Skipton Building Society’s annual results boosted by first-time buyers February 26, 2025 Skipton Group, which includes the UK’s largest estate agency, Connells and Skipton Building Society, has announced a record return of value to its members after a bumper year at the group. The group’s pre-tax profit fell to £318.6m in 2024, down from £333.4m the year prior. The group cited downward pressure on net interest income [...]
Borrowing boom to boost banks February 17, 2025 Banks have been given a boost after new data predicted borrowing growth would rise throughout 2025. After the Bank of England slashed interest rates three times in the last six months, research from EY Item Club anticipates total UK bank lending will rise to 3.7 per cent this year, up from 2.3 per cent in [...]
Home repossessions rise as higher interest rates bite borrowers February 10, 2025 The number of homeowners with mortgages facing repossession rose in the fourth quarter of 2024 as buyers struggled with higher interest rates. UK Finance figures show that repossessions rose 12 per cent in the last three months of 2024 compared to the previous year and were up 54 per cent yearly. Overall, 1,030 residential houses [...]
Mortgage rates to rise on back of bond market turmoil January 10, 2025 Gilt yields influence the mortgage market through swap rates, the main benchmark for mortgage lending in the UK.
Buying a house? Pay in cash for a £28k discount January 7, 2025 Buying a house is the largest purchase most of us will make in a lifetime – but it may be cheaper for some than others. Cash buyers now pay £28,000 less on average for a home than those relying on a mortgage, and the ‘cash discount’ has risen by 12.4 per cent in just two [...]
Mortgage approvals fall faster than expected in wake of Budget January 3, 2025 65,700 mortgages were approved in November, down from 68,300 in October and comfortably below economists' expectations.
Where did UK house prices rise fastest in 2024? January 2, 2025 Nationwide's house price index showed that house prices rose 4.7 per cent over the year-to-December. Across 2023 house prices fell 1.8 per cent, according to the building society.
Caution persists in London’s prime property market after Budget hit December 27, 2024 A tense political and economic environment has left buyers of prime property cautious in the last few months of the year, with prices dipping in central London. House prices in Knightsbridge and Belgravia fell by two per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively, while prices fell 0.8 per cent across the capital as a whole, [...]
UK mortgage approvals rose to more than two-year high before Budget November 29, 2024 UK lenders approved the most mortgages in more than two years last month as Britain’s housing market proved resilient ahead of the new government’s first Budget. Banks and building societies gave the green light to 68,300 loans for house purchase in October, according to data from the Bank of England. That figure is the highest [...]
On housing, the government’s numbers just don’t add up October 29, 2024 Developers can only build at the rate they can sell, and this is intrinsically linked to mortgage financing. Long-term, fixed-rate mortgages above the 4.5 times income threshold can be part of the solution, says Arjan Verbeek The United Kingdom’s housing market is at a critical juncture. The government has pledged to deliver 300,000 new homes [...]