April 2012 from Gateway Homes

First-time property buyers may consider buying with family or friends to assist with the cost of their purchase, the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) has said. However, a joint ownership arrangement should be carefully considered from the beginning – … Read more →

Property buyers were more active in March as the annual “spring bounce” set in, according to HM Revenue & Customs, whose figures for the month showed 74,000 completed sales during the month. This is considerably higher than the 63,000 seen … Read more →

The average age Brits expect to be able to buy their first property is now 37 years old, according to research from MoneySupermarket.com. Some 17 per cent of 18 to 34-year-olds have put off buying a house, delaying the process … Read more →

More tenants are having difficulty paying their rents on time, new research from the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) has revealed, after four in ten members noted an increase in the number of people experiencing this problem. This has … Read more →

Demand from first-time property buyers reached a ten-month high in March, according to the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), increasing from 23 per cent in February to 24 per cent in March. While sales levels were on a par … Read more →

France and Spain remain the UK’s first choice when it comes to buying a home abroad, in spite of the economic turmoil taking place on the continent, according to currency exchange firm HiFX. Some 35 per cent of property buyers … Read more →

The number of first-time buyers in the UK went up in February, while lending to both home-movers and first-timers also increased, according to new figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). Some 14,000 loans worth a total of £1.7 … Read more →

Property buyers have been urged not to cut corners when carrying out DIY work, after it was revealed by HSBC Home Insurance that more than half of people in the UK plan to carry out improvements over the April, May … Read more →

An estimated 300,000 homeowners on interest-only mortgages have failed to meet one or more of their repayments, according to the Financial Services Authority, adding up to between £14.8 billion and £23.7 billion in missed payments. Interest-only mortgages offer an easier … Read more →

Property buyers who are trying to make their homes more energy-efficient may be discouraged from doing so by a raft of “green taxes” that may come into force from April 2014. Those who want to upgrade their boilers, build conservatories … Read more →

Property sales in England and Wales have fallen by 48 per cent from the peak of the housing market in 2007, going from 1,223,826 to 630,389 in 2011, according to new analysis from Lloyds TSB. Only 40 per cent of … Read more →

Millions of property buyers are expected to become “mortgage prisoners” next year as strict new rules from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) come into force during the summer. The FSA’s consumer panel has published a report warning mortgage customers that … Read more →

House prices rose by 2.2 per cent last month following a 0.4 per cent fall in February, according to the latest house price index from Halifax. The average UK house price now stands at £163,803, almost the same as it … Read more →

People who are failing to secure a quick home sale are renting out their properties to tenants instead, according to figures from the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA). During the last quarter of 2011, the organisation noted than 47 … Read more →

Salford is the most affordable area in the UK for property buyers, a survey by Lloyds TSB has found. The average house price in Salford is £102,391, or 3.8 times the gross average earnings, while the national average is £173,202 … Read more →