News Archive - Sep 2007 - Buildstore

House prices rose by 0.2 per cent in August, the Land Registry has advised, an increase on growth seen in July but nonetheless one that was taken as...

House prices will not fall sharply in the coming months, contrary to some market speculation, Savills has advised. The firm has said that the UK pro...

Rural land prices reached the highest levels on record in the first half of 2007, boosted by a variety of interest at home and abroad as well as gre...

Yvette Cooper has said that housing must become "the progressive struggle of the 21st century," and has announced an £8 billion fund fo...

Borrowers struggling to finance their efforts to get onto the housing ladder will still be able to get a mortgage from somewhere despite a much-pu...

The partially-complete launch of Home Information Packs (Hips) is furthering inequality in the housing market, the Association of Home Information Pac...

House price growth surprisingly accelerated once more in September, the latest Nationwide House Price Index has shown, though longer-term trends and t...

Britain''s over-60s have more than £840 billion tied up in their homes, a new study from Norwich Union reveals, but over two thirds are content t...

The Bank of England has published a largely positive credit conditions survey, revealing that the availability of credit is set to be stronger than ha...

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has been accused of double standards over the way it has brought legal action against the governme...

The majority of homes in the UK with three or more bedrooms are ranking towards the bottom of the energy efficiency scale, according to one Home infor...

Poor building practices are to blame for many UK properties'' poor energy efficiency ratings, it has been advised. Monthly environmental journal the ...

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) should move fast to act against lenders who are reportedly encouraging borrowers to lie about their incomes in ...

Sustainable self-build schemes are growing in popularity as the UK wakes up to the fact that all new homes will need to be carbon-neutral by 2016, it ...

The prime minister has announced that he is to double the number of ''eco-towns'' planned for the UK as the government takes steps to help house more ...

Britons looking to renovate their home in order to add value should bear in mind their property ''s existing price bracket before embarking upon such...

The problems seen at Northern Rock over the past few weeks have been largely confined to savings accounts and are unlikely to see customers'' mortgage...

Gordon Brown has moved to defend Labour''s record on housing, saying that almost two million more homeowners have been created courtesy of a climate o...

The number of homes worth at least £1 million being sold on the UK property market has seen a near-threefold increase over the past five years,...

The credit crunch has had a limited impact on the wider mortgage market, with first-time buyers similarly unaffected at this stage, the Council of ...

The mayor unveiled his housing strategy earlier this week, emphasising the importance of providing affordable housing and the recognition of the help ...

The private sector must do more to commit to the government''s environmentally-friendly construction targets if a key objective is to be met on time, ...

More than three quarters of sellers are looking to avoid paying for Home information packs (Hips) before the sale of their property has gone through...

Gross mortgage lending fell by six per cent last month, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has said, down to £32.2 billion from £34.1...

A developers '' summit will be held in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham later this month in an effort to outline future housing strategy ...

House prices continued to reach new heights in the north-east of England last year, the North East Regional Information Partnership (Nerip) has reveal...

More Britons are unsatisfied with their new properties as a result of fears first brought on by estate agent practices, AA Home Insurance has sugges...

Abbey has surprised the mortgage sector by unveiling a new 125 per cent mortgage , the highest secured loan product on the market. The lender, whi...

The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) has said that millions of Britons may not get the homes they need by 2020 unless hous...

The Bank of England''s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) all voted in favour of freezing rates at 5.75 per cent last month, it has been revealed, raisin...

The cost of buying and moving into a new home now takes up 30 per cent of homeowners'' annual income, GE Money Home Lending has said. The research co...

The building industry will face a major skills shortage in the coming years, a new report has found. Research from Arup reveals that landscape arch...

London mayor Ken Livingstone has announced the latest phase of his planning strategy for the capital as part of an effort to increase the provision of...

Interest rates have almost certainly reached the top of their current cycle now that inflation has fallen from 1.9 per cent to 1.8 per cent, analysts ...

The "ingrained desire" to own a home and the belief that house prices will rise in the long-term, if not for the rest of this year, means th...

The housing market picked up again in August on the back of more buyers and sellers coming to market, the National Association of Estate Agents (NAE...

An increasing number of female investors are turning to the buy-to-let sector, buoyed by strong returns and the chance to renovate a property , new r...

The Financial Services Authority (FSA), the Bank of England and Northern Rock itself have all moved to reassure worried borrowers over the future of t...

