A lot of mortgage news at the moment. Here is a selection of mortgage news from UK today:
M2000 Mortgage Club makes payment pledge – M2000 Mortgage Club has increased its procuration fees across a range of products for all completions, provided the application was made after 2 March. M2000 – which was recently acquired Exclusive Connections – has also pledged to pay all fees on completion.
‘Surprise bounce’ in house prices – House prices rose in March for the first time since October 2007, according to the Nationwide. The building society said that property prices increased by 0.9% compared with the previous month.
Mortgage advice: finding the best remortgage rate – With the Bank of England`s base rate at an all-time low of 0.5% (as of 5th March 2009), there are many good remortgage deals out there, if you can just find the right one. Mortgage lenders everywhere have dropped the price of their deals, tempting many people to move from fixed-rate mortgages to variable-rate deals – or the other way around!
UK homeowners pay off £8bn of mortgage debt – British homeowners are benefiting from the cuts in interest rates by paying off their mortgages in record amounts, figures showed today. A huge £8bn of mortgage debt was repaid in the fourth quarter of last year, according to Bank of England figures, as Britons with tracker mortgages responded to the sharp fall in interest repayments by pumping the spare cash into paying off their capital.
UK Islamic bank goes head to head with conventional lenders – The UK’s first Islamic fixed rate mortgage has been launched with the aim of offering ethical property finance in direct competition with conventional lenders. The new product from the Islamic Bank of Britain is a direct bid to win a bigger share of the UK’s mainstream mortgage market, the bank confirmed.
IBB announces assault on UK mortgage market – Following the launch of its Sharia’a-compliant fixed-term deposit account last month, Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB) has announced that it is intent on increasing its share of the UK mainstream mortgage market. The Islamic lender is offering a new House Purchase Plan at 3.99% plus a £299 administration fee.
Sam Dunn: ‘Can we get a better mortgage?’ – Question: My boyfriend and I have a £20,000 deposit – well above the 10 per cent deposit for a £186,500 house near our current rented flat – yet we don’t seem to qualify for any mortgage less than 7 per cent. I thought the Government help was meant to get the market moving. SY, Blackpool – Answer: Despite every financial lever yanked by the Government, and all the subsequent billions pouring into the banking system to try and unblock the credit markets, banks continue to thumb their nose at first-time buyers. The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) recently revealed that a paltry 8,900 home loans were taken out in January by those taking their first steps on to the property ladder – a record low.
Mortgage products on the up: Mortgage Brain – The number of live mortgage schemes has increased for the first time in eight months, according to Mortgage Brain’s Monthly Product Analysis. The total number of live mortgage schemes listed on its market leading sourcing system increased by 13% during March. Up from 2,731 on 2 March, to 3,091 at the end of the month.
