Docklands News

Lenders are incentivising borrowers to make eco improvements to their homes with lower rates and cashback deals, while others offer an advance to fund works. But this approach could mean homeowners who cannot afford such changes instead pay higher mortgage costs. Not all borrowers will be able to take on more debt to increase their home's energy efficiency. Habito, a mortgage broker, has warned this reward system could lead to "eco privilege". Sarah Coles, of Hargreaves Lansdown, warned the policy favoured more affluent owners. She said: "This approach was always going to open up a gulf between those who can afford to make changes to improve energy efficiency and those who can't." 

The Daily Telegraph (11/12/2022)  

First-time buyers now pay an average price of £449,000 for a home in London, new statistics have revealed. Average prices in Q3 were down from £478,000 in the second quarter as the market cooled off from pandemic highs, according to the Office for National Statistics. The average advance in the last quarter was £309,339 while the average recorded income of borrowers was £84,646. Ten years ago, in the third quarter of 2011, first-time buyers paid an average of £318,000. Richard Dana, CEO and founder of Tembo Money, said the data “further reiterates that first-time buyers are still getting a raw deal." 

City AM (03/12/2021)  

House prices have recorded their biggest three-monthly growth since the property boom before the financial crisis, according to the Halifax, with the typical UK home now worth almost £273,000. The cost of a home increased by 3.4% on a rolling quarterly basis in November, according to the building society’s house price index, which was the strongest quarterly growth figure since late 2006. Between October and November alone, the cost of a home increased by 1% or around £2,700. Since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, and the UK first entering lockdown, house prices have risen by £33,816, which equates to £1,691 per month, Halifax said. House prices have increased by 8.2% or more than £20,000 since this time last year, as the hot housing market that started in summer 2020 refuses to cool. Halifax said the continued rise in house prices had been underpinned by a shortage of available properties on the market, which had increased demand for those that were available. 

Daily Mail (07/12/2021)  

Figures from UK Finance show that 2021 is on course to be the strongest year for UK home-buying activity since 2006. The trade body said that while the first few months of the pandemic led to predictions that sales would stagnate, the reality was very different, with “COVID-era activity set to eclipse everything since the credit crunch”. The figures come hard on the heels of forecasts from the property website Zoopla and other commentators that 2021 would be the UK's busiest year for the housing market since 2007. While official figures have shown that the number of house sales tumbled in the weeks immediately after the end of the stamp duty holiday, which finished on 30 September, this followed a record surge in activity during the latter half of 2020 and earlier this year. In its latest household finance review, covering the period July to September this year, UK Finance said: “Barring a complete reversal of the current picture, purchase transactions in 2021 will reach their highest level seen since the peak in 2006, just before the global financial crisis [of 2007–08].” 

The Guardian (06/12/.2021)  

The Bank of England is poised to ease mortgage lending rules, prompting concerns of a potential housing bubble. Officials are reportedly considering softening affordability checks for borrowers as part of a review of the market restrictions which concludes next week. One of the measures being looked at is reducing the additional interest rate charge used to test borrowers' ability to pay the reversion rate after an initial deal ends. This would benefit first-time buyers, as tight rules designed to protect them against a return to old-fashioned high-interest rates has made it harder for some would-be homeowners in an era of low borrowing costs. 

The Daily Telegraph (06/12/2021)  

Rishi Sunak’s mortgage guarantee scheme has been used by just nine first-time buyers a day. When the Chancellor first unveiled state-backed 5% deposit mortgages in March, they were hailed as a life-line for potential first-time buyers struggling to save a deposit. However, figures have revealed that take-up has been slow. Between mid-April and the end of June just 812 mortgages completed using the support scheme, equal to 0.7% of all residential mortgage completions, according to figures published by the Treasury. Of the borrowers who used the scheme, only 666 were first-time buyers. Neal Hudson of Built Place, an analyst, said: "The numbers are definitely very low. There will, however, inevitably be a delay because borrowers using the scheme will have had to do so in the early stages of their buying process." 

The Daily Telegraph (03/12/2021)