News Archive - Nov 2007 - Buildstore

Homeowners looking to get into the festive spirit have been warned that displaying lights on the exterior of their houses risk reducing their chances ...

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has said that the slump in mortgage lending reported by the Bank of England earlier this week is in fact a s...

Home information packs (Hips) will help first-time buyers in their effort to get onto the property ladder by lowering costs, HipHipHooray.com has sa...

Scottish Widows has said that property can still provide a useful alternative contingency fund to pensions, but has warned that this option naturall...

Just two in five borrowers view mortgage fees as a key factor in their mortgage deliberations, according to a new study from Moneysupermarket.com....

House prices fell by 0.8 per cent in November, Nationwide has revealed – but the lender has said that the fluctuations currently being seen in th...

Shared ownership schemes may offer first-time buyers an invaluable chance to get onto the housing ladder but they are not the right choice for all pro...

Many mortgage borrowers are still eager to take out long-term fixed-rate mortgages despite the fact that interest rates are poised to fall, Abbey Mo...

House prices in England and Wales rose by just 0.1 per cent last month in a sign that the housing market is continuing to soften, the Land Registry ...

Britons have been warned that both arrangement and application fees could hit them on their latest deals due to lenders'' increased propensity to char...

Three quarters of Britons do not understand how much they could save from a one per cent reduction in their mortgage rate, research from Nationwide ...

Not a single buyer at Knight Frank Winchester has asked to see a home''s Home information pack (Hip) before completing a deal, the property consulta...

The London Housing Federation (LHF) has said that the London housing market has been split in two, with many now completely unable to afford a home in...

The average price of a new home rose by 0.7 per cent in October as new builds bounced back from an autumnal slowdown, it has been revealed. SmartNewH...

Construction workers from abroad are a vital part of the UK building industry , the Home Builders Federation (HBF) has said. A shortage of UK constr...

Mform.co.uk has said that remortgaging is an option that should be considered even by borrowers on "relatively modest loans ". The online ...

The housing market is continuing to slow down as buyers become more apprehensive of future price movements, new research from Hometrack has found. Pr...

Existing homeowners may look to renovations and conversions to boost the value of their home as house prices begin to slowdown, according to one firm'...

Almost three quarters of all graduate buyers now purchase property with a member of their family, a friend or a partner, Scottish Widows has reveale...

A new study from Alliance & Leicester has revealed that making a home carbon neutral can cost more than £9,000. The firm''s research has fou...

The government''s aim of building 240,000 new homes a year by 2016 is "achievable", according to a major new report on the proposals. The C...

Home information packs (Hips) will be a mandatory part of the process of selling a home from December 14th onwards, the government has announced. The...

Eco-friendly alterations to properties will play an increasingly important role in coming years - from a financial as well as an environmental point o...

The government should look for more zero-carbon homes to be built straight away if it wants to ensure that housebuilding levels are not jeopardised in...

Regional Assemblies are failing to provide the levels of investment required to boost the stock of affordable rural housing, the Commission for Rural ...

Gross mortgage lending rose in October despite the country being preoccupied with the effects of the credit crisis, figures from the Council of Mor...

Many young Britons are still confident that they will be able to get onto the housing ladder sooner rather than later, but they will soon become more ...

The Bank of England has published minutes from the latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, and while just two members voted for an interest ra...

The Town and Country Planning Institute (TCPA) has said that the government''s Planning Reform Bill should focus on promoting a collaborative spirit b...

The National Grid has announced that it expects to make a decision on whether or not it is to sell its land assets by the end of the year. The grou...

First-time buyers are taking on second and even third jobs in an effort to raise enough money to buy a home of their own, new research from Abbey Mor...

First-time buyers who believe they are saving themselves money in the long-run by saving for a larger deposit may find that this is not the case, it h...

The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has said that the government''s much-vaunted eco-towns plan does not address the real problem when it comes to...

Borrowers who opt for standard variable rate (SVR) mortgage deals may be paying over the odds by as much as £2,550 a year, new research from mf...

House prices in London have continued to rise despite the rest of the country seeing growth fall back in November. That is according to the latest Ri...

A window of opportunity is now opening up for first-time buyers - but it will be slammed shut again if they do not do sufficient research, it has been...

The government has published a new Bill which it hopes will prove to be a major step in the quest to speed up the supply of housing in the UK and henc...

According to the bank''s latest house price monitor, prices in Scotland rose by 3.6 per cent in the three months to the end of October, with the annua...

The average farmland price rose by some 33.2 per cent over the last 12 months, new research from Knight Frank has found – the highest growth rate...

Buyers in the south-east of England wait the longest amount of time between having an offer accepted and completion of their purchase, a new study fro...

