Mortgage Strategy
Online - February 2012
-
10 ways to get the mortgage market moving
22 Feb 2012
With all the negative sentiment surrounding the UK mortgage market at the moment, Legal & General has put together its ‘Mortgage Manifesto’, or 10 things that government, providers, brokers and borrowers can do to help improve prospects for the market in 2012.
-
80 staff in consultation at Platform
24 Feb 2012
The Co-operative Bank has placed 80 staff in consultation at its intermediary lender Platform.
-
Abbey cuts max number of applicants from four to two
8 Feb 2012
Abbey for Intermediaries has reduced the maximum number of applicants it will accept on a mortgage from four to two.
-
Abbey ditches proc fees for interest-only ports
20 Feb 2012
Abbey for Intermediaries will no longer pay a proc fee to brokers for borrowers who port their interest-only mortgage over 50% LTV.
-
Abbey to include birthdays and Christmas in affordability checks
23 Feb 2012
Abbey for Intermediaries will now require customers to account for one-off costs such as Christmas in their expenditure assessments.
-
Accord delays relaunch of 75% and 85% LTV range
16 Feb 2012
Accord Mortgages has delayed the relaunch of its 75% and 85% LTV product range until Monday.
-
Accord expands BDM team
20 Feb 2012
Accord Mortgages has expanded its sales team by recruiting four new business development managers and four business development advisers.
-
Accord withdrawing all 75% and 85% LTV products
13 Feb 2012
Accord Mortgages is withdrawing all of its 75% and 85% LTV mortgages until Thursday.
-
Accord withdraws residential range due to demand
29 Feb 2012
Lender withdrawing range temporarily due to unprecedented number of applications.
-
Active Lending Solutions given access to Stonebridge protection panel
8 Feb 2012
Members of Active Lending Solutions will be given access to a protection panel from Stonebridge Group from today as part of a new strategic partnership between the two firms.
-
Adrian Bloomfield steps down as CEO of ASTL
29 Feb 2012
Adrian Bloomfield, chief executive officer of the Association of Short Term Lenders, has resigned from his position.
-
Aldermore makes two sales appointments
22 Feb 2012
Aldermore has made two sales appointments in its residential mortgages division.
-
Aldermore planning second 100% LTV deal
4 Feb 2012
Aldermore is planning to launch another 100% LTV mortgage in the next few months, Mortgage Strategy can reveal.
-
AMI separates from AIFA
10 Feb 2012
The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries has split from its parent, the Association of Independent Financial Advisers.
-
ASA bans ad from property website
22 Feb 2012
The Advertising Standards has banned an advert from property website PropertyWikia, which offered to pay affiliates £100 for every week that the site did not sell a property.
-
ASA bans another SpicerHaart ad
29 Feb 2012
The Advertising Standards Authority has banned another advertisement from the SpicerHaart Group, trading as Darlows.
-
ASA bans NatWest and RBS ads
15 Feb 2012
The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint against two television ads for NatWest and The Royal Bank of Scotland, which claim to provide banking services wherever they are the “last bank in town”.
-
ASA upholds complaint over misleading mortgage broker ad
15 Feb 2012
The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint against recruitment website Baker Coop over one of its ads for a trainee mortgage broker.
-
AToM launches bridging referral service
14 Feb 2012
All Types of Mortgages is launching a referral service for intermediaries who require assistance with bridging or short-term loans.
-
Avelo launches PMI comparison service
27 Feb 2012
Avelo has extended its Exchange portal with the launch of a private medical insurance comparison service in partnership with ActiveQuote.
-
Average LTV in Scotland at three-year high
24 Feb 2012
The average LTV on a mortgage taken out in Scotland climbed to 72% in the final quarter of 2011, its highest level since Q4 2008, according to data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders in Scotland.
-
B2L makes up over 23% of brokers' business
14 Feb 2012
Some 23.3% of intermediaries’ business is now buy-to-let, compared to 19.3% a year ago, shows the latest research from Paragon Mortgages.
-
Bank of Ireland looks to sell more UK mortgage portfolios
2 Feb 2012
Bank of Ireland is looking to offload two of its UK mortgage portfolios worth nearly £2bn, Money Marketing understands.
-
Bank of Scotland tops mortgage complaints list
28 Feb 2012
The Bank of Scotland received 884 mortgage complaints between July 1 and December 2011, with 32% upheld in favour of the consumer, data from the Financial Ombudsman Service reveals today.
