Not much help for first-time buyers

August 26, 2009 12:52 pm by Sharlene Goff

Are things looking up for first-time buyers?

Halifax has today launched a new mortgage deal for buyers with deposits of just 10 per cent. Sounds good so far. Any new opportunity for first-timers – recently the pariahs of the housing market – to get a foot on the ladder should be welcomed.

But there is one rather large drawback. The interest rate is a whopping 7.29 per cent fixed for three years. On a £250,000 property, this would mean monthly mortgage payments of almost £1,500, based on a loan-to-value of 90 per cent. Halifax claims to be one of the few lenders trying to accommodate first-time buyers. A spokeswoman acknowledged it was “crucial” to have products for new entrants so other homeowners can move up the chain. This is why “Halifax has always been out there in the market, almost alone in doing that”.

But given that potential buyers could rent a similarly priced property for about £500 less a month, and the fact that the recovery in property prices is still fragile, there seems little incentive for anyone to take up this kind of rate.

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Worried about your mortgage? Share your experiences

August 17, 2009 5:23 pm by Sharlene Goff

The official figures are showing a fall in home repossessions - and a rosier picture of the housing market – but is this the full story?

Arrears on loans from some of the more aggressive specialist lenders such as Gmac are already running into double digits. And with unemployment set to rise further over the next few months, more people could struggle to meet their mortgage payments.

We’d like to build up a true picture of who is running into difficulty with their loans and would be interested to hear your experiences.

Maybe you’ve lost your job, or the bonus you were expecting hasn’t materialised. If this is the case are you having trouble paying your mortgage?

Was it too easy to gain credit at the peak of the market from aggressive lenders such as Northern Rock and Halifax? Or were you encouraged to convert your existing home into a buy-to-let investment when you moved house? Maybe your mortgage lender has failed to pass on interest rate cuts to you?

Lenders are telling us they are more willing to help homeowners out of difficulty but is this really the case? If you have approached your lender for help what has been their response?

Share your views by typing your comments below, or by visiting us at Twitter.

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To be or not to be mortgage free?

August 12, 2009 11:13 am by Sharlene Goff

Finally some good news for debt-laden homeowners. You can now afford to pay off your mortgage in half the time it would have taken you had the credit crisis never happened.

According to new research from Propertyfinder.com, reduced house prices and lower interest rates mean the average mortgage can be paid off in just 13 years, compared with 25 years back in 2007.

Here’s the maths: the typical monthly mortgage payment on an average-priced home – costing £184,234 – in November 2007 was £1,121 if paid over 25 years. Roll on 18 months to May 2009 and that same home could have been picked up for 17 per cent less, according to Propertyfinder’s calculation, while a typical mortgage rate would have been 2.49 per cent rather than 5.54 per cent. So someone who made their average house purchase three months ago – and who is paying the same monthly mortgage amount of £1,121 as the person who bought in 2007 – would pay off their loan in just 13.3 years.

Continue reading: “To be or not to be mortgage free?”

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