Period alterations to modern properties should be made with one eye on the environment, according to the National Home Improvement Council (NHIC). Wi...

Period alterations to modern properties should be made with one eye on the environment, according to the National Home Improvement Council (NHIC). Wi...

The continued effects of the credit crunch have resulted in one in every four mortgage deals being affected by tighter lending conditions, GE Money ...

Renting a property is still more expensive than buying a home, new research from Abbey has revealed, even if the gap is now closing fast. The finan...

Computer software could be the key to development successful green buildings, it has emerged. Autodesk''s new software aids green building design b...

Britain''s house prices are cooling, according to the latest research by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics). Prices are decreasing t...

Cambridge authorities could receive £790 million worth of funding from the government for the development of affordable homes, it has emerged. ...

Properties in most easterly areas of England could be at risk of the effects of climate change if due consideration is not given to environmental proj...

Some of the biggest cities in Wales are relying too heavily on flats as opposed to houses in their building plans, a university professor has said. F...

Borrowers who have heeded recent industry recommendations and taken out a long-term mortgage have been advised that they may be liable for large f...

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has revealed that housing market sentiment among its members fell at the fastest rate since July 2...

House prices rose by just 0.3 per cent in September as the market continued the softening trend seen over the summer, the Department of Communities an...

Borrowers can make substantial savings by changing mortgage provider but should still be aware of the impact of hidden fees on their overall outlays...

Home information packs (Hips) are not responsible for the slowdown in the housing market seen over the past few months, the Association of Home Inform...

A new study from HotProperty.co.uk has found that a significant proportion of Britons feel that the government''s changes to the inheritance tax thres...

More than a third of all UK homeowners are unaware whether or not their home stands on a contaminated brownfield site or not, according to new resea...

The increase in the number of first-time buyers relying on their parents for help in getting onto the property ladder has made downsizing attractive...

Commuter towns such as Milton Keynes and Hemel Hempstead are becoming more popular with Londoners who have been priced out of owning a home of their o...

Research conducted by adverts website Gumtree suggests that the average Briton spends around £525 every year on improving their home. However, i...

House price growth is likely to be positive for the foreseeable future, it has been claimed. The latest Halifax house price index shows house prices ...

The monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Bank of England has elected to maintain interest rates at 5.75 per cent. Many analysts expected the decisi...

Older properties are significantly less energy efficient than more modern homes or new-builds, the Home Builders Federation (HBF) has warned. With t...

A report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) suggests that it is likely that house prices will increase at a faster rate than consumer price inflation o...

The Bank of England need to bring down interest rates in order to keep the housing market moving, a spokesperson for a leading house builder has sai...

Proposals to increase the number of houses built by 2020 have been welcomed by the Home Builders Federation (HBF). In her speech to the nation, the Q...

House builders should find it easier to met environmental targets following a government announcement that guidance is to be reformed. The so-called ...

Lenders who act more cautiously following the credit crunch will help the market return to normality, though this process will take a considerable amo...

The current market uncertainty has meant that many mortgage lenders are now uncertain of how they should price their products, Alexander Hall has sa...

Eight in ten Britons say they would incorporate environmentally-friendly features into their property were they to embark upon a self-build project....

Britons are now no longer able to view online versions of mortgage deeds and leases following the completion of the Land Registry''s three-month r...

Barratt Homes has said that it is to target brownfield developments in a sign that its priorities have shifted from its traditional greenfield project...

Suggestions that new build properties are losing value should be reassessed in light of local market dynamics, the Home Builders Federation (HBF) has ...

A new study by Halifax has revealed that more than a quarter of Britons have had disputes with their neighbours in the past, with noise still the most...

House prices in central London are now rising at their slowest rate for two years as the housing market continues to cool, Knight Frank has said. Pri...

Listed properties are not completely untouchable when it comes to making home improvements, the Listed Property Owners Club (LPOC) has said. While ...

A fall in the number of mortgage enquiries made in the last quarter of the year has not been accompanied by a drop in first-time buyer (FTB) numbers...

Half of all Britons believe that the mass-construction of property around the country is resulting in ''characterless'' homes, a new study from More...

Armagh in Northern Ireland has recorded the strongest house price growth seen in the UK over the past five years, according to a new study from Halifa...

The ten eco-towns planned by the government will fail unless they take into account existing communities and planning procedures, the Campaign to Prot...

Just one in ten buyers of a three or four-bed property is bothering to read the contents of the Home information pack (Hip) that now comes as standa...

Nearly half of all consumers are concerned about their ability to get a good mortgage deal in the light of the credit crunch, new research from GE M...

Moneyfacts.co.uk has revealed that the bigger name brands are not offering the most competitive mortgage deals, with building society products domin...