Archive

Predictions that landlords are not buying properties to let out because of tougher rental taxes and regulations appear to be short...

The Law Society has announced that there will be a new TA6 Property Information Form launching next week, on Friday February...

Rightmove and Zoopla have been working with key figures from government and the agency and conveyancing industries on how to reform...

The increasing demand for information on Japanese Knotweed during the house buying process is emphasising the need for householders to pay...

In its latest State of the Property Nation report, which questions over 650 agents and 6,000 consumers, Zoopla says 55 per...

A new analysis from a financial services trade body shows that gross mortgage lending is expected to rise significantly in the...

It’s one of the most crucial aspects of the homebuying and selling process but is too often bogged down by frustrating...

It’s been revealed that Countrywide is involved in a pilot exercise to help the creation of a so-called ‘affordability hub’ for...

Pressure is building on the Conservative party to honour its previous commitment to reform stamp duty for British buyers and sellers...

The National Association of Estate Agents and the Association of Residential Letting Agents have issued their manifesto for next month’s General...

First details have emerged of the information vendors may have to provide up-front In future transactions if government house buying reforms...

We know that the tenant fee ban has cost letting agents dearly, with an estimated loss of £300 million paid to...

Property management service Move with Us has announced a new partnership with chain management service View My Chain. Move with Us, founded...

The Bank of Mum and Dad is now officially one of the 10 biggest mortgage lenders according to data from Legal...

Homes in central parts of London sold for a typical 11.5 per cent below asking price in the first three months...

A conveyancing body is calling on mortgage lenders to standardise their policies in respect of unexpired lease terms in order to...

While media attention has been on Theresa May, Brexit and the Tories, chatter in the agency industry has been about what...

As many as one transaction in three is now undertaken by a so-called Last Time Buyer - twice as many as...

The leasehold scandal has received plenty of press coverage, with horror stories of people living in homes that are impossible to...

More than 800 property transactions fall through daily, which can have repercussions both practically and financially, as agents fail to get...

Figures released this morning show a surge in first time buyers securing mortgages in recent months, despite the market showing continued signs...

Mortgage lenders are relaxing age limits so that house buyers can still be paying off their home loan well into their...

The monthly index of house price changes in Britain’s major cities, for many years operated under the Hometrack banner, has been...

Zoopla claims a new Property Valuation Report being trialled in nine areas will win more leads for agents.  The PVR will use...

The global chief executive of Purplebricks, Michael Bruce, has warned mortgage lenders against offering so-called ‘super-sized’ home loans to borrowers.  Bruce is...

To say legendary ZPG founder and CEO Alex Chesterman left big boots to fill when he stepped back from day-to-day operations...

Hard-pressed buyers who try to minimise house moving costs by doing their own conveyancing have been warned of the disastrous consequences...

Figures from the mortgage lenders’ umbrella group, UK Finance, suggest the government desire to see more first time buyers and fewer...

An insurance company is launching a policy which it says will protect consumers with comprehensive cover in the event of a...

A call has gone out for conveyancers to have all monies - including mortgage funds - in place the day before...

Rumours abound over the future of Countrywide, which lost further share value on Friday, closing very slightly down on the day...

Outspoken property commentator and buying agent Henry Pryor has made a scathing attack on some of the main house price indices. In...

The debate over alleged ‘down-valuing’ by mortgage lenders has flared again with one leading agent claiming that surveyors are just “covering...

You will notice that there is a new author for this regular column for Estate Agent Today. Last month I was...

Estate Agent Today understands several major national agencies and some smaller operators are involved in a project to understand why transaction...

Property purchases for buyers requiring mortgages reached 50,000 in February, the highest level for the month since 2007.  The data, from mortgage...

Gross mortgage lending is set to reach its highest level since 2007 despite Brexit, says the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association. But its...

Investment consultancy London Central Portfolio has launched a new index which it claims uses “the most comprehensive data available” to assess...

Representatives from estate and lettings agencies as well as professional organisations have formed The Home Buying And Selling Group with a...

Over the last few weeks, mortgage lenders have started to adjust their pricing in anticipation of a further interest rate rise...

