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Llyods TSB Scotland today announced that Scottish house prices have risen again.

The House Price Monitor in Scotland  stated that figures for the last quarter to the end of April went up by 2.3%, giving an average house price of £163,639.

Scottish house prices have risen by 11.6% in a year.

Aberdeen showed an annual increase of 19% while the north excluding Aberdeen showed an increase of 26%.

Professor Donald MacRae, chief economist at Lloyds TSB Scotland, said: “Following last quarter’s pause for breath after seven years of house price increases, the average Scottish house price is again on the rise.

“However, the rate of increase has slowed substantially to a much more sustainable rate.”

Annual increase North – 26% Aberdeen – 19% Dundee – 18% Central/Fife/Perth/Tayside – 13% Edinburgh – 12% South west – 8% Glasgow – 4% South east – 3%

Dundee was the only area to report a reduction in house prices this quarter of 5.2%, but the bank said an annual rise of 18% demonstrated the “underlying strength” of the market.

The central, Fife, Perth and Tayside areas showed an annual rise of 13%, while Edinburgh house prices rose by 12%.

In Glasgow, the south west and south east annual rises were lower than the rest of the country  ranging from 1.4% to 9.4%.

The Scottish housing monitor painted a much brighter picture than elsewhere in the UK. with prices not falling but the rate of rise slowing.

The Edinburgh & Lothians Property Group (ELPG,) which brings together conveyancing solicitors, welcomed the figures. Read the rest of this entry »

Read the rest of this entry »

Home buyers who cannoy afford a property on their own due to tighter lending criteria have started to join together to apply for one multiple borrower mortgage application, says Mform.co.uk.

The price comparison website stated that  nearly 50 % of lenders of lenders will allow multiple borrowers on an application, with four people being the normal maximum.Some lenders however set no limit on how many people can make an application, the website says.

Its data reveals that up to 42 mortgage companies that lend directly to the public will allow multiple borrowers on mortgage applications, with the amount customers can borrow usually based on the two biggest incomes.

Francis Ghiloni, marketing and business development director for Mform.co.uk, says: “Groups of borrowers teaming up to make an application makes sense in the current climate and the mortgage industry is increasingly willing to consider multiple borrowers. Read the rest of this entry »

BBC research shows More people want house prices to fall than to rise.

This  was the first poll to test the notion that house price falls are unpopular.

Just 20% of people want house prices to rise, less than the number of people who want them to fall.

The poll by the BBC which had over 1000 people take part found that only 22% said they wanted prices to go up while 28% said they wanted house prices to come down.

Nearly 50% of people taking part, said they wanted them to stay the same.

The poll was commissioned after makers of the BBC2 TV series The Truth About Property came across a surprisingly large number of people who wanted house prices to drop.

Price falls bring economic benefits not just to first-time buyers but to any homeowner who wants to trade up to a larger or more valuable property.

The cost of the place they are selling may fall. But, all else being equal, the more valuable property they want to buy will fall by a larger amount – meaning they have to borrow less to “climb” the property ladder.

Analysts are concerned that if house prices fall too quickly it may knock consumer confidence, already at its lowest for over a decade.

Another finding for the survey questions whether it is house price falls that have damaged consumer confidence – as opposed to other factors such as food, fuel and mortgage payments.

Respondents were asked if a fall in house prices of more than 10% would make them more likely to cut back on household spending such as clothes, leisure and groceries.

More than 60% of people said it would either make no difference or would make them likely to spend more.

Only a minority – 38% – said it would make them more likely to cut back.

Nearly a third of homeowners have no mortgage on their homes - meaning no risk of negative equity. Read the rest of this entry »

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and its sister company, NatWest, have cut their mortgage rates.

Both of these lenders have decreased the cost of lending on their most of their mortgage products, in an effort to increase their new mortgage business.

From 8th May,their interest rates on their two and five year fixed rate products will fall by between 0.10 and 0.40%.

Borrowers buying their first hame can secure a five-year fix at a rate of 5.89%.The Maximum loan to value (LTV) is 75% and a £999 fee is charged. For those remortgaging the rate is 6.09%, the LTV and fee remain the same. Read the rest of this entry »

Mortgage interest rates in the UK  have been held at 5% by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

The move was expected by the city , many analysts are  now predicting that mortgage rates will be reduced to 4.75% in June.

