House prices reach record high of £245k in October 2020 says ONS

Programmes like Homes Under The Hammer and Location, Location, Location have made us all experts or so we think. But are some of our certainties just old wives’ tales? We asked the real experts…

Rightmove said there were a record 8.5 million visits to its website on February 17, and that some people are looking to move regardless of whether the stamp duty holiday is extended.

Some 22 per cent of home buyers blame bad credit for having their property purchase thwarted. Experian’s John Webb and the Mortgage Advice Bureau’s Brian Murphy explain how to fix it

Around 750,000 buyers in England are set to benefit from the stamp duty holiday since it was launched last year, saving them but costing the Treasury nearly £5billion, according to the findings.

We had been working on the basis that there was no way we would benefit from the stamp duty holiday, but I have now read that it could be extended for three months.

Property transactions in the UK took a tumble in January for the first time in nine months according to HMRC data, in the latest sign the pandemic-fuelled market boom is coming to an end.

Young renters have been hit financially by the pandemic. With hefty deposits often a barrier to moving, companies are now offering to secure their tenancies for them – in exchange for a fee.

The number of cohabiting couples submitting joint mortgage applications rose by 60 per cent in 2020. We explain what you need to ask each other before taking the plunge

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?

Those living in energy inefficient homes could soon find it harder to get a mortgage, after a Government report said it could start rating lenders on the energy efficiency of their portfolios

A change in the law should make life easier for renters with pets – but some buildings have been ahead of the curve in allowing tenants to keep furry friends

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

Lenders have launched 117 new 10% deposit mortgages since the beginning of the year – but first-time buyers still have far fewer options than they did pre-pandemic.

House prices rose 8.5% to a record high of £252,000, aided by lockdown buyers looking for bigger homes and the stamp duty holiday launched in July, the ONS revealed.

We take a look inside the most viewed homes for sale overseas on property website Rightmove, including a Florida mansion (pictured).

Almost two-thirds of buyers nationwide, representing sales worth £1.5bn, are in a chain where someone is dependent on completion before the deadline of March 31.

Extending the stamp duty holiday by six weeks – a move chancellor Rishi Sunak is said to be considering – would save home buyers in England a further £1bn, according to new predictions.

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

Covid has put paid to traditional auctions – so for the last year, budding buyers have been going online in search of a property bargain instead.

Around 750,000 people are set to benefit from the Government’s stamp duty holiday – saving nearly £5bn in tax. Property portal Zoopla said this would have been a record taking for the Treasury.

According to Rightmove’s latest figures, average asking prices swelled by £1,522, or 0.5 per cent, to £318,580 in the past month.

Being accepted for a mortgage is a common worry among home buyers – but even some of the UK’s wealthiest people have been turned down by their bank, it has emerged.

Despite remaining open throughout the latest lockdown, the property market has started off 2021 on a ‘weaker footing’, with sales, listings and interest from prospective buyers dwindling.

The Grade II-listed tower dates features a distinctive roof with a brick balustrade, a stylish modern curved modern extension, and views over Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

Those who have a gripe with their new-build home will soon have a new way to raise a complaint, after a new independent body launched to champion buyers’ interests.

The proportion of first-time buyers spending more than £1million on their homes has doubled in the past year, as two per cent spent seven figures to get on the property ladder.

Dave and Brooke Whipple achieved the mortgage-free dream by buying cheap land and building cabins before selling them on.

Always check the contract with your lettings agent before you sign it as it sets out what payments are due and when, so there is clarity and transparency.

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.

We made an offer on a home for our growing family, but have since found out it is subject to estate rent charges. We have heard bad things about them – so should we pull out?

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.

The mini-boom that arrived after the property freeze at the start of lockdown led house prices to climb 6 per cent last year, according to the Halifax index.

Hedge House has a brick and wood exterior, and was designed by the architect David Sheppard, who is selling it for £3.5m. One buying agent labelled it ‘extraordinary.’

MPs have argued for the extension of the stamp duty holiday, to allow people who are already in the process of buying a home to benefit from tax savings of up to £15,000.

As thousands of people look to explore Britain this summer, it could be a good time for those with a second home to turn it into a holiday let. We explain how, and reveal the most popular locations.

Mortgage approvals for house purchases hit their highest level since the financial crisis last year, as the stamp duty holiday and socialising restrictions kept buyers engaged with their search for a new home.

Bailey is very much ‘new wave’ Conservative. Born in Ladbroke Grove, West London, to British Jamaican parents, he and his brother were brought up by their mother Carmen in a council house.

The Government has amended its Model Tenancy Agreement to make allowing pets the default position – meaning landlords will have to object in writing and provide a good reason.

According to the Equity Release Council, 21% fewer borrowers made drawdowns from existing equity release pots last year, deciding instead to leave the money in the hands of their lender.

