25/06/2007 by Damian.

Homeowners trying to sell three bedroom houses may have to provide their buyer with a home information pack as early as September 1, it was claimed yesterday. The packs, which include legal searches and the controversial energy efficiency assessment, were originally due to be required by the sellers of all houses from June 1 but this has been delayed until 1st August - and it will only affect properties with 4 or more Bedrooms.Now it has been claimed that the industry could be ready to expand the scheme to cover smaller homes as early as August, although it is more likely to come into force in September. The industry will have enough trained energy assessors in place by August to allow the government to announce that the scheme will be expanded to include three-bed properties as early as 1st September.

In May the government was forced to admit it had only 500 trained energy assessors instead of the 2,000 it said were required to make Hips work. Despite repeated assurances to the contrary by both ministers, the scheme looked doomed to failure particularly when several large property firms said they were pulling out of Hips.

A Communities Department spokesman confirmed the roll out of the scheme was dependent on the number of assessors ready to begin work.

Keep checking our blog for more on this ever changing subject!

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25/06/2007 by Damian.

Two of the country’s biggest lenders have pull their fixed rate deals.

Halifax has today hiked the rate on its top two-year fix from 5.49 per cent to 5.79 per cent, while Abbey’s deal has broken the 6 per cent barrier, rising from 5.99 per cent to 6.19 per cent last week.

Louise Cuming, head of mortgages at Moneysupermarket.com, a comparison site, said: “Borrowers needing the stability of a fixed rate product should reserve their next deal now if their mortgage term is coming to an end. Fixed rates appear to be going up – and fast.”

Fixed rates have been going up because the City expects the Bank of England to raise rates by another quarter point to 5.75 per cent this summer – possibly at next week’s meeting – and some commentators think they could even hit 6 per cent before the year is out.

Interest rates have already gone up four times in the past ten months from 4.5 per cent to 5.5 per cent, adding £166 a month to a £200,000 interest-only mortgage.

More than 800,000 borrowers face a £1 billion ‘payment shock’ in the coming months when fixed rates they took out two years ago end.

In summer 2005 the best fix was at 4.15 per cent but now borrowers will struggle to find fixes below 5 per cent.

George Buckley, chief UK economist at Deutsche Bank, said: “Homebuyers are in for a shock when their deals come to an end. Two years ago fixed rates offered outstanding value and the number taken out ballooned. Fixes are now around 1.1 percentage points higher than they were then, and are likely to rise further still.”

“The sharp rise in payments faced by borrowers will almost certainly put downward pressure on house price inflation and could also slow consumer spending as households struggle to absorb the extra costs”.

Portman has a two-year fix at 5.29 per cent with a £1,499 fee. You must have a 5 per cent deposit. Meanwhile, Stroud & Swindon has a five-year deal at 5.59 per cent, while Newcastle has a ten-year scheme at just 5.5 per cent.

Cuming said: “Borrowers may not be aware they can reserve a mortgage at the current rate for up to six months.”

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