Thousands ‘face negative equity’
July 6, 2008
Close to 150,000 homeowners who took out mortgages since early 2007 may face negative equity, research suggests.
According to a CACI survey for the Daily Telegraph, one in eight of 1.2 million who bought a property since then owe more than their home is worth.
If a house loses its value it is not necessarily a problem unless the owner has to move, remortgage, or cannot afford to pay the mortgage.
UK prices fell 0.9% on average in June, according to recent Nationwide figures.
Two lenders trim mortgage costs
July 6, 2008
Two lenders are cutting their mortgage rates slightly - but only for those new borrowers able to pay a large deposit.
The Nationwide and Abbey are reducing the price of some fixed rate and tracker rate deals.
But the biggest drops in mortgage costs are for those who can put down a 25% deposit, which is about £46,000 for an average home in England and Wales.
Earlier this week, the Bank of England said there would be a continued squeeze on the availability of mortgages.
Rate changes
The Nationwide’s fixed rate deals for house buyers will come down by up to 0.07% on 9 July. Tracker rates will drop by up to 0.27% for those with bigger deposits.
This will come three weeks after it raised mortgage rates by up to 0.5%.
The Abbey reduced its rates on 75% loan-to-value fixed rate and tracker deals by up to 0.2%.
On Thursday, the Bank of England’s survey of lenders revealed that the availability of home loans will continue to fall in July to September.
Mortgage suppliers are expecting to ask for bigger deposits in the coming months, instead of putting up the cost of a mortgage, the Bank’s Credit Conditions Survey showed.
