mortgage news

Consumer borrowing in the UK decreased for the fifth month in the row, figures from the Bank of England have revealed although mortgage approvals have increased to their highest level since March 2008.

A total of 60,518 mortgages were approved in November, up from 57,718 on the previous month but consumer borrowing continued to struggle, with borrowing on unsecured loans once again seeing a fall.

A monthly report released by Rightmove has shown that asking prices fell by more than £5,000 in the last month as sellers who have problems with payments and rising interest rates continue to cause problems within the housing market.

It’s been twelve months since nationalised bank Northern Rock started sending out letters to customers, advising them to move their business elsewhere as it tried to reduce its mortgage book and repay its debt to the government.

For some customers, this was easier said than done. Despite better mortgage loans available elsewhere, to leave the bank customers would still have to pay a penalty charge for moving before completing the fixed term agreement.

House prices in the UK have fallen by almost 15% compared to 12 months ago, according to Nationwide.

The building society’s latest survey claims that property prices fell by 1.4% in the last month, meaning that prices have fallen by 14.6% when compared to October 2007.

That means that the average UK house price stands at £158,872 – a fall of nearly £30,000.

Nationwide, who are the first major lender to report on the state of the housing market, claimed that the falls were being fuelled by a drop in sales, with property purchases at their lowest level for 34 years.

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