Useful Links

Previous Posts

Archives

Quick Move RSS Link Feed It!

Quick Move Blog

Friday, 18 December 2009

New Home Buyers Report

A new Home Buyers survey has been launched by RICS. The new homebuyer report is designed to provide clear, simple and easy-to-follow information about property condition.

The HomeBuyer Report reflects changes in the house buying and selling process. It’s concise, user-friendly format assists homebuyers in their decision by reporting condition, value, repairs and what further advice is needed.

The report provides colour-coded condition ratings, based on the state of repair of elements of the building. A green rating indicates no repairs are necessary, whilst red points to serious defects that require urgent attention.

The Home Buyers Report still highlights issues for legal advisors and identifies risks and hazards of the property, such as structural movement, damp and timber defects. The surveyor also provides their opinion of the current market value and insurance assessment.

The original Home Buyers Survey and Valuation is being phased out at the end of the year.

Buying a house can be a complicated and daunting process. To help you we have produced a home buyers guide.

posted by Quick Move at 10:35 0 comments links to this post

Share It!

Click here to return to blog home

Stamp Duty Holiday Ends

In an effort to assist the weak housing market a temporary stamp duty holiday was put in place for any property sales under £175,000.

This holiday is due to end on the 31st December 2009.

A combination of the higher threshold and falling prices has meant that thousands of house sales have been under the threshold. This has saved home buyers thousands of pounds in taxes and reduced buying costs significantly. With mortgage lenders requiring much larger deposits it has been fortunate that buyers have had more cash to put towards their deposit.

Although there is much debate about the impact of the stamp holiday there is no doubt that it has helped some buyers to scratch together a big enough deposit to secure a mortgage and buy a home.

So what does the future hold?

The thresholds will reset on 31/12/2009 to:
Up to £125,000Zero
Over £125,000 to £250,0001%
Over £250,000 to £500,0003%
Over £500,000 4%


According the Nationwide average house prices now stand at £162,038 which means stamp will now be payable on the majority of house sales.

Recent improvements in the housing market have been driven by cash rich home buyers and a lack of supply. If we are to return to a healthy and sustainable market, transactions will have to increase and “normal” mortgage dependent buyers need to start buying.

Unfortunately mortgage lending is still constrained and many buyers just cannot get together enough cash for the large deposits being demanded. The added cost of stamp duty will put huge numbers of buyers a step further away from being a home owner.

The change in stamp duty could really put the fledgling recovery at risk.

For more information about the home buyers' process read our guide.

posted by Quick Move at 09:18 0 comments links to this post

Share It!

Click here to return to blog home
Thursday, 10 December 2009

Mortgage Lending Hits 22 month High

Mortgage lending has hit a 22 month high, with 55,300 new mortgages granted in October. This is up 9% on September and up 43% on October 2008.

Lending to new buyers has doubled since January this year, which is encouraging for the housing market. Lending for remortgages remains low.

posted by Quick Move at 12:08 0 comments links to this post

Share It!

Click here to return to blog home