LPW has confirmed with the CLG that the housing green paper announced last week by Gordon Brown has been postponed until 23rd or 24th July – a week later than expected. Yvette Cooper has specifically promised more council homes, saying: ‘There are certain difficulties around the way thatRead More →
The housebuilding sector suffered another blow yesterday when Taylor Wimpey debt was downgraded to junk status. The downgrade, by credit-rating agency Fitch Ratings, comes amid an unprecedented decline in the housing market, with home sales plummeting, mortgage lending squeezed and new housing starts at their lowest in more thanRead More →
IT’s NOT OFTEN that the Sun and the Guardian agree on anything but the Abbey’s five-times earnings mortgage offer has got them both in sceptical mood this morning. A leader in the Guardian concludes: ‘For a decade, property ownership has seemed a risk-free way for people to getRead More →
Early intervention resolves more than three-quarters of antisocial behaviour cases, whereas using anti-social behaviour orders resolved just 0.1 per cent of cases, according to research by Housemark. Top performing landlords also took just 45 days to resolve antisocial behaviour cases, compared with an average of 61 days. Read More →
One in ten borrowers is in negative equity, a report shows. It warned that further falls in house prices could see the proportion soaring to one in three. The international ratings agency Fitch said its findings point to a surge in mortgage defaults and repossessions. It said the EastRead More →
Northern Rock said it would lend up to £14 billion to British homebuyers in the next two years in a boost to the housing market. It said as much as £5 billion could be lent this year. Gross mortgage lending for the first three months of this year wasRead More →
A government adviser on affordable housing for regional government has called Gordon Brown’s approach to achieving his three million new homes target ‘Stalinist’. Steve Nickell says that government should provide financial incentives for local authorities to grant planning permission for new residential developments, rather than imposing targets, and advocatesRead More →
MORTGAGE REPOSSESSIONS rose by 65% last year with 17,000 losing their homes, according to new figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) this morning. Although, it says the rate of increase slowed slightly in the second half, the CML is predicting further rises to 19,000 in 2014 andRead More →
The UK’s housing system is ‘fundamentally broken’ requiring wide-scale reform if it is to deliver fair and affordable housing in the future, said the Chartered Institute of Housing in a response to plans that could form the basis for the Green Paper into housing reform to be published laterRead More →
Governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King has raised the prospect of the wholesale nationalisation of the British banking system saying that the system needed ‘additional measures’ to solve the credit crisis. He said the government’s £500 billion rescue plan had failed to encourage banks to lend moreRead More →