The number of repossessed properties coming to auction has more than doubled during the past year. However, auction houses are reporting their lowest levels in sales on record, with almost half of all properties failing to sell. At the same time last year 71 per cent of properties were selling at auction. Auctioneers are now
According to Savills, the estate agents, house prices could fall by 25 per cent if the credit crunch persists. However, a spokesperson said that if home loans were more freely available the fall could be reduced to around 6 per cent. Savills also added that the continuing shortage of homes in most regions will maintain
Alistair Darling is under pressure to revive the house market by bringing forward a new funding scheme. Under influence from the Council of Mortgage Lenders, the chancellor is considering extending the Bank of England scheme to exchange mortgage-backed securities for government bonds. The move is aimed at boosting the volume of lending and driving borrowing
TODAY’s PAPERS have some interesting takes on the report from the Conservatives’ Tax Reform Commission. According to The Telegraph the plan to scrap inheritance tax on primary residences would ‘pour petrol on the flames of the British love affair with bricks and mortar’. It says the plan would create a perverse incentive to trade up
The government’s housebuilding targets are under threat after a shock fall in the number of homes built last year. The official target is to build 240,000 homes a year by 2016, and three million more homes in England by 2020, but the department for Communities and Local Government’s (CLG) own figures show that during the
Almost 150,000 homeowners who took out a mortgage since early 2007 are facing negative equity. According to a CACI survey for the Daily Telegraph, one in eight of the 1.2 million people who bought a property now owe more than the home is worth, and if house prices fall by 20 per cent, up to
Gordon Brown has called for a cut in interest rates to stimulate the economy. The Prime Minister said inflation was coming down – allowing the Bank of England to respond with further cuts to bring down the cost of borrowing to families and businesses. And in a speech today, he will pledge to crack down
THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE taking out a mortgage worth more than the value of their home has soared by 70% in a year, according to mortgage brokers quoted in today’s Daily Mail. The ‘100% or more mortgages’ allow them to get on to a property ladder that is still moving out of reach but leave
Rural communities are struggling to adapt to the ‘unprecedented’ level of migration of non-UK workers into their areas, says charity Business in the Community.While migrants had brought a number of benefits, helped boost the economy and filled gaps left by Britons who ‘prefered to remain jobless’ there had been an increase of 186 per cent
According to the Times today, Gordon Brown could announce as soon as next Tuesday a ’mortgage rescue’ package – a series of measures aimed at encouraging councils and housing associations to offer struggling homeowners financial help in return for a financial stake in their homes. The newspaper understands that town halls will also offer first-time