Information Group said. The average cost of a property stands at £114,208, which is 34 per cent lower than prices at their peak last
Inequality is damaging children’s health, education and general well-being, and the growing divide between rich and poor is undermining work to bring down the number of children living in poverty, the TUC says. Its report found the class divide between the top and bottom tenth of the population has more than doubled since 1979. In
Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley, the government-backed lenders, may have to scrap fees levied on homeowners who are behind on their mortgage repayments, following accusations that they are unfair and ‘make a bad situation worse’ for overburdened households. Most lenders charge up to £55 a month after borrowers fall into arrears, and Northern Rock