-
Barclays appoints MD of retail lending
14 Feb 2012
Barclays has appointed Steve Weston to the newly created role of managing director of retail lending in its UK retail and business banking division.
-
Barclays boosts mortgage lending in 2011
10 Feb 2012
Barclays has reported new gross mortgage lending of £17.2bn in 2011, up from £16.9bn in 2010.
-
Barclays cutting the fees on its B2L deals
2 Feb 2012
From tomorrow, Barclays is cutting the application fee on its buy-to-let range for loans between £125,000 and £250,000.
-
Barclays launches Future Fix mortgage
13 Feb 2012
Barclays is launching a new mortgage tomorrow that allows borrowers to have a tracker rate for the first two years and then switch to a fixed rate for the remaining three years of the deal.
-
Be vigilant against rogue introducers, brokers told
13 Feb 2012
Brokers who accept business from introducers may be exposing themselves to the risk of fraud, experts warn.
-
BM Solutions cuts rates again
21 Feb 2012
BM Solutions is cutting rates on its buy-to-let products for the second time this month.
-
BM Solutions cuts rates by up to 0.30%
7 Feb 2012
BM Solutions is reducing rates across its buy-to-let range from tomorrow.
-
Bovis Homes sees 74% jump in profits for 2011
27 Feb 2012
Bovis Homes Group has reported a pre-tax profit of £32.1m for 2011, a 74% increase on the £18.5m profit it made in 2010.
-
Bridging lending doubles to £911m in 2011
29 Feb 2012
Gross bridging lending more than doubled in 2011 to reach a total of £911m for the year, according to the latest quarterly bridging index from West One Loans.
-
Brilliant Solutions adds MBS Lending to panel
15 Feb 2012
Brilliant Solutions has added Melton Mowbray Building Society to its lending panel.
-
Clydesdale tightens interest-only criteria
24 Feb 2012
Clydesdale Bank has reduced its maximum LTV for interest-only mortgages from 75% to 50% for certain repayment strategies.
-
CML calls for revamp to the way SMI is calculated
1 Feb 2012
The Council of Mortgage Lenders is calling for the government to change the way in which it calculates Support for Mortgage Interest payments.
-
CML lowers estimates of business by brokers
20 Feb 2012
The Council of Mortgage Lenders has reduced all its past intermediary lending estimates after changing the way in which it calculates intermediated sales.
-
Consumer confidence hits five-month high in January
16 Feb 2012
Consumer confidence rose to its highest level for five months in January, research from Nationwide shows.
-
CoreLogic appoints former Accord director Iain Smith
28 Feb 2012
Iain Smith, the former sales director at Accord Mortgages, has joined CoreLogic as its new business development director of UK operations.
-
Could EU mortgage directive lead to fraud tourism?
10 Feb 2012
The news that the European mortgage directive has been delayed yet again is hardly a surprise considering the problems facing the continent. But if MEPs fail to make the right decision, the consequences could be dire.
-
Coventry’s mortgage lending up 14% in 2011
1 Mar 2012
Coventry Building Society increased its gross mortgage lending by 14% to £4bn in 2011.
-
Do Lloyds' interest-only changes treat existing customers fairly?
16 Feb 2012
Lloyds Banking Group’s major policy announcement yesterday on changes in its interest-only mortgage criteria follows similar tightening in the last month by Barclays / Woolwich and Santander.
-
Doug Crawford steps down as CEO of Personal Touch
8 Feb 2012
Doug Crawford has resigned as chief executive officer of Personal Touch after almost two years at the firm.
-
Dragonfly adds new calculators to website
6 Feb 2012
In an effort to help brokers crunch the numbers when working through deals with their clients, short and medium-term lender, Dragonfly Property Finance has added three calculators to its website.
-
DROs: Is a second wave of serious debtors forming offshore?
3 Feb 2012
The insolvency figures from the fourth quarter of last year came out this morning and it was encouraging to see that personal bankruptcies dropped by 28%.
-
Ending Stamp Duty holiday could be crucial to Osborne's fortunes
21 Feb 2012
The end of the Stamp Duty holiday for first-time buyers on March 24 will prove a critical juncture for the government’s housing policies.
-
European mortgage directive delayed again
10 Feb 2012
A key stage in voting through the European mortgage directive has been delayed for the second time.