ZPG says it anticipates a strong 2018 according to a trading statement ahead of the company’s annual general meeting today. The firm...

The Bank of England has raised the base rate from 0.25 per cent to 0.5 per cent. The Bank’s monetary policy committee was...

The government should take a close look at gazundering as well as gazumping in its review of the house sales process,...

Conveyancers and the speed of local council searches have come in for criticism as details have emerged of the government’s consultation...

The government has launched a consultation this weekend calling for evidence on how to make the home buying process “cheaper, faster...

Analysts believe a rise in the Bank of England base rate is on the cards next month as a result of the...

It appears activity in the housing market in 2017 will be around 15% down on 2016. The number of housing transactions...

Jackson-Stops & Staff, a critic of the stamp duty system since its reform in 2014, now says the government should slash...

New data from UK Finance - previously the Council of Mortgage Lenders - paints a relatively optimistic assessment of the UK-wide...

The Council of Mortgage Lenders’s buy to let forecast for 2017 and 2018 has been revised down from previous expectations at...

A prominent agent admits to being “disappointed” at what appears to be slowing mortgage figures at a time of year when...

Home buyers borrowed £11.2 billion in March - down on the ‘stamp duty bonanza‘ period at the same time last year...

Since the seventies, housing starts and completions across England and Wales have been on a downward trajectory. The long run average...

Cash is becoming an increasingly large proportion of the funding used to buy homes according to a new analysis of transactions...

More than one in three first time buyers have missed out on potential home deals because their deposit was too small...

Mortgage rates continue to fall with the average new lending rate at a record low of 2.2 per cent: as a...

A building society claims that in the past three years alone no fewer than 1.2m buyers have given up on house...

In recent years the mortgage industry has gone through some testing times. Recession and regulation have led to more stringent lending...

Mortgage brokers say they are encountering fewer difficulties sourcing products now than at any time for three years.  Research from the Intermediary...

There are more first-time buyers (FTBs) finding a way on to the property ladder than at any time since the Financial...

Data from the Council for Mortgage Lenders show that loans taken out by buyers have hit a near two-year low.   Home buyers...

Recent stats from the Council of Mortgage Lenders show that last year 360,000 people moved homes, meaning the number has stayed...

Over the past two decades, investing in buy-to-let has been a relatively easy way to make money, which is why so...

The number of home buyers in London dropped to a four-year low in 2016 while the number of loans taken out...

The rapid growth in popularity of buy-to-let in recent years, fuelled in part by the failings of the pensions industry, has...

The number of properties taken into possession last year declined by almost 25 per cent and has hit the lowest level in 35...

Zoopla Property Group’s £120m purchase of Hometrack, announced yesterday evening, is part of its aim to create “the UK’s most valuable...

Zoopla Property Group is buying Hometrack, one of the country’s leading property market business consultancies. Established in 1999, Hometrack is one of...

Gross mortgage lending reached a remarkable £246 billion in 2016 - that’s 12 per cent higher than the previous year and...

There were an estimated 354,000 homemovers in 2016, a fall of 4% compared to the 367,000 recorded the previous year. Analysis by...

Brexit and wider economic uncertainties worsened by changes to property taxation have forced the Council of Mortgage Lenders to cut its...

New figures from the Council for Mortgage Lenders add weight to the argument that the housing market is gently slowing.  Home-owners borrowed £10.5...

The Financial Conduct Authority is to investigate mortgage competition, including the introduction of clients to lenders by estate agents.    It’s part of...

House prices will rise 2.0 per cent in 2017, below the rate of inflation and just under half the rise predicted...

There’s good news for London’s troubled market - a report from the CML shows that buyers in the capital took out 12...

It may still be too early to start compiling a Christmas wish list, but it is the right time to provide...

Labour’s long-awaited Redfern Review, set up a year ago after the party’s defeat in the general election, finally reports tomorrow. Although it...

The Financial Conduct Authority is consulting on new guidance to lenders on how to measure and treat the repayment of arrears...

Fears raised over the UK housing market in the wake of the Brexit vote have so far proved to be ‘wide...

