Kingdom Mortgages

10/07/2019

UK housing market 'resilient'

Average house prices dipped by 0.3% to £237,110. last month compared to June last year, according to the Halifax.

However, they rose by 5.7% in the three months to June from the same period last year.

Halifax managing director Russell Galley, said: “More generally the housing market is displaying a reasonable degree of resilience in the face of political and economic uncertainty.

"Recent industry figures show demand looking slightly more stable, with mortgage approvals ticking along just above the long-term average."

Though he says that there is a lower level houses up for sale because of the lack of clarity around Brexit.

06/03/2019

Housing costs: Five surprises explained

The UK's housing market is changing. People are renting for longer and buying their first home later.

Some buy-to-let investors are pulling out, blaming a greater burden of tax, while some potential home movers are staying put amid an uncertain economic and political climate.

It means some assumptions about housing costs may no longer be true. Here are five things you may not know about.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47293697?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cdl8n2edgj5t/housing-market&link_location=live-reporting-story

08/01/2019

Homeowners across the UK are saving £1000's by switching their mortgage to a better deal. See how Kingdom Mortgages can help!

11/10/2018

Would a bigger house make you happier?

The UK is often said to be experiencing a dire shortage of living space, but does having more room necessarily make people more content?

It is common to hear concerns about pokey new-builds and sky-high rents forcing people into ever smaller homes.

But the reality is that living spaces in England and Wales are actually larger than ever, with the average home increasing from 88 to 90 square metres between 2004 and 2016.

Instead, the issue is that the distribution of space has become more unequal.

Owner-occupiers often have a lot of space compared with younger renters, who may be sharing a home with several others. In 2017, about 28% of UK households contained one person, up from 17% in 1971.

Meanwhile, the proportion of families and individuals sharing private rented housing has almost tripled since 1992 to 6.6%, according to research by the Resolution Foundation think tank.

So, does more space always mean happier occupants, or is there a cut-off point?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45420795?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cdl8n2edgj5t/housing-market&link_location=live-reporting-story

30/08/2018

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41831777

More than 3.5 million householders face increased payments, but 45 million savers could benefit.

10/08/2018

UK house price growth accelerates, Halifax says

UK house prices picked up last month, rising at the fastest annual pace since November, the Halifax has said.

The lender says prices in the three months to July rose by 3.3% from a year earlier, with the average cost of a house hitting a record £230,280.

Prices in July rose a stronger-than-expected 1.4% from the month before.

Despite the rises, Halifax said housing activity remained "soft". It also said it did not expect last week's interest rate rise to have much impact.

The Halifax's latest survey echoed that of rival Nationwide, which also reported a pick-up in the annual rate of price growth in July.

Nationwide said annual house price growth accelerated to 2.5% in July, with the cost of the average home rising to £217,010.

Property values in July rose at the fastest annual rate since last November, the Halifax says.

08/08/2018

Interest rates: Five things we learned from the Bank of England

Bank of England policymakers have voted unanimously to raise interest rates from 0.5% to 0.75%.

The bank left its forecasts for UK growth, inflation and employment broadly unchanged. And it signalled that any further rate increases would be gradual.

Here are five things we learned:

Why UK house price falls will be limited to London - and four other Bank of England predictions.

02/08/2018

Bank of England raises UK interest rates to 0.75%

The Bank of England has raised the interest rate for only the second time in a decade.

The rate has risen by 0.25% to 0.75% - the highest level since March 2009.

The move will increase the interest costs of more than three-and-a-half million residential mortgages that have variable or tracker rates.

But it will be welcomed by savers, who could see a lift in their interest rates over the coming months.

The Bank is sticking to its guidance that interest rates will continue to head higher, but only at gradual pace and to a limited extent.

The financial markets have taken this on board and are forecasting one, and perhaps two, rises of 0.25% before 2020.

It also seems unlikely the UK will return to interest rates of 5% and above. In its inflation report ,the Bank published what it thinks is the natural interest rate for the UK economy.

It puts that at between 2% and 3%.

That relatively low rate is partly due to an ageing population.

Older people tend to save more and in the future, that will provide a greater pool of savings for lending to households and industry and help prevent the economy from overheating.

The UK interest rate rises to 0.75% - the highest level since March 2009.

05/07/2018

The UK's rapid return to city centre living

A generation ago many UK city centres were dreary and dilapidated places, with a reputation for crime. Now, they are among the most desirable areas of the country to live. What's changed?

Take a walk through the centre of cities like Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham and you will see smart new high-rise apartments, office blocks and the ever-present cranes building still more.

At street level are cafes, bars, restaurants and gyms serving their often young and affluent customers - the people who increasingly define these areas.

Only 30 years ago inner city populations that had grown rapidly in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries had dwindled - the residents leaving cramped, urban housing for more spacious suburbs and new towns.

The reversal that has taken place - especially in the north of England and the Midlands - demonstrates a dramatic urban renaissance and a shift in how people want to live.

Since the start of the 21st Century the population of many town and city centres has doubled in size, while the population of the UK has increased by 10%.

How city centres once abandoned by residents became the UK's most desirable areas to live.

14/06/2018

'Positive' growth for homes market

The number of homes coming on to the housing market is showing signs of positive growth for first time in more than two years, surveyors have reported. For the first time in 27 months, the overall balance of surveyors seeing the supply of new homes growing rather than shrinking has turned positive.

A net balance of 5% reported seeing the flow of properties coming to market increasing rather than falling in May. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' market survey also found that, while the flow of houses coming on to the market has increased marginally, average stock levels on estate agents' books across the UK was still close to an all-time low, at just over 42 properties.

Rics said: "It therefore remains to be seen whether the increase in May truly marks the beginning of supply pressures easing."