Blogs of author

Deciding to buy a home is an exciting but nerve-racking step to take and one of the most apprehensive parts of the process is getting accepted for a mortgage.

Banks and building societies have tightened up their lending criteria considerably since the credit crunch hit, making them far less flexible when it comes to handing out loans.

But the good news is mortgage lending is on the way up again, with figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) showing that total gross mortgage lending in May was 17% higher than a year earlier at £14.7billion.

Mortgage deals are getting cheaper too

A three bedroom mid terrace house in Wales, situated in the village of Nantymoel, roughly 10 miles from Bridgend town centre, was put up for auction last week with a guide price of zero.

As you may have guessed, the property is in a pretty sorry state - the auctioneers admitted they’d not even looked inside but believe it to be “little more than a shell requiring complete renovation”.

Nonetheless, it’s remarkable that a house could potentially be ‘sold’ for absolutely nothing, or even a few quid.

The ‘free house’, as it's been named by the press, is just the latest example of property madness

UK house prices rose again in June, increasing by 0.3%, according to the Nationwide building society.

The Nationwide said the rise was helped by the government's Funding for Lending Scheme, designed to bring down the cost of credit, and improving job prospects.

The annual rate of price growth rose to 1.9%, the fastest pace since September 2010. The increases means that the average house now costs £168,941. But Nationwide said there were few signs the housing supply was improving.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said: "Demand for homes has been supported by further modest gains in

Home Owners and private sector landlords and tenants in Scotland could benefit from up £1,200 in funding towards the cost of installing energy efficiency measures from the Scottish Government, if a property’s Green Deal assessment recommends them.

Managed by the Energy Saving Trust, the scheme has funding for a wide variety of measures, including up to £500 for insulation measures, up to £400 for a boiler and up to £300 for other measures (such as glazing, LED lighting and heating controls).

You can apply online at www.greenhomescashback.org.uk or if you do not have an e-mail address or if you

The cost of renting a home in England and Wales rose again in May as tenants faced charges that were 3.5% higher than a year earlier, a survey has suggested.

Rents rose by 0.1% between April and May, although this was a smaller increase than during recent months.

LSL Property Services said that this meant the average rent was £737 a month - the third highest level on record.

The pace of rent changes varied in different regions, the data showed.

Tenants faced rent rises of 7.2% on average in London over the past year, with costs up by 5.2% in Wales, and up 4% in the north east of England. The

According to the latest figures, property prices are rising at their fastest pace last month since June 2010.

The report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) showed that seasonally adjusted house price balance came in at +5, beating a forecast of +4 in a Reuters poll, and coming in at significantly above the balance of +1 recorded in April.

RICS argued that while the housing market had remained muted over the last three years, because of slow wage growth and austerity measures, factors such as the Bank of England’s Funding for Lending Scheme have improved the flow of credit

The competition brought by new lenders could result in marked reductions for home loan repayments. Mortgage repayments for borrowers in the UK could fall by as much as £600 a year.

The Daily Telegraph reports that such steep reductions may come as a result of new lenders bringing increasing levels of competition to the marketplace.

Numerous companies, such as Home & Savings Bank and NBNK, are expected to enter the market over the coming months - and this could lead to mortgage rates dipping below 1.5% for the first time.

Ian Gordon, a banking analyst at Investec, explained new entrants are

UK house prices recorded a "modest" rise in May, increasing by 0.4%, according to the latest survey from the Nationwide building society. It said the increase provided further support for "the view that the housing market is gradually gaining momentum".

The annual rate of price growth rose to 1.1%, the fastest pace since November 2011. The increases mean that the average house now costs £167,912, the Nationwide said.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said a number of factors were likely to have contributed to the recent pick-up in activity.

"There has been an improvement in the

More than 40% of landlords have increased their rents over the past year, according to new findings.

Market research company BDRC Continental and property consultants Allsop LLP, the Rent Check Report revealed a thriving rental market has resulted in 41% of proprietors throughout the country upping these costs in the past 12 months.

The study - which considered the views of 1,500 property investors - also showed that next year will see around one-quarter of landlords attempting to increase their portfolios, with many optimistic about what the future has in store.

With rented homes making up 17

After a fantastic sales rate of 90% in our April/May auctions, we are now accepting property entries for our next round of auctions taking place before the Summer break. If you're thinking about selling your property (residential, commercial, development site, land, mixed use, investment, ground rent), contact us today for your free auction appraisal and to chat with one of our auctioneers in your area.

If you have been struggling to sell your property with your estate agent, or you're just needing to sell quickly and are willing to drop your asking price in order to enter it into auction