House prices: what to expect in 2014 in the UK

2013 was profitable for many homeowners, but what will the next 12 months bring? We share experts’ predictions and forecasts

Let the good times roll. After years of average performance since 2008, this year saw the British property market roar back to life. According to Halifax, prices rose by 7.7 per cent across the country as a whole. In London, the figure was more than 10 per cent. Elsewhere, growth was not so strong – parts of the North and the West Country, in particular, might ask when this economic recovery is going to arrive. But in general, 2013 was a success story for British property. What will 2014 bring? Whether you are a first-time buyer or a foreign billionaire, here is what the next 12 months have in store.

Rising tide

The general agreement is that next year will bring more of the same for homeowners. “It will be another good year for property prices,” says Doug Shephard of home.co.uk. “Increased confidence will no doubt produce extraordinary price rises. Regional disparities that exist will continue to play out, and may well be exaggerated further by the Government’s blanket implementation of Help to Buy.” Savills agrees that 2014 will see a continued increase in prices, with Greater London catching up with prime central London. It expects the commutable area around the capital to increase by five and six per cent, with central London rising three per cent. The rest of England and Wales will see a three-four per cent increase, with Scotland lagging behind at one per cent.

With an increasingly limited supply of properties and ongoing demand, it could prove a popular year for making a change. “We have experienced a 21 per cent year-on-year increase in traffic, ” says Miles Shipside of Rightmove. “With mortgages still historically cheap and interest rates set to remain stable, if you’ve been putting off a good reason to up sticks, it could be opportune to make 2014 the year to move.”

Read more here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertynews

Rent or Buy in the UK Can You Afford It.

Owning your own home is a huge commitment, not just to the building you buy and the area you choose to live in, but also to your life (and to another person if you are buying with a loved one or friend).

Benefits of owning your home

There are many benefits to home ownership. Here are just some of them.

• Once you’ve paid off your mortgage, your home will be yours and it could be worth far more than you paid for it.

• If your home increases in value you can use that equity to help you afford a bigger home or to fund a more comfortable retirement if you downsize.

• When you retire you won’t necessarily have the income you need to keep on paying rent – if you have paid your mortgage off you’ll be living there ‘rent free’.

• You can spend money improving your home and increasing its value, whereas you can’t alter a rented home without the landlord’s permission.

• Sometimes it can be cheaper to buy than to rent.

Potential downsides of owning

• It’s a big financial commitment – you need to be sure you can afford what you’re taking on. See the later section ‘Can you afford to buy?’

• You also need to be sure you can afford maintenance costs such as replacing a boiler if it packs up or fixing a leaky roof. If you stretch yourself too much when you buy you may resent not having money for meals out, holidays and entertainment.

• You have less flexibility than when renting. For example, if you want to move for work or personal reasons selling up and moving on is far more expensive if you own as you’ll have all of the associated estate agency and legal fees. Also bear in mind that it may not always be easy to sell your home – you’ll be dependent on what’s happening in the market.

• If you’re living with someone else and split up, the process of sorting out the property will be far more complicated and expensive.
• The first step towards buying a property is figuring out whether you can afford to do so. There are many costs associated with buying your own home, beyond your mortgage repayments, including:
  • deposit
  • legal costs such as solicitor’s fees
  • survey cost
  • Stamp Duty
  • removal costs, and
• your monthly bills – such as gas, electricity, home phone, etc.
• http://bit.ly/1qV3FPT

Getting a mortgage to become more difficult as new rules take effect

Tougher mortgage criteria from April will increase affordability checks and completion times and could bring higher charges

Taking out a mortgage is set to be more difficult this year as a wave of changes take effect, experts have warned. A shake-up in the rules around affordability, the withdrawal of cheap funding for banks and building societies, plus fears of a new housing bubble could all lead to lenders toughening their criteria and saving home loans for low-risk borrowers.

Affordability checks

Perhaps the biggest change for consumers will come in April when the Mortgage Market Review comes into force. These new rules, created by the Financial Conduct Authority, have been designed to protect consumers and prevent excessive or risky lending by mortgage providers. However, lenders and brokers say the change will extend the process of taking out a mortgage and reduce the amount borrowers can raise.

The number of affordability checks carried out when you apply for a loan will grow as lenders will be forced to delve deeper into borrowers' financial situations before deciding whether to offer a mortgage. All monthly payments and household expenditure will be considered during the application process and will need validation. The changes will outlaw self-certified mortgage products from the UK market and signify a move away from the traditional method of using income multiples to judge how much a customer may borrow.

"This means when speaking to a lender or mortgage broker about their mortgage needs borrowers should be prepared to answer questions about their monthly income and outgoings," says Paul Broadhead, head of mortgage policy at the Building Societies Association. "This may include the costs of travelling to work, childcare, other household bills including energy costs, and details of any loans and credit cards that will continue after the mortgage is taken out. The new rules may mean some borrowers find they can borrow less than they might have expected in the past."

