The Nationwide Building Society housing data for April reveals that house prices fell by just over one percent during April, taking them to a lower price point than the same time last year.
This latest house price fall takes the market to a position where, for the first time in ten years, there has been a year on year decrease. A Nationwide Building Society spokesman thought that the falling price of property showed how lack of affordability and more difficult access to mortgages was really pressing the market.
They also went on to say that, with the market falling as it has been doing it may prompt further base rate cuts by the Bank of England. The Nationwide Building Society figures show a steep fall in property transactions over the last six months or so and this latest data suggests something really needs to be done to stimulate activity once more.
In the future customers taking out an Alliance and Leicester mortgage will find a range of interest rates on offer depending on the amount of money they are putting down as a deposit.
Last week the Alliance and Leicester introduced their new stance on mortgages, with a maximum of 90 percent loan to value available. However they also introduced a lower rate when the customer can put down a 25 percent deposit, basically making it a more attractive proposition for the borrower and at the same time reducing their own risk exposure.
It has been argued that the 100 percent mortgages did a lot to create the housing market price increases, since people could simply borrow whatever was needed, without having to put down any of their own money. Those days are gone it seems, so the Alliance and Leicester stance may well be repeated by other lenders over the coming weeks.
Liverpool Victoria has just introduced a new Flexible Lifetime Mortgage, accessible to financial advisors through their existing systems.
The Liverpool Victoria mortgage allows customers aged between 60 and 95 to use equity in their property as a cash resource, drawing a minimum of GBP10,000 initially, then in increments of GBP2,000 up to the maximum loan to value amount. Financial advisors will be able to provide quotes for interested parties from their existing Assureweb systems, making it a quick and easy exercise.
Targeting the older end of the market this style of mortgage offered by Liverpool Victoria enables customers to access the value of their home when they may need it most and still retain ownership of the property.