-
Evolution Money offers secured loans in Northern Ireland
28 Feb 2012
Evolution Money will be offering secured loans in Northern Ireland from March 1.
-
Ex-Aldermore chief Snowdon sets up higher-LTV venture
17 Feb 2012
Former Aldermore chief executive of residential mortgages Colin Snowdon has started work on a new project specialising in bringing higher loan-to-value mortgages into the market.
-
Fear of being sued makes lenders toughen criteria
20 Feb 2012
Fears that they could be sued if a borrower’s repayment vehicle fails to pay off their interest-only mortgage are behind lenders’ recent criteria changes, trade bodies have claimed.
-
February sees seasonal jump in housing demand
27 Feb 2012
February saw a marked improvement in housing market conditions off the back of a seasonal upturn in demand, according to Hometrack’s latest monthly housing survey.
-
First-time buyer mortgages up 7% in December
13 Feb 2012
The number of first-time buyers increased by 7% in December 2011, compared with the previous month, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
-
FSA advisory panel calls for less consumer responsibility
1 Mar 2012
The Financial Services Consumer Panel is calling for consumers to be given less responsibility for their financial decisions.
-
FSA bans two brokers
24 Feb 2012
The Financial Services Authority has fined Devon based Mark Joseph Laurenti of Independent Mortgage Advisory Service Limited £14,000 for negligently submitting repeated mortgage applications containing inaccurate customer information.
-
FSA fines Santander £1.5m over structured products
20 Feb 2012
The Financial Services Authority has fined Santander £1.5m for failing to confirm under which circumstances its structured products would be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
-
FSA indefinitely delays individual registration for mortgage brokers
10 Feb 2012
The Financial Services Authority has indefinitely delayed its plans to introduce individual registration for mortgage brokers.
-
FSA says rent-back market effectively closed
3 Feb 2012
The Financial Services Authority has today published a report that shows most sale-and-rent-back transactions were either unaffordable or unsuitable and never should have been sold.
-
FSA to increase mortgage broker fees
2 Feb 2012
The Financial Services Authority has today revealed its Annual Funding Requirement for 2012/13, which includes an increase in the fees mortgage brokers will pay.
-
FTB sales at eight-month high, says NAEA
22 Feb 2012
First-time buyers accounted for the highest proportion of property sales in eight months in January, according to data from the National Association of Estate Agents.
-
Google axes UK mortgage plans
8 Feb 2012
Google has scrapped plans for a UK mortgage comparison service after closing its US version.
-
Government ignores TSC warnings over BoE governance
7 Feb 2012
TSC not given veto over future Bank governor appointments.
-
Government must identify funding gap in social care, says SHIP
8 Feb 2012
It is crucial that the government identifies the scale of the funding gap in social care in order for the financial services industry to develop solutions, according to Safe Home Income Plans.
-
Government to regulate bailiffs
17 Feb 2012
The bailiff industry is to be legally regulated, the government has announced.
-
Gross mortgage lending up 10% year-on-year in January
20 Feb 2012
Gross mortgage lending totalled £10.5bn in January, 10% higher than the £9.5bn lent in January 2011, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
-
Halifax gives you extra with SVR cap
28 Feb 2012
Halifax’s change to its SVR cap certainly puts a whole new meaning to its catch phrase ’the bank that gives you extra’ - but extra is not always good.
-
Halifax increases SVR cap
28 Feb 2012
Halifax has increased the cap on its standard variable rate from 3% above base rate to 3.75% above base for thousands of existing borrowers.
-
Halifax Intermediaries ups max LTV to 90% for new-build houses
2 Feb 2012
Lloyds Banking Group is to offer 90% LTV mortgages on new-build houses, increasing its maximum LTV on this type of property from a previous cap of 80%.
-
Hinckley & Rugby doubles mortgage lending in 2011
9 Feb 2012
Hinckley & Rugby Building Society more than doubled its gross mortgage lending in 2011 compared to the previous year, its annual results reveal.
-
HML appoints permanent CEO
10 Feb 2012
HML has appointed Andrew Jones as its permanent chief executive officer after doing the job on an interim basis for three months.
-
HML hosts second Connectability event
29 Feb 2012
HML has announced that it is hosting its second Connectability event on April 25 at Altitude 360 in London.
-
House prices fell 0.2% in January
1 Feb 2012
UK house prices fell 0.2% in January according to Nationwide’s latest house price index, taking the annual rate of inflation down to 0.6% from 1% in December.
