Good news for those looking to buy property comes in the shape of some Nationwide Building Society mortgage rates being reduced.
Home loan borrowers will enjoy reduced rates on both tracker mortgages and those on the variable base rate, helping get a foot on the housing ladder. A Nationwide Building Society spokesman explained that this is a passing on of the full base rate cut provided by the Bank of England. As a society they always aim to do the best for their members.
The reduced rates are not being carried through to Nationwide Building Society fixed rate mortgages though, since they are operating in slightly different conditions. For these types of mortgage the rate is actually going up, though the benefit of having the rate fixed for a period of time is certainly worth paying a little extra for.
Sales of property with values over GBP1 million went up by 36 percent in 2007 compared with the previous year according to Halifax data.
There were over 8,250 sales of million pound plus properties, with over three quarters of them being in the south east of England and London. The largest increase in sales of million pound properties was in Scotland, where the measured increase by the Halifax was 138 percent. This was followed closely by the north east of England, with a 136 percent increase.
The south east has always had strong property values, said a Halifax representative, so it is not surprising to see it heading the number of sales list. It is also notable that rising property prices nationwide have driven up these type of sales further afield.
According to new research many homeowners are not taking an active role in understanding and managing their mortgage.It has become clear that many homeowners do not understand the fundamentals of their mortgage and this is stopping them to achieving savings.Many homeowners tend to forget about their mortgage deal and just see it as a one off purchase to aid in them buying a property. But they are in fact missing out on saving a lot of money by not taking a more active role to learn and understand fully about mortgages. Research found that a large majority of mortgage payers did not even know what interest rate they were currently paying on their mortgage deal. This lack of interest by these homeowners could cost them a fortune in years to come if they do not take more interest in their finances. Knowing when to switch mortgages deals at the right time to get a lower rate of interest can save homeowners thousands of pounds. See our mortgage comparison table for more information or our guides and tips pages.