The number of properties with four or more bedrooms being put on the market fell by 41 per cent in September as the arrival of mandatory Home informat...

The British Property Federation (BPF) has moved to clarify perceptions of what constitutes brownfield and green belt land following the government...

Halifax has become the latest lender to raise some of its mortgage rates in response to the ongoing credit crunch taking place across the globe. Br...

The government has revealed plans to provide around £500 million worth of funding to help quicken the pace of house building across the country. ...

Housing and planning minister Yvette Cooper has revealed that the government is making good progress with its plans to locate disused public sector l...

The number of first time buyers getting a foot on the property ladder fell for the ninth month in a row in August, according to the Royal Institutio...

The National Grid has said that it is looking into selling around 3,000 acres of land that could subsequently be used for housing developments, it h...

This week''s surprising developments in the UK mortgage market are a sign that the sector is undergoing significant changes, it has been suggested. ...

Recruitment shortages in the construction industry have been at an all-time high since 2005, the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has said. The ...

The new homes agency and social housing regulator proposed in a new governmental housing paper must support local authorities in their efforts to impr...

The Bank of England may have kept the base rate of interest at 5.75 per cent for the second month in succession, but mortgage costs are set to rise ...

The average four bedroom property in the UK is receiving an ''E'' grade under the new Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) scheme, the Department of...

A continued shortage of land that can be built on around the UK has caused "misery" for Britons who consequently find themselves faced wit...

Website mform.co.uk has said that borrowers should be aware of the risk of being hit by non-refundable fees from lenders following the publication of ...

Mortgage lending fell in July as affordability problems began to make themselves felt, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported. The CM...

Self-build has taken off to such an extent that it is now responsible for one in eight of all new homes being built, Standard Life Bank has advised. ...

Confusion over interest rates and a belief that house price growth could slow down next year is seeing more would-be homeowners hold off from making a...

Urban developments have effects that are felt far beyond their physical boundaries, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has said, with half o...

Home information packs (Hips) are now required for all sellers looking to put a home with three or more bedrooms on the market, but the packs have con...

The Department for Local Communities and Government (DCLG) has reported that price inflation rose again in July, but analysts have suggested that such...

More Britons are turning to home improvements in order to add more value to their property , this year''s Halifax Home Improvement Survey reveals, wi...

The average price of a home in the UK is now £224,930, the FT Acadametrics house price index shows, with London again behind the rise in prices. ...

More first time buyers are prepared to compromise on the location of their home and then add value to the property via renovation and extensions, ...

Continual increases in London house prices have been fuelled by a "never-ending circle" made up of buy-to-let investors eager to invest in ...

Government proposals intending to make it easier for homeowners to renovate and extend their own properties could also prove to be beneficial for larg...

The Land Registry has said that its project to create a comprehensive database of UK land is progressing well. Around 60 per cent of all land i...

Interest rates will remain at 5.75 per cent this month, the Bank of England has advised – the second consecutive month that the base rate has bee...

Nationwide has said that a quarter of a million borrowers are set to suffer when their two year fixed-rate deals mature, and has suggested that remort...

The string of television shows now dedicated to property renovation and decoration have made homeowners aware of the number of home improvement pos...

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has revealed that the cost of buying a home has worsened by 8.4 per cent in the 12 months to the s...

The average price of a home in the UK is on the verge of breaking through the £200,000 barrier, according to the latest house price index from Ha...

Five interest rate rises in six months have hit price growth but not buyer demand across the market as a whole, the latest study from Haart estate ag...

The Environment Agency has announced that it is to sell land to a developer in a move that will help the government''s plans to build more sustainab...

A new study from the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has revealed that the town of Beverley, Yorkshire, is the UK location that best combines affordabili...

The housing market will not see a sharp drop off in prices, but rather a slow descent into single figure growth, Rightmove has predicted. The proper...

Energy efficient technologies found in eco homes typically lead to a better quality of life for homeowners, it has been suggested. Developer Ecos Hom...

Turmoil on the world''s financial markets should ensure that the Bank of England does not raise interest rates in the near future, analysts have sugge...

Last week a study from Zurich Insurance found that 14 per cent of home movers said they changed location in order to get involved in the decorating ...

A higher cost of living has meant that Britons are increasingly dipping into their savings in order to prop up other expenses, according to new resear...