Source: http://www.findaproperty.co.uk Today sees the launch of a new guide called A Place to Live by the Trade Unions Congress, which covers the housing options available to young people from renting a bedsit through to buying their own home.The comprehensive guide contains information that many young people in search of their first home will find useful such as: *Advice on securing a mortgage *NUS checklist of inspecting a property *Different types of tenancies and rental accommodation available *Average costs from social rents though to first-time buyer mortgage payments *What to do if things go wrong *Various website and organisations to contact for further advice and information  TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber, says: "Housing costs take up a big chunk of most people's income so it is vital young people have all the information they need to make an informed choice about what will suit them best and what they can afford. "Unions believe that everybody should be able to have a decent home and the TUC is campaigning to improve the housing situation throughout the UK". The TUC's targets or fair housing include:*Three million new homes to be built before 2020 to beat the housing shortage *Making house building more environmentally friendly - and carbon neutral by 2016 *Ensuring there are sufficient mortgages available to kickstart the private housing sector *Modernising and repairing existing houses *Increasing the rate of social hosing built by local authorities and housing associations

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk Homeowners looking to remortgage could be facing valuations 30 per cent lower than their homes were worth in autumn 2007, when the market was at its peak - even though average prices have only fallen by around 15 per cent during this time. This harsh reality was revealed last week by Energy Reports and Surveys (ERS), the valuation arm of conveyancing giant LMS.  The widening gulf between homeowners' price expectations and the reality is down to growing numbers of forced sales or repossessions, which are pushing down estimates of what all homes are worth. ERS managing director Paul Staley says "To achieve a valuation for mortgage purposes, a valuer is required to take several factors into account: the area; the size and type of the home; and the guide sale price they have been given or the last valuation. But valuers will also need to find three comparable properties and what they recently sold for. And as there is virtually no activity on the open market, forced sales and repossessed homes being sold at auction are being thrown into this basket of averages,". One look at the most recent property market figures and it's easy to understand how "standard" valuations can be so skewed. Estate agents sold an average of 10.9 homes in the three months to October, according to the latest housing report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, which equates to little more than a dismal three a month. But the Council of Mortgage Lenders says repossessions are set to rise by 50 per cent this year. Ballooning repossession figures are becoming an issue for other sets of property statistics too. The Government's Land Registry figures, which are based on completed sales of homes, have been criticised as they exclude repossession sales at auction on the grounds that they do not reflect the "full market value" of the property.  Other house price indices, such as those from Nationwide and the Halifax, are based on approvals of mortgage valuations. These will factor in homes repossessed or sold quickly at auctions, as the valuation requires this "basket" of comparables. As a result, the Land Registry figures published on 28 November showed a 10.1 per cent annual fall in prices across England and Wales - considerably healthier than the indices from Halifax and Nationwide, which revealed prices dropping by 15 and 13.9 per cent respectively.  Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at broker John Charcol, says as well as finding new deals, managing valuation expectations on behalf of clients is becoming a more important role for mortgage brokers."Clients often come in with hazy ideas of what their home is worth," he says. "They may base their knowledge on a valuation they received from an estate agent last month, for example - but find that actually it's 10 per cent under this.  "Basically, even homeowners who have carried out research on house prices, and factored in what would seem an appropriate fall, could still find that their final valuation is a lot lower than they thought."

Source: http://www.homemove.co.uk Margaret Beckett delivered a written ministerial statement to the House of Commons on 8 December proposing to extend until 6 April 2009 the existing regulations which allow for a delay in providing a HIP and for transitional insurance cover expiry at the end of December 2008. Representing companies producing property search reports for HIPS, CoPSO maintains that it is in the interests of both consumers and searchers for the government to ensure that councils allow full access to property data. This allows private search companies to deliver a high quality product as quickly as possible, helping to smooth the house buying process. Mervyn Pilley, the chief executive of CoPSO, has warmly welcomed the announcement that the transitional arrangements will be extended until 6 April next year. He considers it a sensible move that will allow local authorities the chance to get their house in order and ensure that private search companies can have full and fair access to data. However, he says it is not a long-term solution. Mervyn Pilley considers that the government now needs to come down hard on those local authorities who are deliberately obstructing access in order to promote their own search products.  He maintains that it is in both the consumer's interest and the interests of CoPSO members to move away from the use of insurance provisions, which remain as an option of last resort. The simplest solution for all involved is for the government to ensure that local authorities provide unfettered access to all, allowing private search companies to help deliver a high quality product as soon as possible to the consumer.

