UK Property Marketing

:: Property Market News and Information

7th Nov 2007 The Bank of England leaves interest rates unchanged

Interest rates look to be kept at 5.75% when the Bank of England unveils it's latest decision of the rate-setting committee at 1200 GMT on Thursday 8th November, despite a slowdown in the housing market. UK rates have been unchanged since July when they rose from 5.5% to 5.75%.

The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will discuss the rate at the two-day meeting, and it is expected to be a close vote. Factors such as the slowing of Sales growth to just 1% year-on-year in October and the unsettled global financial leaders like Citigroup have to be taken into account. While these factors would suggest a rate cut, high oil prices mean it isn't such a clear cut decision.

The majority of analysts predict the Bank will cut rates to 5.25% in two stages by mid-2008 as the UK economy shows signs of slowing.

14th Sept 2007 USA Sub Prime Mortgage Crisis & UK Effects

The UK still remains vulnerable from the recent credit problem that has gripped world markets, a Bank of England report warned. The central bank said British sub prime borrowers could encounter problems obtaining credit because banks faced higher borrowing costs, a problem that proved disasterous for Northern Rock.

More Shocks To Come

"There have been signs of recovery in recent weeks but some markets are still illiquid and the financial system remains vulnerable to further shocks," said Sir John Gieve, the Bank of England's deputy governor.

The Bank of England said that problems could also appear in the commercial property sector - which currently accounts for 9% of UK bank lending. They also stated that credit could also be harder to obtain for highly indebted companies and individual borrowers with bad credit histories.

1st Sept 2007 Home Information Packs (HIPs) Introduced To England & Wales

The packs are now required for buyers of properties with 3 or more bedrooms and include local searches and an energy performance certificate, costing about £400-£750.

They are supposed to speed up sales but critics of the packs say HIPs make house-selling more expensive and bureaucratic, without providing any extra benefit. Scotland is set to get its own version of HIPs in 2008.

Originally the government planned to introduce HIPs for all houses put up for sale in England and Wales from 1st June but this was postponed by two months due to delays in inspector training - the initial roll-out was limited to properties with 4 or more bedrooms, this has now been expanded to include 3 bedroom houses too.

What is in the Home Information Packs?

Evidence of the title deed
Copies of planning, listed building/building regulations consents
Local search
Valid guarantees for any work on the property
An energy performance certificate

The Law Society, the National Association of Estate Agents, The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Council of Mortgage Lenders have all called for HIPs to be overhauled or scrapped entirely. They argue there are too few inspectors to carry out the assessments required for issuing energy performance certificates and key info in the packs like local searches soo become out of date.

If an agent fails to comply, this could trigger an investigation into an agent's fitness to continue estate agency work

The penalties for putting a property up for sale without a HIP can be severe, with fines of up to £200 per day for the buyer - and the estate agents can be shut down.

8th July 2007 Interest Rates Rise Again

On Thursday, the Bank put up interest rates for the fifth time since last summer, from 5.5% to 5.75% - the highest rate since 2001. Some smaller lenders have added 0.25% to their standard variable mortgage rates.

It will take 2 weeks to a month for the banks and mortgage providers to make their decisions on repricing of products, and some will create new products to meet the new rate, like the Bank of Ireland which has pulled their entire fixed-rate mortgage range.

Tracker mortgages will immediately become more expensive, as they are linked to movements in the Bank of England's rate. So far, 12 lenders have announced increases to their standard variable mortgage rates or to particular deals, including Egg, Royal Bank of Scotland and Tesco Mortgages.