House sales in the UK were 5% higher in August 2024 compared to the same month in 2023, according to figures from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). An estimated 90,210 homes were sold across the UK, reflecting this increase, though the number was slightly down—by less than 1%—from July 2024. The housing market’s resurgence has …
When your children have grown up and left home, your house can suddenly feel a lot bigger and emptier. But despite there being many compelling reasons to move to a smaller property, many of us stay put. So should you be thinking about downsizing? According to a study by Zoopla, more than nine in ten …
Interest rates have been heading in one direction for more than a year now, rising from 0.1 per cent in December 2021 to 4.25 per cent today. That’s had a very real and tangible impact on households in the form of higher mortgage repayments, and also pushed up the cost of borrowing for businesses too. …
Early last month, City AM had a dramatic headline: ‘Cash-strapped homeowners turn their properties into personal cash machines.’ They reported that equity release was ‘booming’, with homeowners releasing a total of £4.8bn from their homes in 2021. Ten years previously, the amount released was just £790m with only two years out of the ten – …
This March saw the prices of residential properties rising at the fastest rate since just before 2007’s financial crisis, with the average price of a home in the UK increasing by 10.2% in the year up until March. The stamp duty holiday introduced by the Government certainly played a part in this development. Having been …
At the virtual Conservative Party Conference on 6th October, Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestured towards a plan in the pipeline to introduce 95% Loan To Value mortgages in an attempt to reinvigorate home ownership and in his words, “help turn generation rent, into generation buy.” While the details of this plan remain unclear, the PM …
At first glance, recent figures from the housing markets appear wholly positive. During July, Nationwide reported a 1.7% leap in prices. However, the country’s largest building society warned of a “false dawn” when they announced these figures. They highlighted that much of the rise can be attributed to pent up demand and people deciding they …
It’s a tough environment for first time buyers. Rising house prices and stagnant wage growth have pushed up the average age of buying a first property to 33. What’s more, first time buyers need to borrow 18 times more than those in the 1970s. Given this context, it’s unsurprising that more and more parents and …
