Over 50s mortgages help LiveMore turbocharge growth August 6, 2025 According to Legal & General Mortgage Services, which is involved in around a third of all mortgage transactions in the UK, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of over-50-year-olds applying for mortgages. Rising house prices, coupled with increasing longevity, have pushed the average age of the first time buyer to 33, with [...]
Professional landlords to replace ‘hobbyist’ investors August 5, 2025 The much-publicised decline of the small-scale private landlord is leaving huge scope for professional lenders to take their place, in a ‘net positive’ for the market, according to property experts. Private landlords are being squeezed from all directions: A combination of lower tax relief, higher mortgages and tighter regulation has continuously pushed yields down. Amateur [...]
Housing affordability creeps up amid wage growth and rate cuts August 1, 2025 Housing affordability in the UK has slowly been improving amid slower house price growth than wage growth, as well as a fallback in mortgage rates. House prices grew 2.4 per cent in the year to July, according to Nationwide’s latest house price index, while wage growth was five per cent. The price of a typical [...]
‘Responsible landlords’ urged to stay in the private housing market July 31, 2025 The UK’s landlord association has urged landlords to remain within the country’s private housing sector, warning that their exit could lead to a ‘disastrous’ outcome for tenants. Arguing that private landlords selling up is a direct cause of homelessness, the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) said that “responsible landlords” need to stay in the market [...]
Dearth of international super-prime buyers opens market up for young Brits July 29, 2025 The non-dom exodus and a dearth of super-prime buyers has pushed the price of London’s super-prime property down, shifting the buyer profile to younger domestic buyers. Prices are at a 10-year low, nominally below where they were even in 2014. ““Prices across the capital’s prime markets are offering significant value… Those taking advantage [of this] [...]
Paragon maintains pace as stamp duty changes slow mortgage lending July 29, 2025 Paragon has weathered a shakeup in stamp duty as analysts hailed the FTSE 250 bank’s “excellent momentum” in the first nine months of the financial year. The London-listed business recorded £1.1bn mortgage lending for the first three quarters, but estimated full-year volumes at the lower end of targets at £1.6bn. The firm said subdued activity [...]
Soaring stamp duty costs dampen house price growth July 29, 2025 Housing market activity has surged but price growth has slowed as high costs bite into buyers’ budgets. Buyer demand rose 11 per cent and agreed sales rose eight per cent year on year but house prices grew by just 1.3 per cent, according to Zoopla’s latest house price index. Higher stamp duty costs now impact [...]
Super-prime sales plunge again July 28, 2025 The continued rise in wealthy residents leaving Britain has caused super-prime property sales in London to plunge by over £100m this year, according to a fresh study that brings the woes afoot at the upper end of London real estate into even sharper relief. During the first half of this year, the total value of [...]
‘Our guests like to eat’: The Maldives hotel with incredible food, gorgeous sealife and 24 hour butler service July 25, 2025 At Malé Seaplane Lounge on the final leg of my journey to a rather gorgeous hotel in the Maldives, I found a glossy coffee table book. Inside were photographs of tropical sunsets, grinning locals, and thoughtful essays on Maldivian culture. I wanted a copy; it was a welcome shift from the influencer reels I’d scrolled [...]
Rightmove demands stamp duty overhaul July 25, 2025 Rightmove has called on the government to overhaul stamp duty thresholds to help first-time buyers get on the property market. The UK’s largest property platform urged ministers to increase the thresholds at which the tax kicks in, to reflect house price rises that have occurred in recent years and “help mobility across many parts of [...]