It’s 8.40 on Friday night and the office is still working. It’s been a very busy week in our property management dept. with lots of new tenants having moved in and heaps of stuff to catch up on ready for what we hope will be another hectic week starting on Monday.

We’re never too busy to take on more work so if you have a house, flat or any thing else you want to let out please give us a call.

Our service is second to none and we cover pretty well all of Northumberland and most of Tyne and Wear.

While house purchase lending in the third quarter showed a 13% rise, monthly lending has not followed an even path during the quarter.

On a monthly basis, September saw substantially lower house purchase lending than August, although remortgaging rose over the month.

Following a particularly strong August, a total of 44,400 house purchase loans were advanced in September, down from 53,900 loans last month and 48,800 loans in September last year.
Loans for house purchase

This interrupted the underlying upward trend in house purchase lending we have seen since the end of last year but the third quarter still showed an increase with a total of 146,500 house purchase loans advanced – a 13% increase compared to the second quarter and similar to the same period last year. Despite the drop in September, increased house purchase lending in July and August fed through to an 8.2% increase in total gross lending in the third quarter compared to the previous quarter.

Contributing to this quarterly growth was a rise in lending to first-time buyers and home movers. Lending to first-time buyers increased by 16% (with 57,000 loans advanced) while lending to home movers increased by 12% (with 89,600 loans advanced).

As for the monthly figures in September,  lending to first-time buyers fell by 14% compared to August and by 3.2% compared to September last year. There were 17,900 loans to first-time buyers (worth £2.3 billion) compared to 20,700 loans advanced in August.

The average loan-to-value (LTV) ratio remained unchanged for first-time buyers in September at 80%, while loans to first-time buyers accounted for 40% of all house purchase loans. This was a higher proportion than the previous two months, reflecting the larger decline in the number of loans to home movers.

The number of loans taken out by home movers fell by 20% compared to August and by 13% on the same period last year. Home movers accounted for 26,500 loans worth £4.5 billion in September, falling from 33,200 loans in August – the highest figure in over two years.

Remortgage lending continued to trend below levels seen earlier in the year; there was a monthly rise in September when a total of 24,600 loans (worth £3.3 billion) were advanced for remortgaging, up from 23,100 loans in August. This was still 25% lower by value than September last year.

Despite this increase in September, remortgage lending fell in the third quarter overall. It was 7% lower in the third quarter and 24% down on the same period last year. £9.7 billion was advanced to borrowers remortgaging in the latest quarter, down from £12.7 billion in the third quarter last year.

During the third quarter, proportionally fewer house purchase loans but more remortgages were sold through intermediaries. 53% of loans to first-time buyers were sold via an intermediary in the third quarter, down from 55% in the previous quarter. 45% of remortgage borrowers used an intermediary in the third quarter, up from 41% in the second quarter.

Commenting on the data, CML director general Paul Smee said:

“While lending in September was slow after a particularly strong August, quarterly figures suggest that the underlying picture is more positive.

“An increase in house purchase approvals indicated by the Bank of England in September suggests that we may see a return to growth in coming months, but it may take some time before a boost from the Funding for Lending scheme is reflected in house purchase completions.”

I was asked to value a house in Cramlington recently,  one of the few pre war properties in the town. The lease has about seventeen years left to run and as such it is  just about un-saleable.

As most houses were built after 1960 this was a bit of an unusual one and I had to do a bit of digging to find out how much it would cost to acquire the freehold.

First estimates have come in at between £25,000 and £30,000 but the owner would have to negotiate a deal with the freeholder ( who could demand more ).

To complicate matters, the owner is non resident so that doesn’t help.

Not great news to have to pass on!

So what to do? Owners of leasehold property, wherever it is , should think about buying the freehold or arranging a lease extension as soon as they are able to. Before the costs get scary!

If you’re not sure how to go about it just give me a ring.

Lots of people are looking at buy-to-let property as a good, solid, long term investment.
With continuing low interest being offered on savings accounts and an uncertain stock market, more and more of our past and current clients see property as a vehicle to provide good returns.
Prices seem to have bottomed out and demand is outstripping supply.
Is this something for you?
Please call me anytime for free advice.
We are thinking about organising a free seminar in the near future if there is enough interest in the subject.

Lots of people hate the idea of putting their house on the market in the run up to Christmas. No one wants viewers looking round the house when the tree is taking up half the living room and presents are stuffed in every cupboard and hiding place.
The thing is though that Boxing Day and the few days before New Year is the time when lots of buyers hit the internet to search for a new home.
This year may be even busier with so many new ipads, netbooks etc. on the Santa wish list.
You don’t even have to get out of bed to look these days.
So why not get everything done, pictures taken and details prepared
ready to hit the ground running rather than wait till January.
We’ll even let you have a discount on our usual fee for houses listed in December.

I caught a BBC programme last night about half way through. It was about selling a house to a company offering a quick solution to anyone needing a sale without having to go through the usual estate agent route.
Scary stuff! Please remember that these companies know that you are desperate or you wouldn’t be phoning them.
The answer is just don’t do it!
There are other ways. The minute you look “vulnerable” you’ve lost it.