Questions to ask for first-time home buyers answered by Oportfolio Getting on the property ladder can feel like an impossible task. Although still a challenge for many, there is a lot of help available for first-time buyers to get a mortgage and their first home. Here...
Going to the gym helps you build your fitness and improve your endurance. Aside from the obvious physical benefits, the gym can also help your mental well being, by improving your mood, sleep, and brain function. When you’re living and working in London, life can be...
At the start of 2018 the Bank of England was warning that interest rates would almost certainly have to rise in order to keep pace with inflation and the Government’s economic targets. By August of that year, the threat of rising rates had receded and in the time...
There has been speculation in the national media in recent days that the Chancellor will use his Budget statement on March 3 to announce a 3-month extension to the Stamp Duty holiday. The initiative was introduced in July of last year to counteract the three-month...
With average house prices at their highest level for 7 years, many people are beginning to look ahead to the spring and summer and assessing their options when it comes to their current home. Recent data shows that average house prices ended 2020 at their highest...
One of the big dilemmas for people considering whether to take the plunge and buy a house or flat is whether they should do it now – and try to take advantage of the Stamp Duty (SDLT) holiday – or wait to see how the housing market settles into 2021. It’s a dilemma...
The decision during the last national lockdown to suspend Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) on house purchases up to £500,000 led to a spike in the housing market during last summer and early autumn. With just two months to go until that scheme is due to end on March...
We’re well and truly into 2021 now, but we could all be forgiven for having the very real sense that while the number might have changed, not much else has. The pre-Christmas tiered restrictions and now a second full national lockdown after a summer and autumn of...
I’m usually reluctant to make predictions about the UK housing market – there are too many variables to make gazing into a crystal ball remotely reliable, and the proof of that is there for all to see in the past 12 months! But understandably, people are more cautious...
It’s been quite a year for the housing market. A three-month moratorium on all new transactions during the spring was followed in early summer with an explosion in activity as lockdown was lifted and the market reopened. It really is time to look forward to Christmas!...
After the year we’ve had, it’s understandable that many people don’t want to take on the additional burden of a bigger mortgage to buy their dream home. As I’ve already explained in a previous article, if you do want to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday, which...
Almost exactly one year ago, I wrote an article which started with a question: How would you and your family cope if you suddenly found you were unable to work and earn a living? What would you do if you were no longer financially secure? Looking back, it seems almost...
There’s now just a little over four months to go before the Chancellor is due to slam the door shut on the Stamp Duty holiday that has saved homebuyers up to £15,000 in land tax since June this year. Recent figures from the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA)...
With the UK now formally in recession for the first time in 11 years, mortgage providers are inevitably becoming more circumspect in how they lend money for house purchases. And that means it’s becoming harder to secure the larger sums needed to move. As the Financial...
According to some reports this week, the first signs that the post-lockdown housing boom that began when the government opened up the housing market at the beginning of June 2020 has begun to give way to greater caution. According to the online housing news portal...
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