House prices in England and Wales rose 0.2% during December, to an average £220,385, but fell 0.5% annually. According to the latest LSL/Acadametrics index, London property prices ended the year 3.1% higher, with Wales the only other region to show annual house price growth. In 2011, transactions were down 2.1% on an annual basis but [...]
mortgage insurance
No “magic bullet” to normalise the mortgage market
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has responded to a discussion initiated by Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, over the large deposits needed by first-time buyers, by pointing out that lending constraints currently apply to all those who don’t hold a large amount of equity in their homes.
The CML explains that high loan-to-value (LTV) lending is [...]
