Buyer demand continues to outstrip available Property supply
No one can have failed to notice the rise in house prices and the rush to buy property, particularly since the lockdown eased. Reports from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) tell us that…
Escape to the country?
…there has been a growing trend, particularly among city dwellers with restricted access to open space, to look at moving to the country….
Spring Budget Announcement – Stamp Duty Holiday Extended
The UK chancellor Rishi Sunak has extended a stamp duty holiday in England and Northern Ireland in his 2021 Budget, as well as unveiling new mortgages with just 5% deposits. The upper threshold for stamp duty, which is a tax on property transactions in England and Northern Ireland, will remain at £500,000 until 30 June […]
Help to Buy Legal Extension
The current Help to Buy scheme (2013-2021) will end on 31 March 2021, but homebuyers using the current scheme will have more time to complete their purchase. The Government has extended the legal completion to 31 May 2021 due to delays caused by Coronavirus. This allows an extra 2 months for home builders to complete the build and […]
How long would you be able to continue paying your bills if you lose an income?
Legal and General (L&G) recently published their Deadline to Breadline 2020 research, it revealed that the average household is just 24 days from the breadline…. read on to find links to calculate..
The Return of the 10% Deposit
More of the biggest UK Mortgage lenders have indicated that they will be returning to 90 per cent Loan To Value mortgages from next week which is a huge help for first time buyers struggling to save a deposit. Many lenders withdrew mortgage deals allowing a low deposit during the first lockdown as worries […]
Moving Home during Lockdown
Further to the Prime minister’s announcement of a national lockdown in England, you may be wondering if home moving plans are able to go ahead. People are still able to move home. However, those outside of the household or support bubble should not help with moving to a new house unless absolutely necessary. Estate and […]
Extraordinary times call for more Self-Care
In these difficult and uncertain times it’s important, more than ever, to look after yourself.
When you think about it, if you don’t make time for your wellness, you will be forced to make time for illness.
How to keep your home move going
If you’re in the middle of selling your home at the moment, or you’re thinking of putting your house up for sale, you’re might be wondering what the effect of the latest lockdown is having on your move………
Gazumping. What does it really mean and how can you avoid it?
After months of property searching and finding the perfect home, getting an offer accepted can be just the start……what is gazumping and how to avoid it.
St Elizabeth Hospice Virtual Midnight Walk
Just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has signed up or transferred their place over to the St Elizabeth’s Hospice Virtual Midnight walk from all of us here at Bluebell Mortgages.
Fast track Approval to Extend your Home
Anyone who has tried to expand a family home will know that trying to obtain planning permission can be a minefield. Now, due to planning laws that came into force last month, adding a bedroom or conservatory will be much easier. From the end of August, a new law offers homeowners the ability to supersize […]
Time to Buy?
Summer is usually a quieter time for house sales, but following the COVID-19 pandemic July saw a massive £37 billion worth of property transaction as sales &…….
Ready to Sell?
Following the stamp duty holiday, many homeowners are racing ahead with plans to move to a new property. If that’s you, you might be wondering how you…….
Financial Protection
Many people overestimate their financial security, the average UK employee only has enough savings to last them 32 days if their current income stopped……
Keep Calm & Carry On
Research by Simplyhealth has revealed Britain’s “keep calm and carry on” culture, coupled with lengthy wait times for treatment and lack of access to healthcare, could be having a detrimental impact on the nation’s health, with mental wellbeing in particular a key area of concern.
Cash in the Attic
Homeowners looking to convert their loft can expect to add an average of £11,000 to the price of their home, a new study has revealed. The latest research from Halifax found that on average people who have recently carried out home improvements report an average……..
Credit Control
New research from Barclays has revealed that 63 per cent of Brits admit they struggle to stay in control of their spending, with 39 per cent spending on unnecessary items simply out of boredom….in a bid to keep temptation at bay………….
Insurance for Renters
A recent study from Sainsbury’s Bank reveals that renters are significantly less likely to have life insurance or critical illness cover, with just 26% of renters taking out a policy in comparison to 41% of homeowners…….
People who Care
Owning a home is a common life milestone and something many British people prepare for. But figures released for Carers Rights Day reveal the stark reality that the average person can just as likely expect to become an unpaid carer for someone who is older, disabled or seriously ill – something that few people are prepared for.
Calling Dr. Google
How does the ease of using Google influence many of us in diagnosing illness? That’s a question Kolabtree posed in a survey to consumers to measure the impact of Google and new developments such as the NHS integration in Amazon’s Alexa.
Budget Night Out
The latest Deltic Night Index, a quarterly report published by nightclub operator The Deltic Group, looking at the changing consumer habits in the UK’s evening and late-night leisure sector details the habits of 2,300 people and reveals that they are spending a significant sum on a good night out. Respondents to the survey spend……..
Premium Park Life
Known as Britain’s breathing spaces, house prices in national parks are on average almost £128,000 more expensive than equivalent properties in surrounding counties…..click to read blog…2 min read.
Stories that matter
Macmillan, the Cancer Charity has released a report which uses personal stories to communicate the financial impact of the disease….