Some banks and building societies have already started to include these additional checks for some deals such as Help to Buy, and figures in the industry say they have already seen an increase in the length of time a mortgage takes to complete.

"Borrowers who have not been through the mortgage application process since the peak [in 2007] will be amazed at the changes," says David Hollingworth of mortgage broker London & Country. "A lot more paperwork has to be provided and there is a lot more scrutiny of documents such as bank statements and anything might need to be substantiated. This is supposed to go towards making a better, considered lending decision."

Stress testing

Around 50% of all borrowers will also be obliged to see a qualified mortgage adviser, which is likely to lead to a longer sales procedure and could involve additional meetings.

Hollingworth says: "We are already starting to see customers using branches going through two or more interviews with branch staff, which is time-consuming for both the branch and, more importantly, the customer. It can be more of a drawn-out process with papers flying backwards and forwards."

Another change dictated by the new affordability guidelines will be "stress testing" of mortgage applicants to see how they would cope with a rise in interest rates. So as well as working out if you can afford the mortgage at the current interest rate, the lender will check that you can afford monthly repayments at a higher interest rate. It's not clear exactly how much higher that will be, but if the lender decides you can't meet repayments at that level, it will reject your application.

More expensive mortgages?

An increase in the Bank of England base rate is expected in the next few years. In addition, the withdrawal of cheap funding for home loans through the government's Funding for Lending Scheme is likely to cause rates to rise in the coming months, as banks must instead source more expensive cash, passing this cost on to consumers. The cost of implementing the new rules may also hit customers, with lenders raisingmortgage rates or fees to help pay for higher staff costs and the expense of changing systems.

"You could see more lenders charging booking fees up front and looking for more commitment from borrowers," says Hollingworth. "So if a borrower then changes their mind they have already paid something up front which won't be refunded."

Although the end result may be better lending, it is possible that banks and building societies will be ultra-cautious in the early days of the new rules. "One possible effect of the regulations is that product innovation is stifled until lenders have a full appreciation of how the regulators will supervise the new regime," says Broadhead. The Council of Mortgage Lenders has warned of "wobbles" in lending during the months surrounding the implementation of the rules, but says it believes any impact should be modest.

Jonathan Harris, director of mortgage broker Anderson Harris, adds: "While many of the recommendations have already been adopted by lenders, its formal introduction could well slow the market down for a couple of months as all the detail is implemented."

The Bank of England has already increased its focus on the mortgage market following the launch of the government's controversial Help to Buy scheme. Governor Mark Carney has spoken about the possibility of caps on loan-to-value ratios in the mortgage market to help prevent a return to risky and unsustainable lending.

If house prices continue to rise at the rate they did in 2013 it could make it even harder to get a home loan this year, and Hollingworth says borrowers should act now to seal a low mortgage rate: "There is no point hanging on. Rates out there are still extremely low and there are still savings to be made and you can protect yourself against future rate rises too. Everything points to making a move now."

Do your homework first

Something as small as an unpaid bill could be enough to see a mortgage application declined. Here are the some key steps to take before you apply:

■ Check your credit report. Lenders will look at your credit history to judge the strength of your financial situation.Occasionally the reports contain mistakes. Use Experian, Equifax, or Call Credit to make sure everything is in order.

■ Try to pay off existing debts before you apply. Lenders want to see that you can pay back loans on time and in full each month.

■ Avoid drastic changes in financial circumstances before you apply. Lenders want to see a borrower who has a settled financial history so try to avoid taking more credit in the months immediately before you ask for a mortgage.

■ Check you are on the electoral roll. Banks and building societies will use this to verify your identity so make sure you are listed before starting the mortgage process and avoid problems later on. This can be done quickly and easily by contacting your local council.

■ Avoid job changes. Before accepting a loan most mortgage providers like a borrower to have held a job for a number of months to prove that you have a steady income stream.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jan/13/mortgage-more-difficult-new-rules

Lease Options - An Affordable Option for First-time Buyers

High property prices, low salaries and widespread debt make that first rung of the property ladder a distant dream for many in the UK. But a new form of property agreement called a lease option could be a light at the end of the tunnel for cash-strapped first-time buyers.

Lease options

The concept of the option is well-known in the financial world, and can be applied to shares, land or property. Having an option gives the holder the right to buy or sell something at an agreed price after an agreed period. The holder usually pays a premium to be granted this right, but is not obliged to exercise it.

So how does it work? A lease option agreement involves a tenant being given the option to buy a property at an agreed price at the end of a given rental period, usually three to six years. The renter-buyer pays a consideration up front, but at 2-3% of the market value of the property this is preferable to putting up a full deposit of 5-20% straight away.

