Nationwide launches its lowest mortgage rate EVER for those with big deposits

Enquiries from buyers looking to move on or up the property ladder increased in December, but homes on estate agents’ books remain low, Rics said.

The average house price climbed to £271k in November 2021, according to ONS figures, but the cost of living squeeze is forecast to trim gains

First-time buyers and families stretching their budgets to upsize are likely to be hit as banks rein back on the size of loans they are willing to hand out.

We outline what couples, friends and family buying homes together can do now to prevent pain later on if the relationship doesn’t work out, or one party wants to move on.

The lender is said to be considering a change in the way it calculates the size of mortgage a household can borrow, in light of skyrocketing cost of living.

Rightmove recorded a surge in sellers looking to come to market at the start of the new year, which could mean more supply and less frenzied competition for buyers.

Is there any stamp duty exemption when buying a property that will be your main residence? If not, will we need to sell our current property before we buy the new one?

We keep having offers rejected and purchases fall through because our current home is not yet sold. We don’t want to continue with this endless cycle of disappointment. What can we do?

Homeowners from a wealthy background also had ten times more equity in their properties than those with less well-off parents, a study has found.

Following months of historic lows, mortgage rates are starting to edge up for most borrowers following a rise in the Bank of England’s base rate.

The Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme will have cost the taxpayer £29bn by the time it ends in 2023, according to a new report.

Home working changed the way we live during the pandemic, as the price of a detached property surged 14%. But will the shift to spacious, rural locations become permanent?

Britain’s largest building society is increasing some of its mortgage rates by three times the 0.15% rise in the Bank of England base rate.

Prospective home movers took to the internet in record numbers over Christmas to browse property listings, it has been revealed.

Mortgage rates hit record lows of less than 1% in 2021, but they are now on the rise. We take a look at whether they will continue to spike and what else the year will bring.

More remortgages with new lenders were approved in November 2021 than at any point since the start of the pandemic, according to official figures.

The number of buyers taking their first step on to the property ladder has reached the highest level since 2006, new research has revealed.

The typical price of a home reached a record high of £254,822 in December, representing a £23,902  increase over the past year, Nationwide Building Society said.

The price of the average home rocketed by nearly £21,000 in 2021, but experts say growth could slow next year as households will be feeling the economic pinch.

Despite starting the year in lockdown, off-the-scale demand has seen sales surge and house prices hit eye-watering highs. But will prices continue their upward march next year?

Value of ‘prime’ properties rose by 9.3% in 2021, according to Savills, with the Cotswolds, Devon and Cornwall and Surrey seeing the biggest increases.

Lender will allow borrowers in certain professions to borrow much more than the standard 4.5 times salary, but they will need to fix their rate for at least 15 years.

Flint’s intervention comes just days after the Bank of England increased interest rates from a record low 0.1 per cent to 0.25 per cenT.

The price of homes in Yorkshire and the North West has grown almost twice as fast as in London since Johnson won the General Election in 2019.

The conveyancing group, which is recommended by leading estate agents, reported a data breach on 8 November – and customers still do not know if their information is safe.

Taylor Wimpey has removed the clauses in purchasers’ leasehold contracts that saw their ground rents double every 10 years.

Growth slowed down in October, with typical cost of a home falling 1% to £268,000 and one expert saying we may be nearing end of ‘dizzying annual growth’.

In the South East, South West, East of England and the North East, prices rose £23,500, £23,000, £20,400 and £8,300, respectively, in the last 12 months.

Pressure on household budgets, withdrawal of Covid support schemes and higher interest rates will see price growth slow, according to mortgage lender.

First-time buyers are flocking back to the market as the ‘race for space’ subsides – but they could find that flats are harder to mortgage than houses.

Just over a third of those looking to buy their first home today will get a mortgage on the first attempt, according to lender Aldermore.

The Bank of England has increased the base rate to 0.25 per cent, and the decision could hit ordinary people in the pocket -especially if it is hiked again next year as predicted.

The affordability test was introduced after the financial crisis to avoid payment shocks – but some say today’s low rates mean it is too onerous.

Of the record lending total, some £200billion was lent for home purchases. The figure was up 53 per cent on last year.

The typical home was listed for £340,167 in December, which was still an increase of £21,431 compared to the same time last year despite the monthly dip.

Doing some research on asbestos has left us terrified. Should we get a survey done, and will our home insurance cover the removal cost?

Buying a home later than expected has meant more are heading into retirment with a mortgage – but they can still use equity from their properties to fund their later life.

First-time buyers struggling to save a deposit are watching the average home get pricier at a rate of £1,700 per month.

Amid a shortage of homes being listed, last month property prices kept rising, buyer enquiries increased, but sales levels slipped, fresh data from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors said.