Helping to Buy
The Help to Buy Scheme has increased home ownership and housing supply. The scheme was in April 2013 to increase both home ownership and boost housing supply, by helping people to get mortgages and thereby, create more new-build homes……
Shopping is Child’s Play
As the decline of the UK’s once-bustling high streets continues to be a concern, research from Nationwide Building Society reveals a quarter of children (26%) don’t even know what one is. But the resounding message is clear – children value the experience of shopping locally, with 74 per cent stating they would rather spend £10 […]
Hope over reality
New research from AIG Life reveals 18.3 million people are living with what it has termed ‘illness denial’, as they are failing to accept they are at risk of disease or developing a serious medical condition in their lifetime. More than half (54 per cent) of people don’t believe they will suffer from cancer, stroke […]
Holiday Dependents
Two in five (42%) grandparents were relied upon to provide childcare during the school holidays, according to new research by Lloyds Bank….
Home Movers
The number of people moving home increased for the first time in three years in the first half of 2019. There were 160,540 home-movers in the first half of 2019, up by 810 (1%) compared with the same period in 2018 according to analysis by Lloyds Banking Group……
Leaving until the last minute costs you more…..
Research from Nationwide Building Society’s Payday Save day campaign reveals procrastination is costing people an average of £449 each year or almost…..click to read
Pensioner Power
Did you know that each person in the UK spent on average around £2 a week buying plants and flowers last year – 15 per cent more than at the turn of the century……
Pick ‘n’ Mix
UK consumers are taking a ‘pick n mix’ approach to how they make payments, with mobile banking, mobile payments and contactless all becoming increasingly popular, research by UK Finance has revealed…..
Multi-Generation Family
Barclays Mortgages has revealed how three in ten homeowners are now living in intergenerational homes, with likely causes being millennials moving back in with their parents and an increasingly ageing population.
Cashing Out!
The Access to Cash Review recently published its final recommendations calling on the Government, regulators and banks to act now or risk leaving millions behind……..
Sandwich Carers
“Sandwich carers”, those who care for both sick, disabled or older relatives and dependent children, are more likely to report symptoms of mental ill-health, feel less satisfied with life, and struggle financially compared with the general population. That’s the conclusion of the Office for National Statistics in its latest study into the Health & Wellbeing of the UK.
Spending Habits
In its latest review of the spending habits of the UK population, the Office for National Statistics found that the average weekly household expenditure was £572.60 in the financial year ending 2018…
The Big Six Life Goals
Anyone planning how to meet their big life dreams in 2019 take note: the best things in life are very much not free. That’s if your aspirations are on the conventional side, anyway. Royal London, the mutual insurer has calculated that the main life goals of going to university, buying a house, getting married, having […]
Retired Property Wealth
Retired homeowners released £3.6 billion in new property wealth last year as new data from Key Retirement Solutions revealed. Equity from people’s homes paid out nearly £10 million a day in 2018 with customers releasing an average £76,500 to improve their standard of living in retirement. The statistics indicate that the number of customers using […]
Sick Pay
Official figures show a million workers are off sick for more than a month every year, with new Royal London research showing half (52%) of workers would worry about their income if they were to become too ill to work for longer than a month.
Average Time to sell a house
It takes, on average, 102 days to sell a property in the UK according to the latest Post Office Money City Rate of Sale report. The report, developed with the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), looks at…..click to read more
Healthy Heart
Public Health England (PHE) is calling for adults across the country to take a free, online Heart Age Test, which will provide an immediate estimation of their ‘heart age’.
New £50 Note
Following HM Treasury’s announcement last week, the Bank of England confirmed that it plans to issue a new £50 note. This will be the final note in the latest series, all of which will be printed on polymer….
HMO Warning
With an extension of the rules bringing a wider range of houses in multiple occupation (HMO) into the mandatory licensing regime which came into effect on 1 October, landlords must now apply for a licence……
High Cost of Renting
People in their 20s who want to rent a place for themselves face having to pay out an “unaffordable” amount in two-thirds of Britain, BBC research shows…….click to read more
Time to Remo
According to UK Finance (the trade body representing high street banks) re-mortgaging continued to dominate in August as homeowners took advantage of….click to read full article
Financial Resilience
Millions of UK adults do not feel financially resilient and would not be able to manage a financial shock or loss of income, according to a new report by Zurich UK. Developed with neuroscientist Dr. Jack…..click to read more
Back to School
Providing their children with a good education is a priority for most parents and is often on the list of key considerations for families looking to decide where to live.
While there is most definitely a premium attached to some neighbourhoods surr……click to read
Looking for ways to boost the value of your home? Here’s how….
Research from the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) and the HomeOwners Alliance (HOA) has shown that homeowners could add almost £50,000 to the value of their home in just a week…….
Can you boost your rental yields?
Research from Simple Land Lord Insurance has shown that landlords may be missing out on some of the highest rental yields in the property market. It has become clear that only 1 in 5 landlords are willing to rent to students, but should student housing be your next property investment? The research has shown […]
Interest Rates Go Up….how does it affect you?
If you have a mortgage that is a ‘Base Rate Tracker’ your mortgage repayment will go up by approximately £25 per £100,000 of the mortgage interest owing. You will not pay more if you have a ‘fixed rate’ mortgage, although when the fixed rate is finished your repayment may increase. If you have savings, there […]