Source: http://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk Advisers are being asked to challenge customers with regard to their preferences, particularly around any misconceptions they may have about which equity release product is the most suitable for their needs and circumstances.  Bridgewater are also concerned that non-specialist advisers are moving too quickly to accept a client's initial product preference instead of gathering the relevant information to make their recommendation.  It says there is a feeling that some advisers are telling clients what they want to hear rather than what they need to and that this could leave the client with an unsuitable product, particularly in the current climate.  The warning comes as the FSA's Lesley Titcomb stated last month that the regulator is keeping a close eye on equity release advisers, particularly those who have recently diversified into the sector. There is concern that some firms may not have sufficiently robust equity release advice and sales processes, and could therefore be offering unsuitable advice. Peter Welch, head of sales and distribution at Bridgewater Equity Release, says: "It is clear from the FSA's recent warning with regard to equity release advice that firms need to look at their advice processes and the way they handle customers in this sector.  "As a sector still defined as 'high risk', the likelihood is that the FSA will always take a keen interest in those who are advising in this area, particularly at a time when many firms are making their first forays into equity release.  "Customers who come to an equity release adviser will often have their own preconceived notion of which product is right for them, regardless of their risk profile, their current needs and circumstances and the result they want to achieve. The very best equity release advisers will show 'tough love' and are not uncomfortable questioning customers about difficult subjects while challenging their views in order to make sure the advice received is ultimately aligned to the customer's needs.  "Customers are much more likely to respect an adviser's bold recommendation when it is clearly the one best suited to managing their risks and giving the highest probability of meeting their needs and aspirations, even if it may not be the advice the customer 'emotionally' wants to hear.  "A key focus for Bridgewater throughout 2009 will be providing further education and information to those advisers who may be looking to enter the equity release sector for the first time or are intent on shoring up their firm's practices in this area.  "It is clear that those firms who do not take their responsibilities seriously will be doing their clients a major disservice and are therefore likely to find themselves firmly in the regulatory spotlight."

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk A surge in the cost of food, energy and home loans left 71 per cent of homeowners and tenants with less money to spend in September compared with the same month last year, and nearly one in three homeowners said that their disposable income had dropped by £100 or more each month, the Bank's quarterly report showed.  The financial crisis coupled with the worsening economic outlook has placed more pressure on borrowers, with 13 per cent of households reporting that they had found it difficult to meet their housing costs.  More than 40 per cent of households said that they were finding some difficulties in meeting one or more of all their household bills, with 6 per cent of homeowners saying that they had fallen behind with their payments.  Borrowers are also struggling to meet the cost of additional unsecured debts, nearly 15 per cent of consumers with credit cards or unsecured personal loans said that the debts were a heavy burden - the highest proportion since 1995.  The number of households owing money on unsecured loans rose to more than 50 per cent, up from 43 per cent in 2006. British consumers now owe an estimated £400 billion in unsecured loans, and a further £1.2 trillion on mortgages.  Hard-pressed consumers have been hit by the spiralling cost of energy, food and home loans. There were hopes that the aggressive cut in interest rates since September could ease the pressure on some homeowners as variable-rate mortgage bills fell, but lenders caused outrage when they failed to pass on the full rate cuts to borrowers.  HBOS, Britain's biggest lender, which has received billions in taxpayers' money, cut its standard variable rate (SVR) by only 0.25 percentage points this month, despite the Bank's 1 percentage point rate cut. A borrower with a £150,000 loan pegged to the SVR will be forced to pay £765 more a year than if the full rate cut had been passed on.  Government hopes that consumer spending, the engine room of the economy, could help to ease the country out of the recession were dented as the Bank report showed that more than half of households struggling to meet their bills were cutting back.  Fears among homeowners that they may not be able to access credit if they need it, because of the tighter lending practices by banks and building societies during the credit crunch, have also prompted more people to scale back their spending.  Recent figures from the high street indicate that the Government's 2.5 percentage point cut in VAT has so far failed to reignite consumer spending in the run-up to Christmas.  The report also revealed discussions at the Bank of England over whether to adjust the remit of the Monetary Policy Committee by changing the target measure of inflation to "core inflation", which strips out volatile food and energy prices. The current target measure, based on the consumer prices index, is 2 per cent, but some economists forecast that it will tumble below 0 per cent, raising fears of deflation. Panellists on a monetary policy round table argued that the switch would make it easier to measure the MPC's performance, since changes in the Bank base rate have a more direct impact on "core" inflation. But the suggestion was dismissed as it was not obvious that the policy would have changed the MPC's actions over the past year.