June 12, 2012 / Posted in  Advice, Mortgage, rent

Choosing the most appropriate mortgage deal can be a tricky business and there are a number of perfectly viable strategies that homeowners can choose from at any given time. However, now could be the right moment to put your mortgage arrangement under the microscope and figure out whether your current deal is fit for purpose.

The price comparison website MoneySupermarket.com has taken another look across the entire mortgage market in the UK and pointed to a number of significant shifts in the way products are being offered. The average rate of interest on the products on the market have “crept up” in the early months of 2012, while borrowers with a standard variable rate (SVR) mortgage have been “hit by hikes”, the company maintains.

And the changes could leave t...

May 23, 2012 / Posted in  Mortgage, News, rent

There has been much said and written in recent months and years about the difficulties that many British couples and families are having as they aim to make their way on to the first rung of the housing ladder. Lenders are clearly and understandably less willing to agree to mortgage deals now than they were back in the heady days before the financial crisis of 2007/8.

Mortgages do seem more difficult to come by these days and generally those applying are obliged to stump up a hefty deposit before they can join the ranks of Britain’s homeowners. There have been efforts made by government to improve the prospects for would-be first-time buyers and positive stances taken by the still very pragmatic banks and building societies. Nevertheless, conditions for anyone hoping to hop on to the housing ladder remain rather challenging.

However, there has been some encouraging news from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) recently,...

May 18, 2012 / Posted in  Mortgage, News, rent

The number of people looking to defraud a prospective mortgage lender in the UK increased steeply last year, according to a new report on the subject from the information supply group Experian. The most common scenario in which mortgage fraud is being committed is one in which an individual aims to conceal certain facts about their financial past and particularly an adverse credit history.

Experian’s figures show in fact that the number of fraudulent mortgage applications submitted across the country grew by around eight per cent during 2011 and that the number has more than doubled since 2006. The significant increase is interesting because it would seem to point to a rise in attempted mortgage fraud as the UK’s economic situation at large became increasingly strained...

May 14, 2012 / Posted in  accomodation, Mortgage, News, rent

The UK’s rental market continues to flourish as the housing market more broadly maintains a steady, not to say sluggish, rate of growth. According to figures put together by the financial information company Experian on the subject, there were 58,000 more properties added to the official rental market nationwide during 2011 as compared with 2010.

A booming rental market is positive in some sense because it means there are more properties available to those who need them around the country but the strength of the sector must also owe something at least to the struggle that many people are having in finding a suitable mortgage deal...