Britain’s biggest mortgage lender says that since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, house prices have risen by £33,816.

The average rate on a 5% deposit mortgage fixed for two years has fallen to 3.09%, the lowest it has been for at least a decade.

The reversion rate test was introduced post-financial crisis to avoid another housing bubble, but some say it is too stringent for today’s low-interest environment.

As many as 13 per cent of Britons claim to have used a rogue trader in the past year alone. We explain how to avoid becoming one of them.

Sharpest drops in home ownership between 1989 and 2019 were among younger single people, low-income households and black people, according to a new report.

Britain’s new housing developments are often full of unhappy residents. Owners are complaining of soaring numbers of defects

House price inflation returned to double digits in November, said Britain’s biggest building society, as the buyers shrugged off the end of the stamp duty holiday.

FCA’s Mortgage Prisoner Review found that 94% of mortgage prisoners are on variable rates, meaning payments would spike in the likely event of a base rate rise.

Survey says first-time buyers must now save £23,000 more for a house deposit than they did in March 2020, thanks to runaway house price increases.

Rising house prices have seen the cost of a home increase to 5.5 times the average first time buyer’s income, compared to 2.1 times 25 years ago.

The average home is now worth £240,000, according to the property portal – though price growth slowed in October compared to the previous two months.

Kensington Mortgages has launched loans with fixed interest for 11 to 40 years, and generous loan-to-income criteria – but rates are higher than two or five-year deals.

Consumer group Which? has warned that lenders view certain types of BNPL borrowing in the same way as a credit card or loan, which could scupper a mortgage application.

There were an average of 511 buyers registered with the typical estate agent branch in October, but only 21 homes available to buy.

Before buying a period property with a recent kitchen extension, you will need to check that the relevant consents were sought.

The majority of homes are not being built to achieve an Energy Performance Certificate rating of A – and half of the UK’s biggest builders did not answer when we asked them why.

There were nearly 77,000 transactions in the UK in October, a 52 per cent fall compared to September, after home buyers rushed through purchases to reduce their tax bills.

Systems were shut down 10 days ago, meaning some property buyers have been unable to exchange, complete or move.

The average house price surged by £28,000 in the year to September to hit another record high, according to latest government figures.

Banks are pushing inexpensive mortgages that can be hiked with a month’s notice in a ploy to cash in on imminent rate rises, brokers warn.

A shortgage of homes to let has driven up the cost of renting, with the typical monthly rent now £968 according to the property portal Zoopla.

The typical homeowner took £101,593 of equity out of their property, almost £20,000 more than in 2020, as pandemic led them to ‘reevaluate their priorities’.

Buyers looking to negotiate their new home can try to take advantage of a seasonal dip in asking prices, new figures have revealed.

We outline 10 steps to completing a freehold transfer in a timely manner, including which notices need to be served and in what circumstances.

British homeowners are reluctant to move to a smaller property and pocket the cash, even if it would help them to afford their retirement.

The Government wants as many homes as possible to reach an EPC rating of C by 2035 – but achieving this will be the most difficult for owners of older properties.

Estate agents now have just 37 properties on their books on average, down from around 42 in March, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ monthly market survey.

Southern counties topping the charts for property choice, but Help to Buy homes are quickly snapped up due to high demand from first-time buyers.

Buyers and sellers using the online agent have been unable to complete purchases, with some saying they are stuck in limbo with possessions already in a removal van.

The cost of the average mortgage has gone up for the first time since June, with some deposit tiers seeing increases of nearly 0.4% according to analysts at Moneyfacts.

In the five years to 2025, Strutt and Parker predicts the typical UK home will have increased in value by between 20 and 35%.

Halifax says the price of the average home has risen 8.1% in a year, with Wales recording an even more dramatic increase of 12.9%.

The OBR suggested in its Autumn Budget documents that house price inflation will soon drop back down to 1%.

Mortgage rates had been edging up in anticipation of a possible rise, but today’s decision will serve to halt a sharp increase for now.

Work out the impact of bank rate rises on your mortgage with This is Money’s independent calculator

Some households are paying council tax equal to a third of their annual rent or mortgage costs – while those in wealthy Westminster pay just 1 or 2 per cent.

House price inflation stood at 9.9 per cent in October, and the typical home has now added £30,000 to its value since the start of the pandemic.

As prices and taxes rocket, homeowners can still take huge strides to reduce the cost of their largest household bill – their mortgage.

Repossession claims by banks have surged by 50%, rising from 750 in May to 1,160 in June, according to Office for National Statistics data.

Green housebuilder Etopia Group claims it can build eco-friendly homes at an ‘affordable’ cost – and buyers could save £700 a year in energy bills. We take a look.

