How will the tariff turmoil affect your mortgage? April 7, 2025 The fallout from President Donald Trump’s decision to impose wide-ranging tariffs on the world has left no stock market unscathed, but it’s possible Brits’ mortgages will benefit from the upset. The decision, which placed a minimum tariff of 10 per cent on all countries (including the UK), and higher tariffs on many more, has increased [...]
UK mortgage approvals dip in February March 31, 2025 Mortgage approvals for house purchases decreased again in February as gains in consumer credit borrowing slowed down by £300m compared to January, the Bank of England said on Tuesday. House buying appeared to slow down as lenders approved around 65,500 mortgages in February, compared to some 66,100 in January. January saw a decrease of around [...]
Santander becomes first major lender to loosen mortgage rules March 28, 2025 Santander has become the first major UK lender to relax its mortgage rules following a nudge from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Homebuyers could be able to borrow an extra £35,000 on a mortgage under the changed rules. The UK’s fourth-largest mortgage lender will reduce rates on borrower’s stress tests, which are used to check [...]
House prices rise at their fastest in two years March 26, 2025 New data shows that in January, house prices rose rapidly in Northern England and Yorkshire. Average UK house prices increased by 4.9 per cent to £269,000 in the 12 months to January 2025, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This annual growth rate is up from 4.6 per cent in the 12 months [...]
City regulator faces grilling on Treasury’s growth agenda March 25, 2025 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) was grilled by the Treasury Committee on Tuesday after it unveiled its new five-year strategy. Members of the committee questioned the gap between the government’s growth agenda and how the FCA was prepared to deregulate. Chair of the Treasury Committee Dame Meg Hillier, said the regulator’s structure led to it [...]
Property and the Spring Statement: Is anything going to change? March 24, 2025 Labour faces some tough choices with its Spring Statement: after increasing business taxes and public spending last autumn, the government now has to grapple with unhappy companies and a maxed-out credit card. The last budget was a mixed bag for the property market: there was widespread concern amongst landlords that the government would hike up [...]
Buy Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey ahead of Spring Statement says broker March 24, 2025 Investment bank Jefferies has said investors should ‘Buy’ shares in UK housebuilders like Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey ahead of this week’s Spring Statement. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to present her Spring Statement later this week. Due to her commitment to just one major fiscal event, it was intended as an update rather than a [...]
TSB’s new boss takes helm amidst parent company’s uncertainty March 21, 2025 UK retail bank TSB announced on Friday that Marc Armengol had taken over as its new chief executive officer. Armengol, who previously served as corporate strategy director at the lender, was tapped for the role in November 2024. His appointment follows the retirement of former boss Robin Bulloch. Before joining TSB, Armengol worked at the [...]
Santander to shut 95 branches – putting 750 jobs at risk March 19, 2025 Santander announced a flurry of branch closures on Wednesday, which will place up to 750 employees at risk of redundancy. The bank, which is one of the UK’s most prominent mortgage lenders, will close 95 of its 444 branches as part of a structural overhaul that will begin in June 2025. Its updated branches network [...]
Rightmove: 74,000 house buyers to narrowly miss stamp duty deadline March 17, 2025 Rightmove’s stamp duty report has identified an estimated 74,000 moves, which includes 25,000 first-time buyers, that will just miss the March 31 deadline and complete in April. They form the unlucky section of a “massive log-jam” of 575,000 movers hoping to complete ahead of the tax change, Rightmove said. Collectively, the buyers are set to [...]