We Know Property

By John Myers, head of mortgages, moneysupermarket.com

There’s been little in the way of good news for borrowers over the past few months. However, in the last couple of weeks a number of the major lenders have reduced mortgage rates, so could we at last be seeing a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel? (more…)

Surveyors report that some buy-to-let investors are entering the market to take advantage of rising rents and equally that ‘predatory buyers’ are looking to bargain for reductions in a falling market.

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David Blanchflower was the only member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to vote for a interest rate cut in Junes MPC meeting (more…)

The Nationwide and Britannia building societies – respectively the first and second largest in the country – have reshaped their mortgage offerings.

With effect from Friday, Nationwide has announced it is to reduce the rates on its two, three and five-year fixed-rate and two-year and lifetime tracker mortgages by as much as 0.46 per cent.
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Shares in US mortgage firms Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae dropped by as much as 50% in roller coaster trading last week amid concerns for their future. The US firm is the largest mortgage provider in america with almost £3 trillion dollars worth of home loans secured by the bank, almost 50% of the market. Speculation that US regulators were lat night preparing to step in to rescue the two compnanies, which are owned by shareholders but have government-sponsorship was greeted with concern in London city. 

The effects of last weeks near collapse, are likely to put upward pressure on inter bank lending rates and once again increase the cost of borrowing in a lending environment that´s already very tough. The only slight silver lining to this latest financial cloud is that it should take a few months to trickle through the money markets.The affects of this are likely to be felt in London city where indirect repercussions for British banks and markets will be less confidence and liquidity in the markets.

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has voted to hold interest rates at 5pc, as it grapples with soaring inflation coupled with an economic downturn. (more…)

For the first time in 5 years the FTSE dropped more than 20 per cent below its historic peak on Tuesday 8th July (more…)