Thrifty Loans

HBOS reverts back to enticing new mortgage business

HBOS is Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, but its share of the market of new mortgages has fallen by more than half in the first five months of the year. Its net share of new mortgages was down to 8%, compares with a 20% share of outstanding home loans. The bank introduced a new policy to narrow [...]

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Worldwide housing slump predicted

Investment bank ABN Amro has expressed concerns that the increase in borrowing costs could cause a housing slump on a global scale. People have taken on ‘unsustainably large’ mortgages which will leave them exposed to harp increases in bond yields and bank base rates as seen in the UK, and more recently in the European Union. The [...]

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Home information packs in deeper trouble

There is more trouble with the Home Information Pack (HIP) scheme. Already criticised and delayed by the government from implementation 1 June to 1 August, and diluted down to start with four-bedroom houses and more, it has now lost of its biggest trainers of “energy assessors”. Energy-assessors.com has pulled out and laid off more than 100 [...]

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London house prices set to continue to rise

A slowdown in the housing market was seen in May with country-wide house prices rising by an average of only £500, or 0.3%. Bucking the trend were London and Northern Ireland both of which headed the list of high risers. In London the property market may receive another boost as bonuses in the City are set [...]

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