Normalising Interest Rates
February 11, 2015
In 2014, I had numerous discussions with fellow landlords and journalists about the perils of rising interest rates. It was also during 2014 that predictions for when base rate would begin to rise shifted from Spring 2014 to the current consensus of Spring 2016.
The historically low Bank Base Rate of 0.5% has kept mortgages relatively low for many householders throughout the latest UK recession and the fragile recovery which we are now experiencing. There is no doubt that this has kept a lid on repossessions […]
Average UK house prices rose by 7.2% in 2014 according to Nationwide. Throughout the year, it has been a North South divide story, prices have risen 17.8% in London, 10.6% in the South East and 9.8% in East Anglia. This compares with more modest rises of between 1 and 7% in Wales, the Midlands, the North and Scotland, where in many cases prices have still not recovered from their pre-2008 credit crunch […]
Ed Balls announcement of a mansion tax at the Labour party conference in September was widely expected. Little is known about the detail, only that properties valued over £2 million will face an annual tax with the aim of raising £1.2 billion in revenue to the Exchequer. Estimates of how many properties will be affected depend on your source: Savills suggest 97,000, Zoopla 108,000 and Knight Frank 110,000. One thing is certain, the vast majority of these properties will be in London – 87% according […]
Amid the gloom of proposals for landlord registration and licensing, longer tenancies, rent control and most recently legislation to stop retaliatory eviction – with all the usual media images of feckless landlords and tenants surrounded by mould – came one ray of sunshine this Autumn. The Resolution Foundation and Chartered Institute of Housing Report ‘More Than A Roof’ makes some refreshing proposals. Initially it recommends a national framework for landlord accreditation, nothing revolutionary in that. A fraction of the UK’s 1.4 million landlords […]
I spoke to The Times Bricks & Mortar journalist, Robin Ash, last week about the prospect of interest rate rises and how these might affect landlords. He thought it was paradoxical that there was a lot of activity in the buy to let lending market at the moment despite falling yields and the likely increase in lending costs. Latest NLA research backs up his sentiments that there is increased confidence among landlords. 62% say that prospects going forward are good and many ‘amateur’ landlords who […]