Mortgage payments could increase by hundreds of pounds a month if the Bank of England’s base rate was to rise, as the OBR forecasts.

Buy-to-let expert warns that a rate rise would see landlords paying hundreds more a month – and they would pass this increase on to tenants.

Forecasts produced by the Office for Budget Responsibility alongside the Budget suggested homeowners will have to prepare for the biggest hike in interest payments since the financial crisis.

The average British homeowner has been on the mortgage ladder for 13 years – but 49 per cent have never switched their deal, according to Barclays.

The chancellor decided against a CGT hike and also doubled the time landlords have to pay their tax bill when they sell a property.

Inheritance tax has been named Britain’s most hated tax, despite it being paid by only four per cent of the population.

The online property portal thinks house price growth will run at 3 per cent by December 2022, against a rate of more than 6 per cent now.

Hundreds of homeowners have already saved huge sums following the launch of Age Partnership’s switching service in spring this year.

There were nearly 161,000 property transactions in September according to HMRC, a 67.5% increase on the previous month.

Most homeowners fix their mortgage for two or five years – but deals are available with rates fixed for 10,15 or even 40, but can be expensive to exit.

House prices grew 10.6 per cent in the year to August across the UK, according to the ONS, but Scotland saw prices rocket 16.9%

Homes for rent are being listed, viewed and let in as little as 24 hours, tenants are being forced to increase their budgets and gazumping is rife.

Mortgage lenders would be forced to keep figures on how energy efficient the homes they lent money against are and disclose these to the Government.

The recent property boom has seen an emergence of so-called ‘power buyers,’ able to muscle other ‘normal’ buyers out of contention.

Rob Bence and Rob Dix are launching their fractional buy-to-let investment scheme and claim it offers a hassle-free alternative to being a property landlord.

Asking prices in every UK region broke records in October for the first time since March 2007, according to Rightmove, as buyers fear interest rate rise increasing the cost of a mortgage.

Which? has revealed the results of its annual survey, which pits mortgage lenders against one another in terms of their customer service and who offers the cheapest deals.

Finance experts warn that if these trends continue in the face of rising inflation, it could lead to a sharp increase in mortgage and rent defaults.

HSBC and Natwest are both set to increase mortgage interest rates, which have been hitting record lows of less than 1% for months, in a ‘sure sign’ that they think a base rate rise is coming.

While the pace of property price inflation has eased, the cost of a home rose all over the country last month with hefty spikes seen in Northern Ireland, Wales and the West Midlands.

A combination of lower mortgage rates, lockdown savings and a calmer market is attracting first-time buyers back to the property market in increasing numbers.

The number of equity release mortgage holders switching to a better interest rate dropped dramatically this year, with brokers saying many are not even aware that they can move to a new plan.

It is the lowest rate the building society has ever offered – but borrowers would be taking a gamble on future moves in the Bank of England’s base rate which their monthly payments will be tied to.

Nationwide has just become the first major lender to sign up to the initiative, which gives home buyers the chance to get a 5% deposit mortgage without the need for Government help.

Experts say historic low rates mean you can offset increases in your bills and save hundreds – if not thousands – a year by switching your mortgage. And now is the perfect time to do it.

There are a wave of financial products that claim to help first-time buyers get together a house deposit. We explain what is on offer and what they need to know before signing up.

Sprive was founded by former Goldman Sachs banker Jinesh Vohra, who was inspired by the struggles he had when trying to overpay on his own mortgage.

With the Governor of the Bank of England warning that interest rates will be pushed up if higher inflation becomes persistent, mortgages may get more expensive.

Nationwide said a 20 per cent deposit on a typical first-time buyer home is now around 113 per cent of their typical before tax income.

Amid a summer lull and the end of the main phase of the stamp duty holiday, there were 74,453 home-loan approvals in August, down from 75,100 in July, marking the lowest figure since July 2020.

The latest House Price Index released by Zoopla shows that the housing market is continuing unabated, despite many experts anticipating a slowdown due to the end of the stamp duty holiday.

By the end of 2021, the estate agent Hamptons forecasts that 1.5m homes will have been sold across Britain – the biggest number since 2007.

Across the country’s top 20 biggest cities, the average sum needed for a 5 per cent mortgage deposit is £10,606, figures from The Nottingham Building Society suggest.

Trade body UK Finance data shows some 52 per cent of new mortgage lending is going to borrowers who will still be paying back the loan after their milestone 65th birthday.

The bumper tax take came despite the stamp duty holiday that slashed tax to zero on the first £500,000 of a property’s purchase price until the end of June this year.

Rightmove describes current conditions as the ‘hottest ever competition to buy’, with buyer demand per property for sale more than double pre-pandemic levels.

Israel came in a first place with the average house price increasing 345.7 per cent. The UK, despite its sky high property prices came in at number ten.

