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...The Nationwide Index, for example, is based on mortgages approved in the month, while the official house price index tracks prices of completed transactions....
...The data, a snapshot of the health of the housing market, suggests the residential market is recovering as the squeeze from higher borrowing costs seen over the past two years eased....
...Skipton’s Track Record mortgage allows borrowers to use evidence of paying regular rent when judging whether they can afford the mortgage....
...Net mortgage approvals for house purchases rose to 60,400 in February from 56,100 in January, the Bank of England said on Tuesday....
...Mortgages for house purchases, or remortgages, were down 21 per cent, while new lifetime, or equity release, mortgages were down 40 per cent....
...Over the past few years UK policymakers have explored the idea of mortgages with an interest rate locked in for the term of the loan, along the lines of long-term products offered in countries like the US...
...Brexit and mortgage regulatory changes also played a role, according to Richard Donnell, executive director at property consultancy Houseful....
...This prompted some lenders to increase their mortgage rates in February....
...This should support residential investment going forward: recall that the single-family sector is a bigger driver of GDP growth than multi-family....
...Rising mortgage rates have meant many landlords have had no choice but to increase rents.”...
...He added that households had more scope to make mortgage payments since wages were rising faster than the rate of inflation....
...“Affordability constraints continue to be a challenge for prospective buyers,” said Kim Kinnaird, director of Halifax mortgages....
...Neal Hudson, housing market analyst at Residential Analysts, said: “There would be a greater risk of negative equity obviously with this, you’d also be paying a premium mortgage rate, and it doesn’t necessarily...
...“Sellers are having to continue to rein in their price expectations,” says Lucian Cook, head of UK residential research at estate agent Savills....
...The risk to lenders that the BoE would take longer than expected to cut base rates had eased this week, according to Lucian Cook, residential research director at estate agent Savills....
...About 1.5mn fixed-rate mortgage deals are set to expire this year. Greater competition in the mortgage market will be helpful to borrowers....
...Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at estate agency Knight Frank, said more buyers and more houses being marketed as mortgage rates eased meant “demand and activity levels will only get stronger,...
...Mortgage rates have eased from their 2023 highs, allowing more buyers to consider a purchase. Mortgage approvals hit 55,000 in January 2024, up from 44,000 in September 2023....
...HSBC has become the latest lender to raise its residential mortgage rates following similar moves by Santander, NatWest and Nationwide in recent weeks....
...“As we get towards cuts in the bank rates and mortgage rates falling later this year, that will improve affordability, pricing even more people back in the market,” he said....
...And that’s naturally where high mortgage rates are going to hit hardest.”...
...Big lenders Barclays and Santander announced fresh mortgage rates cuts this week, adding to cuts by HSBC and Halifax last week....
...“Recent stock market gains have enhanced the purchasing power of higher-end consumers,” says Jonathan Miller, professor of residential real estate at Columbia University in New York....
...NatWest on Thursday became the latest big high-street lender to cut rates across its residential and buy-to-let range, following reductions by HSBC on Wednesday....
...Mortgage rates have been rising in Germany as in most other European countries reflecting the increase in interest rates by central banks....
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