Case studies

Take first-time buyers Fran and Fred as an example. They are looking to rent a flat worth £180,000 in January 2007. Under a lease option agreement the owner offers them the right to buy the flat for £200,000 in January 2010, for a consideration of £3,600.

If they agree to the lease option, Fran and Fred can sleep easy while other property prices move further and further out of their grasp. They get to test out their property by living in it before they decide to buy, and if soaring prices bring the value of their flat up to £230,000 by January 2010 then they've clearly got themselves a good deal.

Agreeing a price in advance makes it easier for buyers to plan financially and save for a full deposit. A longer lease and the prospect of ownership provide security and reduce the amount of 'dead' rent money going down the drain. Of course, if you're the itchy-footed type, with frequently changing circumstances, then being tied into a long lease may not appeal.

Another bonus for the renter-buyer is avoiding the nasty business of buying property on the open market. A deal agreed in advance, on a property you're already occupying means no complicated chains or moving costs.

Lease options don't just have to be for first-time-buyers. They can provide a place to live at a guaranteed price and time to sell your existing property. This is useful if your property is slow to sell but you need to relocate quickly.

A lease option is not completely risk free though. It only saves buyers money while prices are rising. If the value of Fran and Fred's flat ends up declining over those three years, they're left with a difficult choice: Pay over-the-odds for the property, or forfeit the option to buy and start again from scratch.

http://www.ourproperty.co.uk/guides/lease_options_an_affordable_option_for_firsttime_buyers.html

First time buyers forced to rent by lack of mortgage products, research shows

The number of people renting property in the UK has risen by 5% since last October mainly because first time buyers can't get mortgages.

Research by price comparison website, Moneysupermarket.com, found that the surge in demand has been led by potential first-time buyers forced to delay their plans for property ownership by mortgage companies tightening their lendingcriteria and, most notably, raising deposit requirements in return for their best interest rates.

Eleven per cent of those questioned in Moneysupermarket's survey said they could no longer afford a mortgage or had been foiled by new high deposit requirements.

While the statistics should be encouraging to existing and potential landlords, this group of property investors is also afflicted by the demise of the UK mortgage market.

The mortgage industry estimates that between 40 and 50 % of buy-to-let mortgage products have disappeared in the past month.

Louise Cuming, head of mortgages at Moneysupermarket.com, said that they have found that in the past 12 months the number of buy-to-let products has decreased from 4,025 to 674, with almost 600 loans removed since the end of March.

Ms Cuming warned that people are being forced into the buy-to-let market at a time when buy-to-let mortgages are becoming scarce, and that this could lead to a crisis in the UK housing sector.
http://www.propertywire.com/news/europe/first-time-buyers-forced-to-rent-by-lack-of-mortgage-products-20080509935.html

Home ownership falls for first time in nearly 100 years

Home ownership has fallen for the first time since 1918 after soaring property prices and stagnant wages left many more people stuck in rented accommodation, official figures show.

The proportion of people in England and Wales who own their own home rose dramatically from just under a quarter at the end of the First World War to more than two-thirds in 2001, a study by the Office for National Statistics found.

However, the figure dipped in the past decade as the number of households renting their property shot up by a quarter to reach 8.3 million.

In a sign of the impact of both Baroness Thatcher’s “right to buy” policy for council tenants and the popularity of buy-to-let, by 2011 the percentage of people renting from a private landlord equalled those in social housing for the first time since the 1960s.

The ONS survey paints a picture of changing social patterns over the past century as the dream of home ownership became a reality for many millions before slipping away in the face of unaffordable prices and strict mortgage lending criteria.

In 1918 just 23 per cent of households owned their home. This figure began to rise quickly from 1953 and by 1971 equal numbers owned and rented the property they lived in.

The introduction of the right to buy in 1980 saw a fall in social housing tenants, while the proportion of people in private rented accommodation fell steadily from 76 per cent in 1918 to a low of 9 per cent in 1991 before climbing after that.

Between 2001 and 2011 the percentage of those who own their home dipped from 69 per cent to 64 per cent, the first fall recorded in nearly 100 years.

Over this period there was an 826,000 increase in the number of people who owned their property outright, apparently reflecting the fact that growing numbers of Baby Boomers have now paid off their mortgages.

At the same time the number of householders who owned their home with a mortgage or other loan dropped by 746,000.

Matthew Pointon, property economist with Capital Economics, said the rate of home ownership in the UK had been dropping for the past seven years because property prices were overvalued by most measures.

He added: “Although we expect owner-occupation will remain the most popular tenure, the homeownership rate is likely to continue to decline over the next few years.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertynews/10006239/Home-ownership-falls-for-first-time-in-nearly-100-years-ONS.html