Mortgages

The Financial Services Authority has announced money which mortgage intermediaries receive by way of commission against fee-based advice will fall outside the scope of the FSA's client money rules.

House prices increased by 1% in December and by 2.1% in the final quarter of 2005, confirming a modest recovery in prices during the latter part of last year, according to the latest Halifax House Price Index.

Homebuyer Systems has announced the launch of the latest version of its software platform designed to enable Financial Services Authority (FSA) compliant mortgage and general insurance advised and non-advised sales.

Net lending to individuals rose to £9.6bn in November from £8.9bn in October and was £0.8bn higher than the previous six month average, according to the latest Bank of England figures.

Eight out of 10 brokers believe their attitude towards technology has become more favourable over the past year, according to the BM Solutions One Specialist IT Index.

Gross mortgage lending stood at £18bn in November, according to the latest figures from the British Bankers Association (BBA).

Despite being a year of widespread negative sentiment on the housing market, 2005 was another strong year for the buy-to-let market, says Paragon Mortgages.

Specialist lender, The Oakwood Group, has carried out another smash and grab raid on BM Solutions and Halifax Bank of Scotland Specialist Lending poaching eight more staff from the two firms.

House prices have started to rise again for the first time in 15 months claims the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).

The latest figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) show gross mortgage lending has risen 5% in November, the most since July 2004.