A mortgage lender has called on the government to reform stamp duty so that it is paid by property sellers instead...

The number of mortgages in arrears is now at its lowest level since records began more than 20 years ago.  Data from...

The morning after the EU referendum, and Westminster, Britain, Europe and the world were left in shock at the news that...

  The Bank of England has, as expected, cut its base rate to 0.25 per cent after a record seven years at...

As promised, this week’s Natter is dedicated to a question and answer session with Peter Brodnicki, the man who has been...

As I sit and write this piece, even with the FTSE 100 back up and sterling having recovered some of its...

The Council of Mortgage Lenders says the Brexit vote will hit transactions as buyers and sellers wait for the dust to...

Home-owners borrowed £8.1 billion for house purchases in April, which was four per cent down on the same month a year ago. There...

A new e-conveyancing platform has been launched in Edinburgh ahead of a roll-out across all of Scotland. This system, Altis, is the...

While buy-to-let lenders brace themselves for further interventions as part of proposals currently being drawn up by the Prudential Regulation Authority...

The Council of Mortgage Lenders estimates that gross mortgage lending reached £18.5 billion last month - the highest April figure since...

There has been a 58 per cent rise in the past year for mortgages for house purchase purposes, according to the...

The Council of Mortgage Lenders says the number of repossessions in the first quarter of 2016 was 2,100 - the lowest...

A mortgage servicing company is forecasting that the number of UK houses repossessed this year will represent only 0.09 per cent...

First time buyers with small deposits are among those likely to suffer as a result of new regulations on credit risk...

We’re all talking about second home stamp duty, changes to tax relief and the Prudential Regulation Authority’s suggestion that banks should...

Data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders shows that gross mortgage lending reached £17.6 billion last month - that's the highest...

There has been a warm welcome given to figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders showing that lending to first time...

In December 2015 first time buyers borrowed £4.5 billion for house purchases - that’s up seven per cent on November and...

Increased competition amongst mortgage lenders and the rush to buy investment properties before the April 1 stamp duty surcharge deadline have...

Mortgage lending for home buyers dipped by nine per cent in November according to new data - but it is up...

In many respects 2015 has been a good year. Despite global challenges, we have seen a marked improvement in the UK...

It is anticipated that the government will reveal more details of how it proposes to simplify mortgage fees and make mortgage...

When it comes to the regulation of the conveyancing industry, this question is a topic of open and ongoing debate. Licensed conveyancers...

Two more agents have been expelled by TPO because they failed to pay awards when ordered to pay compensation, and because...

The number of house purchase mortgage approvals has risen by 19.8 per cent over the last 12 months.  Data from eSurv suggests...

This month it was announced that Landbay mortgage lenders will release a new rental Index, alongside Zoopla and data-modelling experts MIAC.  The...

The residential director at Mullucks Wells in West Essex and East Hertfordshire, William Wells, has contacted Estate Agent Today to highlight...

An unusual story of hard-to-sell homes has emerged from Northumberland where a kind of new town, established in the 1960s, is...

Estate agents have received a substantial thumbs up from a large survey of 1,990 people. On top of that, the survey was...

The repossession rate has fallen again in the second quarter of 2015, and is at the lowest rate since records began. The...

Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders show that lending to first time buyers bounced back in the second quarter of...

THE UK housing market is reported to be picking up according to figures this month from the Council of Mortgage Lenders...

Connells says its sales figures for June show a 27.5 per cent rise on the same month last year.  The agency has...

Lending for house buying is still down compared to this time last year but there are signs that the market is...

Agents have expressed their disappointment at the decision by the government to restrict mortgage interest relief for Buy To let investors...

The Conveyancing Association (CA) has embarked on a mission to engage with the lender community with a view to initiating a...

Given that I wrote my last article on the day of the General Election but well before the result was known,...

The Aston Mead estate agency says “unnecessarily restrictive mortgage criteria" have caused the number of home loans to drop sharply in...

The number of legal actions against estate agents and chartered surveyors has significantly fallen according to figures from a City legal...

The Society of Licensed Conveyancers and Bold Legal Group have announced details of this year’s spring road shows. The events in Leeds,...