Researchers at Durham University have found many homeowners are remortgaging their homes for cash to supplement their day-to-day expenditure. The researchers looked at the spending patterns of more than 8,000 families from 2001 to 2005 and found a third of people used the cash released by equity in their homes for ‘other specified reasons’, ie
Coventry building society has become the first lender to offer re-mortgage deals worth 100 per cent of a property’s value to customers in negative equity. Customers who took out loans of up to 125 per cent who are coming to an end of their mortgage deal can now get a five-year fixed rate deal worth
The number of mortgage approvals slumped to a new record low in January when just 23,400 loans were taken out – 28 per cent lower than in December and 52 per cent down in year-on-year figures. The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said there was a slight increase in the number of people remortgaging, up
For first-time buyers and remortgagers just getting a mortgage remains difficult, however. The moneyextra.com mortgage index showed that lending to first-time buyers with deposits of less than 5 per cent was non-existent while the supply of borrowing for those with 10 per cent cash to put down has decreased by 84 per cent compared to
The government has confirmed that Northern Rock will revive its mortgage lending, with new loans worth up to £14 billion becoming available by 2011. The loans will be financed by money from new deposits, repayments of existing loans, and more government money, as part of a wider move to restructure the nationalised lender. The bank