Housing market activity bounced back during March with a 25% jump in the number of mortgages advanced to people buying a property, figures have shown.

Around 45,000 mortgages were lent for house purchase during the month, up from 36,000 in February, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

The increase suggests the housing market is regaining momentum following a subdued start to the year due to the end of the stamp duty holiday and January's severe winter weather.

Lending for house purchase was 45% higher than it had been in March 2009, the ninth consecutive month of year-on-year growth.

But only 112,000 loans were advanced during the whole of the first quarter, down from 171,000 during the three months to the end of December.

However, the CML stressed that no trend could be inferred from this, as the figures were distorted by people rushing through transactions on lower value properties before the stamp duty holiday ended.

First-time buyer activity rebounded quicker than that for home movers during March, with 17,300 first-time buyers taking out a mortgage during the month, 27% more than in February.

A further 27,500 mortgages were taken out by former owner-occupiers, 24% up on the previous month's figure.

Overall, advances to all people purchasing a property totalled £6.3 billion during March.

Source: Press Association

Mortgage rates should not rise significantly as a result of the uncertainty caused by the hung parliament, commentators have said.

Mortgage rates should not rise significantly as a result of the uncertainty caused by the hung parliament, commentators have said.

Lenders were slow to respond to the result of the General Election, instead continuing to sit on their hands as they waited to see who would form the next government.

But despite steep slides to the FTSE 100 and value of the pound, as markets reacted to the uncertainty, there was only a slight rise in gilt yields, and swap rates - upon which fixed-rate mortgages are partially based - actually improved.

Gilt yields increased by only between four and nine basis-points, a change that is often seen during a normal day's trading.

And despite the fact that swap rates typically mirror changes to gilts, two-year swaps actual fell from 1.64% on Thursday to 1.6% on Friday, while five-year ones dropped by 0.05% to 2.84%.

There were also no reports of lenders pulling mortgage deals or raising their rates in response to the inconclusive election result.

Activity in the mortgage market has been subdued since the beginning of April as lenders waited for the outcome of Thursday's vote.

The average shelf life of a mortgage deal nearly doubled during the month to 30 days, while there were also 26% fewer product changes.

Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at John Charcol, said: "The movement (in gilt yields) is not sufficient to push mortgage rates up.

"As far as tracker rates are concerned, we still see no reason for the Bank of England to change rates in the short term."

Source: Press Association

Personal finance specialists may not be able to forecast the election result but they are sure about one thing: sooner rather than later, the next government will hit us all where it hurts - in the wallet.

Even before the new party (or parties) in power get round to any additional spending cuts, the outcome of election night could be a changing value of the pound, loss of some tax relief on pension contributions and even an unexpected rise in the cost of home loans.

Financial advisers seem especially spooked by the possibility of a hung parliament or a coalition - of whatever political combination.

"The problem with a hung parliament is that it produces uncertainty," says Melanie Bien, a director of Savills Private Finance.

"Money markets don't like this, so mortgage borrowing rates tend to rise as a result."

She suggests that anyone coming to the end of a mortgage deal who is worried about higher rates should be able to find a fixed rate for at least two years or more.

"Then, after the election result, they can decide whether or not they want to take out the fixed mortgage deal or not".

Source: BBC News

The UK's biggest High Street banks have been severely criticised by the main City regulator for the poor way they deal with their customers' complaints.

The Financial Services Authority said five of the banks, who are unnamed, had agreed to make big improvements.

Two are being investigated further and may suffer large fines.

The FSA blamed a lack of interest by senior bank management, bonus schemes that inhibited staff from paying compensation, and poor decision making.

"While we found some good practice, there is clearly evidence of unacceptable standards of complaints handling in banks," said Dan Waters, the FSA's director of conduct risk.

"Delivering change in this area is a major priority and we are determined to use all the tools available to us to ensure that banks comply with our rules," he warned.

Source: BBC News

Mortgage lending soared by nearly a quarter to £11.5 billion last month as the traditional spring buying season got off to a good start, figures have showed.