-
Housing completions up 6% in 2011
17 Feb 2012
The number of housing completions in England rose by 6% between 2011 and 2010, according to data published by the Department for Communities and Local Government.
-
HSBC reports 12% rise in gross mortgage lending in 2011
27 Feb 2012
HSBC has reported gross mortgage lending of £13.2bn for 2011, up 12.2% on the £11.8bn it lent in 2010.
-
ifs launches entry-level financial advice qualification
17 Feb 2012
The Institute of Financial Services has launched a Level 3 financial advice qualification for new entrants to the sector.
-
January house prices down 1.8% year-on-year, says Halifax
6 Feb 2012
House prices increased by 0.6% between December and January, but are still 1.8% lower year-on-year, according to the latest house price index from Halifax.
-
John Charcol's mortgage director joins Which? mortgage advisers
3 Feb 2012
Mike Lawton has left his role as mortgage director at John Charcol, to join Which?’s mortgage advice service as managing director.
-
Joint legal representation option for bridging at Precise
3 Feb 2012
From this Monday Precise Mortgages will allow bridging clients to choose the option of joint legal representation rather than the market norm of separate representation.
-
Just Retirement sales up 30% year-on-year in Q4
7 Feb 2012
Just Retirement Limited saw a 29.7% year-on-year increase in sales in Q4 2011, the firm has reported.
-
Kent Reliance launches 80% LTV buy-to-let deals
22 Feb 2012
Kent Reliance has launched a range of 80% LTV buy-to-let products through Complete FS.
-
L&G Club gives members access to secured loans platform
27 Feb 2012
Legal & General Mortgage Club has teamed up with The Lending Wizard software platform to give its members access to online sourcing for secured and unsecured loans.
-
L&G offers range of 5-year fixes from Cambridge BS
8 Feb 2012
Legal & General Network is offering an exclusive range of five-year fixed rate mortgages from Cambridge Building Society.
-
Leeds BS reports 25% lending increase in 2011
21 Feb 2012
Society lends £1.2bn in 2011, up 25% on £984m advanced in 2010.
-
Leeds makes interest-only changes
20 Feb 2012
Leeds Building Society has cut its maximum LTV from 70% to 50%, for interest-only loans where the repayment strategy is the sale of property.
-
Lenders may be forced to cap LTVs, says Osborne
7 Feb 2012
Chancellor George Osborne says the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee will have the power to curb high LTVs in order to prevent an unsustainable rise in house prices.
-
Lenders should stop viewing interest-only as the devil's spawn
10 Feb 2012
Since the height of the market when almost half of all loans were being written on an interest-only basis, we have seen many different approaches canvassed.
-
Lloyds group pledges not to cut branch numbers for three years
2 Feb 2012
Lloyds Banking Group has pledged to keep the same number of branches in its total network for the next three years.
-
Lloyds makes further interest-only changes
15 Feb 2012
Lloyds Banking Group is making a number of restrictions to its interest-only offering from tomorrow.
-
Lloyds reports £3.5bn loss and drop in mortgage lending
24 Feb 2012
Lloyds Banking Group has reported a pre-tax loss of £3.5bn for 2011, after setting aside £3.2bn to cover for claims relating to the mis-selling of payment protection insurance.
-
Lloyds to clawback senior exec bonuses over PPI mis-selling
20 Feb 2012
Former Lloyds chief executive Eric Daniels will lose at least £360,000 of his 2010 bonus, while four other directors are each set to lose £250,000.
-
Loughborough’s gross mortgage lending up 7% in 2011
2 Feb 2012
The Loughborough Building Society has reported a 7% year-on-year rise in gross mortgage lending for 2011.
-
Man jailed for seven years over £8m mortgage fraud
21 Feb 2012
A fraudster at the helm of a criminal gang that defrauded high street banks out of almost £8m by taking out mortgages on properties they didn’t own has been jailed.
-
Manor Mortgages adds Precise Mortgages to panel
10 Feb 2012
Precise Mortgages has joined Manor Mortgages’ lender panel.
-
Margaret Cole to leave the FSA
15 Feb 2012
Margaret Cole, managing director and board member of the Financial Services Authority, is to leave the organisation later this year, after nearly seven years at the UK regulator.
-
Masthaven to enter secured loans market
14 Feb 2012
Masthaven is set to launch a secured loans arm in the coming months.
