Mortgages

Woolwich, the lending arm of Barclays, has cut the rates on almost a third of its fixed rate mortgages by up to 0.7%.

Alistair Darling outlined a raft of initiatives this afternoon in his Pre-Budget Report aimed at resolving problems within the mortgage market.

Independent protection insurance specialist Burgesses has accused mortgage intermediaries of being 'asleep at the wheel' when assessing borrowers' affordability for mortgage products.

The number of live mortgage products has dropped to its lowest level in five years, statistics suggests.

The number of UK households that will fall into arrears by the end of the year is likely to exceed forecasts, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) says.

Gross mortgage lending climbed 7% in October but still remains significantly lower than levels seen in 2007.

Nearly half of the UK's 2.9 million interest only mortgages have no specified investment vehicle in place to pay off the capital on the loan, warns LV=.

Most mortgage intermediaries are undeterred by the rise of the internet as a potential threat to their businesses over the next five years, research suggests.

Abbey for Intermediaries has introduced a new range of intermediary exclusives available from today.

House sellers are slashing their asking price in an "increasingly desperate" bid to make a sale in extreme market conditions, research suggests.