The Council Of Mortgage Lenders (CML) announce an increase in lending activity representing a modest recovery. The Department of Communities and Local Government (yes thats the name- really!) have released data showing UK house prices increased by 7.4% in February. In spite of this we all know theres a huge imbalance in the property market place and we need stable and reliable growth to occur throughout the full property price range not piecemeal targeting of its components. The bottom line is that we need lenders (the ones you bailed out) to lend more -So what about we focus them on these key areas -

STIMULATING GROWTH FROM FIRST TIME BUYERS  -  more than 75% of property sales in The UK are sub £250,000 so its good to introduce a temporary stamp duty break for First time buyers up to £250,000. However at the same time why allow banks and other lenders to insist borrowers stump up a quarter (25%) of the purchase price in ready cash? How ‘joined up’ is that?

GROWTH FROM THE MIDDLE  -  What the market needs is activity, particularly in the middle, yet there are loads of property sales and purchases that are being blocked by lenders. These are people who want to move, have a perfect payment record and do not want even need to increase their borrowing. They cannot move because they would not qualify for the same size mortgage again even with the same lender. Some might even want to reduce their borrowing and they are still unable to agree finance. If this huge sector of the market were able to move home more easily surely it would have a massive positive effect on the market.

So get on the phone to your local MP and get your views across. They will all be listening – up to May 6th anyway!

Labels: house price statistics, Stamp Duty