-
Montello expands funding and completes first medium-term loan
8 Feb 2012
Montello Bridging Finance has expanded its funding lines, enabling it to enter the medium-term loan market.
-
Moody’s downgrades Money Partners non-conforming RMBS deals
14 Feb 2012
Moody’s has downgraded the ratings on notes in three Money Partners non-conforming residential mortgage-backed securitisations.
-
More large loan borrowers choosing fixed rates
17 Feb 2012
A quarter of large loan borrowers chose a fixed rate mortgage in the final quarter of 2011, up from a fifth at the start of the year, according to Knight Frank Finance’s latest Large Loan Index.
-
Move With Us appoints two directors
16 Feb 2012
Move With Us has announced the appointment of two new directors.
-
MPC votes for more QE
9 Feb 2012
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has voted for more quantitative easing at its February meeting.
-
Mutuals' gross mortgage lending up 32%
29 Feb 2012
Building societies and other mutual lenders increased their gross mortgage lending by 32% and mortgage approvals by 54% in January 2012, compared to the same month in 2011.
-
N&P withdraws 10-year fix
6 Feb 2012
Norwich & Peterborough Building Society has withdrawn its 10-year fixed rate mortgage less than two weeks after launching it due to exceptionally high demand.
-
NAB to carry out strategic review of Clydesdale and Yorkshire
7 Feb 2012
National Australia Bank, the parent company of Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank is to carry out a review of its UK businesses, as conditions continue to deteriorate in the UK.
-
Nationwide increases rates by up to 0.20%
2 Feb 2012
Nationwide has increased rates on a number of its fixed and tracker mortgage products by between 0.10% and 0.20%.
-
Nationwide launches ISA account for FTBs
13 Feb 2012
Nationwide is launching a tax-free savings account aimed at first-time buyers saving for a deposit.
-
NatWest launches exclusive deals and increases rates
23 Feb 2012
NatWest Intermediary Solutions has launched a number of new products, as well as increasing rates on selected existing deals.
-
New directory launches for online advice sources
6 Feb 2012
Guide to Advice will feature independent, restricted and simplified advice firms, plus money coaching and execution-only services.
-
New insolvency law in Ireland will increase mortgage defaults, says Moody’s
8 Feb 2012
New Irish personal insolvency legislation proposed in January will discourage borrowers from keeping up with their mortgage payments and make a quarter of Irish mortgage debt susceptible to write-down, according to Moody’s.
-
New lender launches into secured loan market
1 Feb 2012
A new lender, Equifinance, has launched into the secured loan market, offering its products through Loans Warehouse.
-
Northern Ireland outperformed UK mortgage market in Q4 2011
27 Feb 2012
Northern Ireland was the only region in the UK to experience an increase in house purchase loans in Q4 2011, according to data published by the Council of Mortgage Lenders in Northern Ireland.
-
Norton Finance and Norton Insurance Services placed in administration
28 Feb 2012
Norton Finance and Norton Insurance Services have both been placed in administration due to the volume of payment protection insurance mis-selling claims.
-
Nottingham BS' gross mortgage lending up 23% in 2011
27 Feb 2012
Nottingham Building Society has reported gross mortgage lending of £436m for 2011, an increase of 23% on the previous year.
-
Number of 95% LTV deals at a four-year high
13 Feb 2012
The number of 95% LTV mortgage deals available to first-time buyers is at the highest level since before the financial crisis, according to the Mortgage Advice Bureau.
-
Number of B2L deals doubles in two years
1 Feb 2012
The number of buy-to-let deals on the market has doubled in just two years, according to Moneyfacts research.
-
Number of B2L properties increased by 84,000 in 2011
9 Feb 2012
The number of properties being bought with buy-to-let mortgages increased by around 84,000 in 2011, according to latest data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
-
OFT to review payday loans sector
24 Feb 2012
The Office of Fair Trading is today launching an extensive review of the payday lending sector.
-
Paradigm adds GE Money to lender panels
6 Feb 2012
Paradigm Mortgage Services gas added GE Money Home Lending to its main lender panels for its directly authorised and appointed representative members.
-
Partnership raises LTVs for lifetime mortgages
13 Feb 2012
Partnership is increasing its LTV rates for its enhanced lifetime mortgage.
-
Paymentcare offers enhanced commission for transferred policies
10 Feb 2012
Paymentcare Limited is offering enhanced commission rates on all policies which are transferred from other providers.
