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Investors and developers are looking to provide alternatives to the Help to Buy programme and the Government’s 95% mortgage scheme. In one plan, banks will “top up” small deposit mortgages using funds from institutional investors. Banks will still provide 85% of the loan; an institutional investor will top up the remaining 10%, opening up the 5% deposit market for borrowers. Another plan, Deposit Unlock, would allow for the purchase of new homes with a 5% deposit. In this case, developers will put up funds to guarantee lenders against losses if a property is repossessed, up to the first 40% of a loan, but it would be backed up by insurance. |
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More lenders are launching 5% deposit mortgages onto the market in a further boost to first-time buyers. New deals announced by Metro Bank and Cambridge Building Society are not part of a new Government-backed mortgage guarantee scheme which was launched this week to increase the availability of 5% deposit loans. Major lenders including Halifax, HSBC UK, Barclays, NatWest and Santander are taking part in that scheme and unveiled new 5% deposit products earlier this week. The average two-year fixed-rate at 95% loan-to-value (LTV) is now 4.02%, down from 4.47% on April 1st, according to Moneyfacts. The average five-year fixed rate is 4.17%, down from 4.32%. |
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The Courier (23/04/2021) The I (23/04/2021) The Times (23/04/2021) |
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The number of planning applications and construction starts on tall buildings in London plummeted last year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, an industry survey has revealed. New London Architecture’s Annual Tall Buildings Survey found that 24 tall buildings, classed as 20 storeys or above, commenced construction in 2020, compared with 44 in 2019, as lockdowns and uncertainty affected work on site. The total pipeline of buildings in planning and construction currently stands at 587 tall buildings, up 7.9% from 544 in 2019, while planning permissions for new tall buildings in London were 10.8% higher in 2020 compared with 2019. The survey identified Tower Hamlets as a tall building hotspot, with Greenwich also seeing a significant increase. |
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The mini-boom enjoyed by London’s property market appears to be running out of steam after prices dropped in February. Land Registry showed that the average cost of a home in the capital dipped 1.4% in the month to £496,269, which is still 4.6% up on a year earlier, but London's annual rate of growth is now the lowest for any region in the country. The biggest rises were in leafier outer London boroughs. Prices rose 13.3% over the year to February in Merton, by 11.7% in Sutton, and 11.4% in Ealing. Nationally, house price inflation rose to 8.6%, the highest since October 2014. |
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House prices set for ‘summer bounce’ |
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The new government-backed mortgage scheme has officially launched, with Lloyds, Santander, Barclays, HSBC UK and NatWest among the first to launch under the scheme. Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick commented: “For too many people, no matter how hard they work, home ownership can seem out of reach. One of the biggest divides in our country has been between those who can afford their own home and those who cannot.” He went on: “The new mortgage guarantee scheme which comes into effect today will give providers the confidence to lend and help families and young people get on the property ladder without the prohibitive burden of a large deposit.” Michelle Andrews, HSBC UK’s head of buying a home added: “After such a turbulent year it is great that this scheme will make a real difference in enabling first-time buyers who didn’t think they would have a chance of getting a mortgage and home movers to get the keys to their new home” . |