The average property is taking nearly a month longer to sell once under offer, due to a bottleneck that has developed since the property market shutdown in March and April.

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.

With the stamp duty holiday set to end on 31 March, some home buyers are pushing to complete purchases in order to save up to £15,000 in tax. We asked three property experts for their tips.

The average price for a UK home rose 4.3 per cent to £223,700 in the year to December, the highest since April 2017, according to property portal Zoopla.

The difference in interest rates between two and five-year fixed mortgages – also known as the ‘rate gap’ – is the smallest it has been since 2013 at just 0.27% according to new figures.

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 lockdown property market mini-boom that sent house prices climbing spelt bad news for first-time buyers last year, but things are potentially improving.

This is Money takes a look at what being a property guardian involves, how much you could potentially save and how the pandemic has affected the industry.

Metro Bank, Nationwide and Barclays have all dropped the interest rates on their 10 per cent deposit mortgages, which are popular with first-time buyers – but rates are still higher than pre-pandemic

Perenna, which is hoping to launch this summer, says it will allow borrowers to fix the rate of interest on their mortgage for up to 30 years – meaning that they would not need to constantly remortgage.

First-time buyers in Vaduz, Bern and Copenhagen can save up for a house the fastest, according to a new report – while those hoping to get on the ladder elsewhere could have to wait a whopping 25 years.

Bath in Somerset, Tenby in Pembrokeshire, Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire, Ilfracombe in Devon and Canterbury in Kent made up the top five of the most sought-after locations.

On a provisional seasonally adjusted basis, there were 129,400 residential sales completed in December, which is 13 per cent more than in November 2020, HMRC said today.

Thousands of borrowers have struggled to pay the mortgage in the virus crisis – with close two million taking a break from repayments. Last year 2,900 properties were repossessed by lenders.

The average cost of a home increased by 7.6 per cent over the period, up from a 5.9 per cent rise in the year to October, fresh figures from the ONS has revealed today.

A survey of homeowners aged 55 and over, by retirement home builder Audley Group, found 34 per cent want to move to a better area and 29 per cent want to be closer to family and friends.

The area’s pretty rural villages have long been a favourite among the rich and famous and lockdown has seen a fresh surge of interest.

The stamp duty holiday’s days are numbered. Rishi Sunak is said to have ruled out an extension to the tax break that ignited the housing market in the pandemic and saved buyers more than £3bn.

Nationwide found that London first-time buyers will save for an average of 16 years, but in Scotland and the North East it is less than six – and more have been taking help from family and friends.

The Government must debate whether the tax break, which can save buyers up to £15,000, will be extended to the end of September after a petition gained more than 100,000 signatures.

Average asking prices started to drop in the past month and there are now well over 600,000 homes caught up in a completion log-jam ahead of the stamp duty holiday ending on 31 March.

Santander has excluded self-employed home buyers from its lower-deposit mortgage deals, meaning that new borrowers will now need a deposit of at least 40%.

The return of low-deposit mortgages means it is once again possible to get on the ladder – but there is a chance mortgage rates and house prices may fall in 2021. Should first-time buyers move now or wait?

Last month, property prices, sales and buyer demand all increased, but at a slower pace than seen in previous months, the Rics said in its latest closely-watched survey.

Nathan Prescott from Manchester found out his building would not qualify for support for the replacement of its dangerous cladding because vital repairs had already begun.

We moved home last summer into a house that needs totally refurbishing and extending. Can we still do this in the new lockdown, as architects and builders would need to visit our home?

Property experts are pushing for a ‘fairer’ phasing out of the end of March deadline, rather than a brutal cut-off date. Those who are already in the middle of a purchase would still benefit.

HSBC says it will resume offering 90% loan-to-value products from next week, following competitors such as Halifax and NatWest. It has not revealed what the rates will be.

TSB finds that the average homeowner could save an average of £2,000 per year by switching their deal – but that the majority of people are not considering remortgaging.

The UK’s second-largest building society is reinstating 90% loan-to-value mortgages, frequently used by first-time buyers, after pulling its previous products due to Covid.

There are increasing calls for the tax break to be extended – both to allow for delays in the system caused by lockdown, and to galvanise the property market if the restrictions prove to be a dampener

Plenty of people will be looking to take advantage of the house price boom and sell up this year. From gorgeous gardens to video viewings, here’s how to get ahead of the competition.

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?

Aspiring homeowners with low deposits had a torrid year in 2020 with deals vanishing and rates rising, but there are signs for optimism in 2021.

The average London leaver paid £372,860 for their new home according to Hamptons International, and popular locations included Sevenoaks in Kent and Spelthorne in Surrey.

Predictions about what the pandemic would do to property values were time and again proved wrong. The final property price indexes show a substantial increase across 2020 as a whole.