-
Paymentshield to be sued for slashing commission
6 Feb 2012
A broker is taking legal action against Paymentshield, alleging that its decision to cut his trail commission from 27% to 5% is a breach of contract.
-
Philip Williamson joins Acenden as non-exec director and chairman
23 Feb 2012
Acenden has appointed Philip Williamson, the former chief executive officer of Nationwide Building Society as a non-executive director and chairman.
-
Phoebus sees 17% rise in sales in 2011
27 Feb 2012
Phoebus Software has reported a 16.5% increase in sales for 2011 compared to the previous year.
-
Platform reduces B2L rates
16 Feb 2012
Platform has reduced the rates on its entire range of two-year fixed rate buy-to-let products by 0.20%.
-
Post Office offers 75% LTV five-year fix at 3.38%
13 Feb 2012
The Post Office has cut its mortgage rates by up to 1.01% on a range of its fixed rate and tracker mortgages - the largest cut is to its five-year fixed rate deal at 75% LTV - a reduction of 1.01% from 4.39% to 3.38%
-
PPI redress hit £1.9bn in 2011
22 Feb 2012
Firms paid out £1.9bn in payment protection insurance redress last year, the latest figures from the Financial Services Authority show.
-
Precise Mortgages launches second charge bridging loans
6 Feb 2012
Precise Mortgages has launched a range of second charge bridging products.
-
Precise offers brokers Olympic tickets incentive
14 Feb 2012
Precise Mortgages is offering brokers the chance to win tickets to the 2012 Olympics.
-
Principality BS joins L&G Mortgage Club
28 Feb 2012
Principality Building Society has joined Legal & General Mortgage Club’s lender panel.
-
Principality’s mortgage lending climbs 7% to £1bn in 2011
2 Feb 2012
Principality Building Society has reported gross mortgage lending of £1bn for 2011, a 6.5% increase on the previous year.
-
Promise adds Dragonfly to its sourcing portal
13 Feb 2012
Promise Solutions has added Dragonfly to its sourcing portal for seocnd charge loans, taking the number of lenders on its system to 14.
-
Property discounts hit all-time high
Online - February 2012
Property sellers are discounting their homes by an unprecedented amount as they accept the realities of the market, according to research by Zoopla.
-
PruProtect added to First Complete's protection panel
21 Feb 2012
First Complete has today added PruProtect to its protection panel, bringing the total number of life companies on the panel to six.
-
PTFS chief exec Doug Crawford to join conveyancer
13 Feb 2012
Crawford will join the firm in April as its new chief executive.
-
PTFS rebrands logo
27 Feb 2012
Personal Touch Financial Services has undergone a rebranding exercise and launched a new logo (pictured).
-
RBS reports £2bn loss in 2011
23 Feb 2012
The Royal Bank of Scotland has reported a loss of £2bn for 2011, compared to a £1.2bn loss in 2010.
-
Rents rise in January for first time
17 Feb 2012
Average rents rose in January for the first time on record, according to the latest buy-to-let index from LSL Property Services.
-
Repossession avoidance firm opens doors to intermediaries
28 Feb 2012
Firm decides to offer services through intermediaries two years after setting up.
-
Repossessions up 5% year-on-year in Q4 2011
9 Feb 2012
The number of properties taken into possession in Q4 2011 totalled 8,500, 5% higher than the 8,100 homes repossessed in the same period in 2010, according to data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
-
Revived right-to-buy scheme will fail to deliver, says Hometrack
2 Feb 2012
The government’s plans for a revived right-to-buy scheme will fail to deliver the one-for-one replacement rate promised, according to a report on the initiative by Hometrack.
-
Rock sale to Virgin Money was 'best deal for taxpayer'
28 Feb 2012
UKFI says Northern Rock deal will bring in £1bn in total.
-
Saffron BS sells IFA business to Towergate
14 Feb 2012
Deal sees firm, under Towergate’s stewardship, providing advice to Saffron customers.
-
Santander reduces interest-only LTV to 50%
8 Feb 2012
Santander is reducing its maximum LTV for interest-only mortgages from 75% to 50%.
-
Shapps in talks with Royal Mail and BBC to find unused land
1 Feb 2012
Housing Minister Grant Shapps says he is working with organisations including the BBC, Network Rail and the Royal Mail, to identify unused land and buildings that could be released for house-building.
