News Review - June 9th 2009

This week's updates cover a bit of bank bashing, the return of the first time buyer and, for the more technical out there, some detailed analysis of the current economic picture.

The events calendar on the website has also now been updated to show you all of the property networking events we know about across the UK.

Latest News

Buy-to-let borrowers warned about lenders' tactics. The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) has warned buy-to-let borrowers that lenders may try to change their borrowing rates as property values fall. Make sure you check the small print on your deals.

Mortgage rates are becoming increasingly decoupled from LIBOR and the Base Rate. Banks are making ever widening margins at the borrowers expense. In light of the first article about sneaky buy-to-let tatics, the taxpayer bailout, Goodwin-gate and so on... it's all starting to become a bit hard to swallow.

But then, having messed things up so royally, you can see why they need to do it...Banks are potentially going to be faced with £100bn of losses on commercial property which is expected to halve in value from peak prices according to Jones Lang LaSalle. In the context of the huge sums being bandied around these days, it's easy to lose perspective on how much money this is, but it's more than the entire market cap of RBS, Barclays and Lloyds combined!

Enough bank bashing (for now), first time buyers look to be well and truly back in the market with some great fixed rate deals at up to 90% LTV and trackers up to 95%. Mortgage brokers say that the FTB market will really pick up in the next two months.

The acute shortage of homes for sale has begun to support house prices, according to RICS.Estate Agents have reported that buyer registrations at the highest level since August 1999.

For the more technical amongst you, this is an excellent analysis of the UK housing market at the moment - lots of graphs and very well informed comment.

If you like that sort of thing, then this report on the UK economy as a whole at the moment - including the housing sector - is also well worth a read.

On a lighter note, here are 'the 10 worst property investments ever'. If you're having a bit of a tough time with your portfolio at the moment, these ought to make you feel a bit better!

Useful Links

Don't forget to check out our list of this month's property events here.

Check out the Tax Insider website here - I've just subscribed and the tips and advice have been well beyond my expectations. Don't just rely on your accountant, to minimise your tax bill, you need to educate yourself too.