The MPC’s decision came despite a flurry of worries about the state of the UK economy amid a global slowdown.

There are still major worries over rising fuel and food prices and how rto control inflation. Read the rest of this entry »

The CML has revealed that even with the credit crunch gross lending in 2007  reached £364bn.

In its yearly report, released yesterday, It stated this equates to almost £1bn per day and was 6% more than the £345bn recorded in 2006.The number of loans for mortgages fell by 10%, the CML says the value of mortgages for house purchase borrowing hit £155bn – This was only 2% lower than the £158bn recorded in 2006.

The amount  of borrowers remortgaging also dropped by 7% although the amount of remortgage loans actually rose by 1% from £128bn to £129bn.

The strongest part of the uk market was the buy-to-let sector which represented 9% of all loans completed.

The number of buy-to-let loans in 2007  rose by 23% during the year to more than 1 million. Secured loans and lifetime mortgages also rose strongly.

At the startof 2008 it says it was anticipating total lending for the year of £340bn, just a little under the total gross lending for 2006. It was also anticipating repossessions to rise quickly, from 27,000 in 2007 to 45,000 for 2008.

The report says “Our members continue to offer enormous potential for people to fulfil their aspirations to home-ownership.

“Despite the abrupt change in market conditions, the reality was that at the end of what proved to be a momentous year, almost 12 million households were successfully using mortgage finance to buy their own home.”

UK mortgage interest rates are expected to be held at 5%, despite a lot of worries about the economy.

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) have held a two day meeting and will announce their decision on Thursday.

Last month’s rate cut, from 5.25% to 5%  meant that the MPC had been expected to hold off on any more rate cuts for now.

This week however there had been a lot of negative manufacturing and service sector data which had led some to think a further cut is more likely.

The pound fell on speculation that Bank of England may cut rates this month, though most analysts still expect that the next cut will come in June.

The Bank of England is normally reluctant to have back-to-back rate cuts, said BNP Paribas analyst Alan Clarke.

“One reason for that is the fear that it will cause the market to extrapolate the move and price in even deeper cuts,” he added.

However, Global Insight’s chief UK economist, Howard Archer, said that another rate cut in May was a “distinct possibility”.

“The recent stream of weaker data suggests that the UK economic downturn is deepening and widening,” he added.

And Paul Dales of Capital Economics said that the decision was “looking a closer call than a few days ago”.

Office for National Statistics survey showed that manufacturing fell by 0.5% in March, the biggest rate of decline in six months.

However, it rose by 0.3% in the first three months of 2008 compared with the fourth quarter of 2007.

The wider measure of industrial production also fell 0.5% in March – its quickest rate of decline in over a year.

The figures follow this week from the Chartered Institute for Purchasing and Supply which suggested that the UK services sector grew at its slowest rate in nearly half a decade in April as costs rose.

The MPC’s April rate cut was the third since Christmas last year, as the credit crunch continued to unsettle the UK housing market.

The crisis which has made funding mortgages more expensive for banks and building societies, meant that not all lenders passed on the reduction to its borrowers, despite government pleas for them to do so. Read the rest of this entry »

The number of people renting in the UK has risen by 5% says Moneysupermarket.com.

The website claims the credit crunch and tougher lending criteria  imposed by mortgage lenders was to blame for the rise.They stated that the number of buy-to-let mortgage deals available has fallen by about  40% during the past month.

Louise Cuming, head of mortgages at Moneysupermarket.com, says: “You would imagine this would mean the buy-to-let market would start to grow. Read the rest of this entry »

The maximum average  LTV for mortgages has fallen from to just 87.6% as a result of lenders tightening  lending criteria on the best mortgage deals available.

Mform.co.uk the comparison website  says the max LTV for purchases on the majority of two-year fixed rate deals dropped from 93% in May last year to about 85% in April 2008.

This was the biggest drop of all five mortgage product areas thatMform.co.uk analysed.   Read the rest of this entry »