Barratt wants to cater to renters who saved during the pandemic by developing dinky flats at a £200,000 discount to the average London house price.

The typical home was worth £255,535 in July, according to the Land Registry-based index – around £19,000 higher than a year earlier.

Emma Jones and partner Kayvan Khanmorady-Gargary found themselves in a perfect storm when renovating their home in Cheshire.

Upgrading homes to meet the targets could cost up to £65bn, according to Government estimates – the majority of which will fall to homeowners.

Britain’s biggest mutual has reduced its two-year fixed rate for borrowers with 40% deposits to just 0.87% – which is one of the cheapest options currently on the market.

Soaring house prices have raised sellers’ price expectations – but research suggests hundreds of thousands of homes were down-valued when surveyed by the buyers’ mortgage lender.

The agent is using the pandemic as an excuse for rising costs and delayed repairs. Is there a way to challenge the escalating bill, and can we change our managing agent?

A section 5 notice is the landlord’s offer to sell the freehold. This is part of the process of buying the freehold on a flat, and it can be extremely valuable.

My house is proving a good investment, so I am keen to hang on to it and rent it out. Do I need a buy-to-let mortgage, and will I need to pay extra income or capital gains tax?

I want to move, but am locked in to a five-year fixed mortgage deal. How does porting a mortgage work, will there be fees and does it matter that I am now self-employed?

Experts are warning that, thanks to this year’s house price rises, more people will now have to pay inheritance tax when they are left a property or other assets by someone who has died.

After the stamp duty holiday was extended, our calculator hows how much tax you would pay to move home before the new 30 June 2021 deadline.

Having bought a home at today’s inflated prices, first-time buyers may be left in negative equity when the market cools down. How much of a problem is that, and what can they do to prevent it?

Millions struggled to keep on top of household bills and debts when the pandemic forced businesses to shut and pay was slashed.

House prices are soaring and mortgage terms are getting longer – so it is little wonder that fewer borrowers expect to have paid off their mortgage by the time they retire.

A significant number of homeowners could be overpaying for home insurance because they have bought a policy from their mortgage provider instead of shopping around.

Currently, 43% of homeowners are worried about making their monthly mortgage payments. We explain what to do if your income drops, and how to remortgage with defaults on your record.

We just received the homebuyer report on our new period home, which raised concerns about an old loft conversion and extension. How can we ensure it’s safe and what survey do we need?

From sports betting to streaming subscriptions, we asked mortgage experts about spending habits that could raise mortgage lenders’ eyebrows – and how much of a risk they pose.

If you’re struggling to work at your kitchen table – and you have the luxury of a garden – it could be time to invest in a ‘shoffice’. Here’s everything you need to know about building a garden workspace.

Most Britons don’t know the size of their home in square feet, according to a new survey. But given that buyers now prize space above all else, has this become vital information?

A third of UK home renovators plan to fund their project with a remortgage, according to a new survey. But how do you go about getting equity out of your home? We explain how it works.

This couple shared their home with three lodgers to help pay the mortgage. But now they want to sell, they could be landed with a capital gains tax bill. We asked three tax experts to explain the rules

The last thing you want is to discover your beautiful new home is concealing nightmares behind every nook and cranny. But what type of survey should you choose? We explain the difference between them.

Interest-only mortgages have become something of a taboo ever since the 2008 crash. But could they be a short-term fix for homeowners hit financially by Covid, or is taking one out too much of a risk?

Britons are at risk of paying over the odds on their house purchases, with 30 per cent of homeowners failing to negotiate on their current property. We explain how to do it successfully

Housebound UK homeowners are on a quest to perfect their homes, as Britons spent hundreds more on renovations in 2020.

Getting on the property ladder is an aspiration shared by millions of people across the UK, but prices increased 6.4 per cent in the last year according to Nationwide.

Property listings on the online portals often carry the bullet point, ‘potential to extend subject to planning permission (STPP)’. And estate agents love to talk about ‘potential’.

A total of 306,198 property transactions fell through last year, representing a 12.26 per cent rise from 2019. We asked the experts what to do if your deal is in danger of being derailed.

With thousands of homes at your fingertips, searching on Rightmove of Zoopla can feel like looking for a needle in a haystack. We reveal little-known tech tricks to help you beat the competition.

Britain’s most commonly asked mortgage questions have been revealed following analysis by Comparethemarket.com. We went to three mortgage experts to find the answers.

Research by online broker Habito found that 27% of people were on a standard variable rate – lenders’ ‘default’ rate which buyers drop on to when the initial term of their mortgage deal ends.

The fees vary a bit, can we negotiate on them and what is the best way to do this? Is there a way to incentivise the agent to get us the best price?