Category Archive Conveyancing

Mortgage lenders made 28,600 first-time buyer loans in June, 7% more than the previous month and the highest since November 2007, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. By value, banks and building societies lent £4.2 billion to those taking their first step on the ladder, the highest amount since August 2007.

Loans to other homebuyers also grew over the month but at a slower rate, increasing by 4% to 31,900 as the market cooled slightly in response to tighter mortgage restrictions introduced at the end of April, as well as higher anticipation of interest rate rises from the Bank of England.

CML director general Paul Smee said: “For the second month running since new rules took effect, lending characteristics remain similar to the market beforehand.

“We now feel confident that, as we would hope, the mortgage market review effect is more gentle dampener than hard brake.”

The CML’s figures showed affordability for first-time buyers little changed with buyers borrowing  3.47 times their income. They borrowed an average £123,865 in June, up from £121,500 in May. Record low interest rates meant payment burdens remained relatively low in June, at 19.3% of gross income. Over the second quarter as a whole, there were 79,900 first-time buyer loans — 24% up on the same period a year earlier.

Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, said: “The lending market remains strong, suggesting that the impact of the mortgage market review has not been detrimental.”

To paraphrase Harold Macmillan, the former Prime Minister “Conveyancing solicitors in London have never had it so good!”

Original reporting by the London Evening Standard 11/8/14

The cost of the average UK property rose at an annual rate of 10.2% in the three months to July according to the bank’s latest house-price index after a faster-than-expected 1.4% surge last month alone.

The double-digit annual rise is the quickest since September 2007 when Northern Rock — eventually nationalised — was at the centre of the UK’s first bank run in over a century.

The increase — much stronger than registered by Nationwide — is sure to provoke more speculation of interest-rate rises from the Bank of England.

Threadneedle Street is using measures such as restricting high loan-to-income mortgages to cool the market as a first line of defence but loan approvals are recovering from a dip earlier this year.

Rob Wood, chief economist at Berenberg, said: “The housing market is shaking off new mortgage rules. This is important, as the BoE have recently been pointing to the housing market as a good reason for broader economic growth to slow. We look for house prices to gain 10% in 2014 and 2015.”

Our conveyancing solicitors in London are now reporting that their current work volumes are similar to those enjoyed pre recession.

Original reporting by the London Evening Standard 6/8/14