Rightmove had its busiest ever Boxing Day for visits, which jumped 54 per cent compared to 2019 – while Zoopla saw traffic on its website soar to 70.5 per cent more than pre-Christmas levels

The news is potentially most welcome for would-be house sellers living in parts of London as well as Yorkshire, the West Midlands and northern Scotland – the areas with the biggest increases.

The bank has sold a third of its mortgages as it eyes a move into personal loans and credit card lending.

Out of 1,000 people who were currently in the process of buying a home, 31% said they would not continue if they had not completed by 31 March.

The number of UK workers looking for furlough-friendly mortgages skyrocketed during November following the extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme last month.

While the property market surge continues, it stands in contrast to the floundering wider economy.

The relaunched 10% deposit mortgages are based on two and five-year fixed rates, and will also be available to people who are moving house

Banks are imposing stricter checks on anyone who works for themselves due to fears their finances could take a hit due to the pandemic. But brokers say viable borrowers are being frozen out of deals.

Building society chiefs have asked Government to extend the stamp duty holiday for those who accept a mortgage offer by 31 March by an extra three months.

The monthly draw, which relaunched in May, sees home loans up to the value of £300,000 paid off by one of Britain’s largest lenders.

We are pretty sure that Japanese knotweed has encroached from our neighbour’s land. We know this can be a problem, but we can’t afford not to sell. Do we need to tell the estate agent or lawyers?

Average asking prices rose by 6.6 per cent in the year to December to £319,945, although they declined slightly over the past month, Rightmove said.

The stamp duty holiday has been a handy lesson in how inflation works, but has it been a total failure? A better move would be a cut that lasts.

Aspiring homeowners hoping to buy their first property with a 10 per cent deposit face limited choice and higher costs than they did a year ago.

Average property prices continued to rise ‘sharply’ in most parts of the country last month, but buyer demand is showing some signs of losing steam as the year draws to a close.

The Allcrofts asked to extend their mortgage holiday in summer, but did not realise that Nationwide had set it up as two separate stints.

Its latest monthly house price index – which is based on mortgage approvals rather than actual sales prices – shows the price of an average UK home jumped 1.2 per cent in November to £253,243.

Charles Rickards of removal company, Aussie Man & Van, said that sales are up 30 per cent compared with the same period last year. ‘We are flat out like a lizard drinking,’ he said.

The rush to beat the stamp duty holiday deadline drove up the market, with experts describing a ‘mad stampede’ before the nine-month break ends on paying the fee on the first £500,000 of homes.

Deborah and Paul Marshall (pictured) flipped their fifth property in ten years last week – a three-bedroom home in East Yorkshire which they bought for £209,000 and sold it for £300,000.

TSB and digital bank Atom have joined Yorkshire Building Society to launch a range of loans for borrowers with a 10 per cent deposit, while Virgin Money cut its rates.

If purchases are delayed and miss the stamp duty holiday, lenders would be within their rights to withdraw mortgage offers, leading to the collapse of tens of thousands of transactions.

Out of 50 towns and cities, Manchester has seen the biggest jump in prices in two decades, with the average cost of a home jumping by 143 per cent from £73,910 to £179,537.

The move from one of Britain’s biggest building societies is better news for borrowers who have seen 90% of the mortgages for those with a 10% deposit in March axed.

An estimated 250,000 borrowers are stuck on high-interest loans after a clamp down following the 2008 financial crisis prevented homeowners from remortgaging.

Millions of self-employed workers, already facing the blight of Covid-19, are experiencing harsher treatment by mortgage lenders compared to salaried employees.

Chief executive Joe Garner said the building society is looking at how it can ‘safely go further’ with loans to customers who need to borrow 90 per cent of a property’s value.

With barely six weeks of 2020 left to go, the UK’s seven largest house builders have reported housing completions are down, on average, by 35% from a year ago.

It meant property values in the UK were £11,000 higher on average in September than a year earlier, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Half a per cent or £1,505 was shaved off the average home placed on Rightmove compared to September, which suggests a pause in the house price mini-boom.

Appetite to lend on 90 per cent mortgages has dropped significantly with Moneyfacts analysis revealing there are now just 56 fixed and variable rate products available, down from 779 in March.

The Mail on Sunday has produced an essential guide for people aged 55 or over who are looking to unlock cash from their homes to boost their finances.

Murray Wills, a director at estate agency Page & Wells in Maidstone, has warned that the country’s housing market faces a myriad of threats in the not too distant future.

Those who have a history of struggling to keep up with debt repayments are about 50% more likely to have got further into debt as a result of the pandemic than those with good payment credentials.

Halifax said that property inflation had hit its highest level since the middle of 2016 on its long running house price index.

Homeowners dream of the day they finally become mortgage free – but should you bring that happy day forward by overpaying your mortgage with savings?

