Category: Blogs

Halifax reports that the average age of a first-time buyer is now 32. More and more parents are now having older children who have moved out to go to university, but have since moved back home again and are having difficulty getting onto the property ladder. Known as ‘boomerang kids’, this situation may well sound […]

Getting your foot on the property ladder can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be, once you read our tips and advice. How do you make your dream of buying your first home a reality? With UK house prices continuing to rise – official figures from the Office for National Statistics based on mortgage […]

Would now be a good time to buy a house? That’s something many people might be asking as they wonder where UK house prices will go in 2023. According to the latest data from online real estate Zoopla, house price growth slowed to a standstill in the final quarter of 2022 following a 50% drop […]

UK house prices fell 1.5% in December, with the average house price now £281,272, down from £285,425 in November, the latest data from Halifax shows. This may not sound like much but it’s the fourth fall in a row for Britain’s biggest mortgage lender. Meanwhile, Zoopla forecasts UK house prices will likely fall by 5% this year, Lloyds bank predicts […]

Second homeowners, landlords and property investors will face a higher tax bill on their profits following changes made in last week’s Autumn Statement. The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt halved the threshold for paying capital gains tax (CGT) from £12,300 to £6,000. This will take effect from April 2023. There will be a further cut to the […]

The Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme was first introduced in 2013, though it has evolved over the years with the latest guise seeing the introduction of regional property price caps. Essentially, it offered first-time buyers the chance to purchase a new-build property with a minimum 5% deposit. They could also use an equity loan […]

As anyone currently looking for a mortgage knows, the chaotic scenes at the top of government have had big repercussions when it comes to home loans. The speculation over likely increases to the Bank Base Rate, following the disaster that was the mini-Budget, has meant significant increases in the interest rates on offer to borrowers, […]

Only one word can express the start of this newsletter – Chaos! At the time of writing, many lenders have stopped lending completely and most others have increased their rates substantially. The pound has devalued, and the markets are reacting to the budget. However, whilst this has reduced options, and there may be challenging times […]

If you are considering overpaying on your mortgage, you will be looking to reduce how much interest you pay and bring forward the day you are mortgage-free. But before going ahead with this apparent no-brainer, it’s important to be sure that it’s the best use of the funds available for you. You will also want […]