UK Mortgage lending declines 10% in September
February 9, 2009 by admin
Filed under Mortgage News
Gross UK mortgage lending declined to £17.7 billion in September, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). This marked a drop of 10% from August, and 42% from September 2007.
Even though a seasonal fall ‘is typically experienced between August and September’, this £17.7 billion figure represents the lowest gross lending figure seen since January 2005.
Total third-quarter gross lending is estimated to be around £62 billion – a 16% drop on the previous quarter and a 37% year-on-year drop.
Despite the low figures, CML director general Michael Coogan stressed that the mortgage market is still “open for business”, but added that he expects funding restraints and weakening demand to dampen lending throughout the remainder of 2008 and into the first quarter of next year.
Mr Coogan stated that: “We estimate gross lending in 2008 will be around £255 billion (£363 billion in 2007) and net lending of around £40 billion (£108 billion in 2007).”
Funding issues and weakened consumer demand are inevitably having an impact on house prices. According to Nationwide Building Society, the average house price dropped to £161,797 in September 2008, a drop of almost £25,000 from the peak prices seen in October 2007.
However, Nationwide’s chief executive, Graham Beale, does believe that the end of these house price drops is in sight. In an interview with the BBC, he stated that he expects the housing market to show signs of recovery in 2010 – and that he expects the average ‘peak-to-trough’ fall in prices to reach 25%.
“I think that next year we will see a similar pattern to this year,” he said. “…we will see further falls in house prices. And I think before we really get to the new world, whatever that is, I think we will be into 2010.”
UK Mortgage Payment Calculator For An Informed Decision
November 19, 2008 by admin
Filed under Mortgage Articles
Online payment calculators also give you the benefit of knowing how much is the difference between paying daily interest and paying interest yearly. Or even interest only home loan can easily be calculated.
The biggest benefit of a fixed rate mortgage is that you will come to discover precisely what your mortgage interest and principal payments are going to be and hence address your budgeting in accordance.
Mortgage loan refinancing in Britain is a good option if you get hold of decent credit, but desire to lower your monthly payments and the amount of interest that you are paying on your debts. Before looking at getting a mortgage loan refinancing in Britain, you should think carefully about your situation and the reasons behind the *********.
In Britain, you can find a lot of UK mortgage calculator online which is very easy to use. This forms calculators can also calculate how much a couple can borrow. It will also give you how much monthly payments will expect. Online calculators can also give you the effects of changing interest rates on refinancing and loan payments. All this can be done online and some are free for you to use.
The average homeowner will keep any given mortgage seven years or less before moving or refinancing. In a declining interest rate environment, that holding period for the loan would decrease even more. If you think that you are paying tons more than the current market interest rate on your existing mortgage loan, then it is the right time for you to consider a mortgage *********. Simply stated, home equity is the difference between how swarms your home is worth and how many you owe. Points paid on a purchase mortgage can be deducted upfront, but points paid on a ********* are handled differently. These make to be deducted over the loan’s lifetime.
To procure loans you usually desire collateral, and home equity loans are no different. Collateral is property you use as a pledge to repay a debt. A home equity loan puts your house to work for you, creating a personal loan borrowed against the value of your home. To understand home equity loans, borrowers need for to first discover the concept of equity
There is never a bad time to invest in property. Historically, property has always risen in price regardless of a certain short term trends. Although investing in real estate property is never a bad time, using UK mortgage payment calculator can offer you a lot of knowledge and information.
The UK Housing Market - What’s Happened?
November 18, 2008 by admin
Filed under Mortgage Articles, Remortgage News
There are a number of reasons for the fall. Crucially the credit crunch means that banks are less able to raise funds from wholesale markets and therefore do not have the funds to lend on. In addition, whereas this time last year banks were keen to invest in the housing market, they now see the housing market as a risky investment and want only to lend to buyers who are safe bets. This equates to buyers who have a large deposit plus a good credit score. Long gone are the 100% mortgages and the large salary multiples.
For the potential buyer household incomes are squeezed with higher costs for food, energy and fuel, and with a recession looming employment may not be secure. Such pressures have not been seen for a decade. Furthermore, of the buyers that have secured mortgages they may wait to see how much the market falls.
In a nutshell, there are fewer buyers who have secured mortgages and with fewer buyers there is less demand for housing and so prices have fallen. Some experts predict that prices will fall by as much as 25% in total from peak to trough and the market will begin to recover in 2010. In contrast, the Centre for Economic and Business Research predict a total fall of 15%.
So what will stop the freefall? The UK government announced some, in effect, minor measures: interest free loans, a stamp duty level rise and help for those not affording their mortgage. This was a welcome help but is unlikely to stabilise the market significantly as the key problem is the banks having funds to borrow and then those banks taking the risk to lend.
Hope glimmers as the US Treasury has in effect nationalised the US’s two largest mortgage providers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which will protect millions of mortgages and indeed, banks worldwide who are exposed to them. This hugely costly intervention is expected to stabilise the US housing market which in turn will stabilise the US economy. As a result UK banks will be able to secure funds to lend to consumers. However, return to the previous easy lending criteria is unlikely and even when banks have funds to lend they are likely to require the borrower to show that they are a good investment: with a deposit and affordable repayments.
The housing bubble has burst, but the fact remains that the property market in the medium and long term will be backed by the sheer necessity of housing requirements. The population is increasing and there is not enough housing to home everyone. With less sales, property developers are currently short of cash and are putting their projects on hold. As a result new building will be well below the government’s targets and as demand outstrips supply prices will go up. Indeed, the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR) expect house prices to rise by 30% between late 2009 and 2012.
And so the UK housing market is expected to be slow into 2009 but as the economy recovers so too will the housing market.
Interbank Forex and the US Bailout Agreement
November 18, 2008 by admin
Filed under Mortgage News
The US financial crisis has become contagious, spreading to European banks and financial institutions and Interbank Forex markets worldwide. In the UK mortgage giant Bradford and Bingley had to be rescued by the government. Shares of French bank Dexia tumbled more than 20% because of a newspaper report that the bank may launch an emergency capital increase. On Sunday the governments of Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands announced an 11.2 Euro bailout of one of Europe’s largest banks.
Markets, including the Interbank Forex, have been in a state of disarray with global money markets waiting for the details of the proposed US bailout. The US congress is set to vote on the compromise bailout package on Monday, September 29th. After almost a week of political haggling Democrats and Republicans have reached an agreement. Highlights of the bailout plan include;
* The government would have broad powers to buy billions in mortgage related assets.
* The plan lets congress block half the money. The government can access 250 billion immediately, 100 billion more if the president certified it was necessary, and 350 billion more with a separate certification.
* Executives of companies who benefit from the bailout will see limited compensation.
* The plan requires the government to try to renegotiate bad mortgages with the intention of lowering monthly payments.
* The government would receive stock warrants in return for assistance, giving American taxpayers the opportunity to share in future profits.
* After five years the government would submit a plan to congress on how to recover any losses from companies receiving assistance.
Financial analysts are hoping that the passage of the US bailout plan will bring a semblance of stability to global markets. With the crisis spreading well beyond the borders of the United States passage of the compromise bailout plan is seen by many as a way to stem the tide of bank failures in Europe. Credit markets and interbank lending have all been virtually frozen by the US financial crisis and it is hoped that the infusion of billions of dollars will cause credit to flow freely again.