The Government’s stamp duty holiday expires at the end of March next year, but the average property purchase is currently taking four months to complete.

Record high sales agreed post-lockdown has led to some 140,000 more homes currently progressing through the system than at this time last year, Zoopla said.

Millions of first-time buyers struggling to raise a large enough deposit to qualify for a mortgage might find they now have an alternative option – available through Instagram.

Borrowers are facing being hit as banks axe deals and hike rates. Delays also mean homebuyers are at risk of missing out on stamp duty savings. Don’t despair, here’s everything you need to know.

While the scheme officially ends at the end of the month, banks today confirmed that they will offer a range of options to support the financially vulnerable.

Growing numbers of homeowners are resorting to firms that pay cash for unwanted properties at cut prices. Some have been forced to accept reductions of 40 per cent on their asking price.

In the year to August, property prices increased by an average of 2.5 per cent, or £6,000 compared to a year ago, the Office for National Statistics and Land Registry said.

Warned as they may be that it could prove a false economy, aspiring home buyers are busy trying to move before the stamp duty holiday deadline.

Financial giant L&G said purchases can take three to five months to complete, but with asking prices hitting a record high, rushing to buy could prove a false economy.

An offset mortgage allows you to keep your savings with your mortgage lender and use the money to reduce how much interest you pay.

A mystery organisation called Country Land Conservation sent letters to owners of fields, woodland and land saying it wanted to buy them to protect wildlife.

Mortgage rates have risen for the third consecutive month while the number of mortgage deals dropped for the fourth month in a row, with fewer than half of the deals available before lockdown still up for grabs.

The average two-year fix increased by 0.14 per cent this month to 2.38 per cent- while the equivalent five-year fixed rate increased by 0.13 per cent, according to finance experts Moneyfacts.

Easton, an inner suburb north-east of the West Country city, saw its average asking price for a home soar 120 per cent to £283,397 since 2010, according to Rightmove.

We take a look at the hidden costs of moving as well as some of the easiest ways to save money in your new home.

Such offers are a growing trend in an industry struggling to cope with buyer demand while suffering from staff shortages as a result of coronavirus issues.

High prices make buying property unaffordable for many young people, shutting out those whose families can’t afford to help, and pressuring older generations to subsidise deposits

Landlords in seven UK cities including Manchester and Edinburgh could make more money listing their spare room on Airbnb one night per week, than if they rented it out full-time.

House prices have jumped, buyers are contending with asking price offers, and people have decided the worst recession in memory is a good time to move home.

In a speech to the virtual Conservative Party conference the Prime Minister said up to two million people who could afford repayments cannot currently do so due to the high cost of entry.

Data from the Bank of England showed the average rate on a two year fixed mortgage with a ten per cent deposit rose from 1.97 per cent in February to 3.32 per cent last month.

Rising activity in the housing market pushed the price of the average home up 7.3% in the last 12 months to £249,870, according to the Halifax index for September.

Fears around cladding safety have left thousands of homeowners stuck in fire traps – facing long delays and huge bills to get repair work done. But sales are falling through on flats that are safe.

Keeba Critchlow (pictured) is unable to sell her one-bedroom flat as a result of red tape introduced in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Millions of households opted to put their monthly mortgage payments on hold, but many are now worried about what will happen to their finances once the scheme ends at the end of this month.

I am in the middle of buying a home and have had my mortgage application approved. However, I have just been told my company is making me redundant.

Nationwide said the average price of a home across the country has now spilled over the £225,000 mark for the first time on its long-running index.

At the time, the Bank of England base rate – on which interest charges are based – had been steady at 0.75 per cent for over a year, having gradually climbed since 2017.

Last month, the proportion of homes sold for more than their original asking price hit its highest level in nearly five years, according to estate agents.

Lenders have pulled almost all of their remortgage deals for those borrowing at a high loan-to-value rate, research has found.

Nearly half of all prospective first-time buyers have had to delay their plans by up to a year, new research from challenger bank Aldermore found.

Justin and Annabelle Parfitt, once Canadian reality TV stars turned property developers, bought an undeveloped loft in Berlin three years ago with the intention of fixing it up and selling it on.

Experts say the move is designed to help retain the bank’s ‘low risk, high quality’ mortgage customers for longer by not allowing a two-year option.

Sources said banks are failing to cope with a sharp rise in applications because so many staff are working from their kitchen tables.

It’s mayhem in the mortgage market at the moment due to a paperwork backlog at banks and pent-up demand from the lockdown.

Taking a mortgage holiday could severely hamper your ability to refinance in future. Zane Groves of financial adviser firm Light Blue said: ‘If you don’t need a mortgage break, don’t take one.’

Analysis from Rightmove has found that just one third of sellers who listed a property for sale but then had to reduce the asking price found a buyer between the months of May and September.