Mortgages

Failing to refer conveyancing services when selling residential mortgages could be costing IFAs up to £61m a year, according to Easier2Move.

The Government is expected to release a green paper today, which proposes allowing people to buy less than a fifth of a home to make it easier for first time buyers to get on the housing ladder.

A considerable number of homeowners are being forced to sell their homes due to interest rate rises making their mortgages unaffordable, according to repossession litigations specialists, Moore Blatch.

Research from Mform.co.uk reveals that more than 56% of people taking out a mortgage in the next three years will attempt to borrow three times their salary or more.

IFAs should consider advising their clients on direct off-plan property investment as an alterative to property funds, according to Young Group, an off-plan portfolio manager specialising in London.

Building societies have been hit hard by recent interest rate rises and have seen a decline in lending in June 2007 compared with the same period last year, according to the British Association of Estate Agents.

A vote in the House of Lords, which went against the latest Home Information Pack regulations, will not hinder the Governments aim to introduce HIPs on 1st August, according to the Association of Home Information Pack Providers.

An initiative has been launched by 4:Property to help investors take advantage of the property markets in Croatia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Romania.

Gross mortgage lending reached a new record of £34.2bn in June up from £31.4bn in May, according to data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

GMAC-RFC has retained its Council of Mortgage Lending (CML) top 10 status with 75% growth in 2006, four times more than the industry average.