-
Shawbrook completes £1.8m loan with Brightstar
17 Feb 2012
Shawbrook has completed its largest ever deal, a £1.8m loan packaged by Brightstar Financial.
-
Skipton cuts B2L rates by up to 0.20%
16 Feb 2012
Skipton Building Society has launched a refreshed buy-to-let mortgage range, with rates reduced by up to 0.20%.
-
Skipton triples mortgage lending and reports profits of £22.2m
28 Feb 2012
Skipton building Society has reported pre-tax profits of £22.2m for 2011, compared to £35.0m in 2010.
-
Sourcing system for bridging loans launched
15 Feb 2012
A bridging sourcing system to help brokers directly place cases with lenders has been launched today by Ed Payne, the former commercial manager at Moneyfacts.
-
Spicerhaart subsidiary goes into liquidation
16 Feb 2012
Spicerhaart has put one of its subsidiary firms, a surveyor and valuation provider, into liquidation.
-
Stamp Duty holiday pushing up sales, says RICS
14 Feb 2012
House sales edged up in January as an increasing number of first-time buyers look to beat the end of the Stamp Duty holiday in March, according to the latest UK housing market survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
-
Stamp Duty rush boosts January valuations
9 Feb 2012
Demand from first-time buyers looking to beat the end of the Stamp Duty holiday boosted residential valuations in January, according to Connells Survey and Valuation’s latest housing market activity report.
-
State Bank of India joins CML
1 Feb 2012
The State Bank of India has joined the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
-
Stonebridge adds L&G to limited life and protection panel
14 Feb 2012
Stonebridge Group has added Legal & General to its limited life and protection panel.
-
TBMC offers 3.25% two-year discounted B2L deal
6 Feb 2012
TBMC has launched a 3.25% two-year discounted buy-to-let deal up to 60% LTV, with Hinckley & Rugby Building Society
-
Tesco to launch into mortgages in the next few months
6 Feb 2012
Tesco Bank says it is on track to launch into the mortgage market in the next couple of months.
-
Tiuta extends large loan funding line
9 Feb 2012
Tiuta has extended and doubled its large loan funding line to £60m, for use over the next few months.
-
Treasury Committee to grill regulator on MMR
27 Feb 2012
Financial Services Authority chiefs are to be grilled by MPs on the Mortgage Market Review next month.
-
TrigoldCrystal launches latest version of Prospector
16 Feb 2012
TrigoldCrystal has today launched the latest upgrade to its sourcing system Prospector.
-
Twitter is no place for brokerages to promote products
20 Feb 2012
Mortgage brokers should not use Twitter to promote mortage products, a regulatory expert says.
-
Two MPC members voted for £75bn QE in February
22 Feb 2012
The Monetary Policy Committee was not unanimous in its decision to increase the size of the asset purchase programme by £50bn at its February meeting, minutes of the meeting reveal.
-
UK credit rating put on negative watch
14 Feb 2012
Moody’s has put the UK’s AAA credit rating on negative watch because of economic uncertainty.
-
UK inflation falls to 3.6%
14 Feb 2012
The UK consumer prices index has fallen to 3.6% per cent in January, according to the Office for National Statistics.
-
UK RMBS performance may deteriorate with economy, says S&P
23 Feb 2012
The performance of UK residential mortgage-backed securities may deteriorate this year in line with the economy, according to Standard & Poor’s.
-
UK to enter recession in 2012, warns Niesr
3 Feb 2012
The UK is set to enter recession in the first half of 2012, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research has warned.
-
Unemployment rises to 2.67m
15 Feb 2012
Unemployment is up 48,000 to 2.67 million in the final quarter of 2011, Office for National Statistics data shows.
-
United Trust Bank expands bridging sales team
21 Feb 2012
United Trust Bank has boosted its bridging sales team with the appointment of Gerard Morgan Jackson.
-
Virgin Money hires former HML chief
14 Feb 2012
Brian Brodie has joined Virgin as its new operations director.
-
Why lenders are curbing interest-only
24 Feb 2012
So what’s to be made of the recent furore over interest-only loans - are they all bad and if not then why are lenders running away from them?
-
Yorkshire BS to open 12 new branches
20 Feb 2012
Yorkshire Building Society is planning to open 12 new high street branches over the next two years.
-
Yorkshire’s gross mortgage lending up 46% in 2011
23 Feb 2012
Yorkshire Building Society has reported a 46% increase in gross mortgage lending for 2011.