But the estimated hike in lending failed to offset a dire January, with loans advanced during the first three months of the year slumping to the lowest quarterly level for 10 years, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

While gross mortgage lending in March was 24% higher than in February and 3% up year on year, lending in the first quarter reached £29.5 billion - down by nearly a quarter on the previous three months.

The CML said underlying levels of mortgage lending and housing market activity remained stable, but were "quiet and subdued" when the seasonal spring uplift was stripped out.

It predicted that market conditions were likely to improve later in the year, with the Budget stamp duty boost for first-time buyers kicking in and as the economic recovery and low interest rate environment helped home-owners.

Paul Samter, CML economist, said: "Overall, housing and mortgage activity remains subdued, but is comfortably higher than in the depths of the recession a year ago.

The number of mortgage loans from lenders jumped 12% in February as demand recovered from an "extremely weak" January, figures have shown.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said 35,000 home loans were advanced over the month, after one-off factors such as the winter weather and the end of the stamp duty holiday in December hit lending in January.

The total number of loans was up 49% on a year earlier while the value of mortgages was £5 billion - 9% up on January and 67% ahead of 12 months earlier.

While the CML said the figures signified a "modest recovery" in lending, it added that the weather and the end of the stamp duty holiday - which had lifted the tax threshold to £175,000 for a year - meant that trends were difficult to identify.

But the Government gave a boost for first-time buyers in March's Budget with a duty exemption on purchases up to £250,000 - financed by a hike from 4% to 5% on properties above £1 million.

CML head of research Bob Pannell said: "With the supply of credit still tight and the upcoming election causing political uncertainty, we are unlikely to see much change in the near future, although the new stamp duty exemption for first-time buyers could boost the market somewhat."

Source: Press Association

House prices bounced back during March after falling for the first time in 10 months in February, figures show.

The average cost of a UK home rose by 0.7% during the month, largely reversing February's 0.8% drop, according to Nationwide.

But the latest rise is unlikely to end speculation over whether February's drop was caused by one-off factors, or marked the start of a new trend in the housing market.

Some economists had argued that the slide could not just be attributed to the end of the Government's stamp duty holiday and the bad weather seen during the early part of the year, but instead showed the recovery was running out of steam.

Nationwide's three-month-on-three-month index, which is generally seen as a smoother indicator of market trends, showed a further slowdown in price growth this month, with a rise of only 1.6% during the three months to the end of March, compared with 1.8% for the three months to the end of February.

Figures released by the Bank of England earlier this week also showed that the number of mortgages approved for house purchase had dropped for the third consecutive month to a nine-month low, suggesting activity in the housing market continues to remain subdued.

Source: Press Association

Nearly one in 10 workers has been forced to delay their retirement due to a financial emergency, a survey has shown.

Around 9% of people aged over 45 said they had put their retirement plans on hold due to the impact of financial emergencies and the recession, according to insurer Prudential.

A further 7% of people claim they have decided to work for longer than they had originally planned to in order to build up a bigger pension fund.

Half of people who have delayed their retirement think they will have to wait for between one and five years longer than they had intended before they give up work, while 17% expect to have to work for at least five years longer.

But one in four people who have put off retiring fear they may never be able to afford to give up work completely.

Martyn Bogira, of Prudential, said: "It is imperative for people to realise what's at stake before they come to retire.

"It's one thing to want to continue to work, but quite another to be forced to as a result of not having saved enough money to be able to retire."

Source: Press Association

The imbalance between supply and demand showed further signs of easing during February as potential new buyers stayed away from the housing market, research has shown.

Only 258 house-hunters registered with estate agents during the month, the lowest level for a year and down from 291 in January, according to the National Association of Estate Agents.

At the same time, the average number of homes estate agents had on their books rose slightly to 56 from 55, as recent price rises tempted sellers back to the market.

The group said bad weather during February may have caused buyers to stay away, while numbers may also have been hit by people receiving their Christmas credit card bills and the end of the stamp duty holiday. But the fall in demand, combined with a slight easing in supply, is likely to stoke concerns that the housing market recovery is running out of stream.

The shortage of homes for sale has been one of the key factors in helping to push up prices during the past year, but many economists predict they could resume their downward trend as more homes come on to the market.

Sorce: Press Association

The interest charged on two-year fixed rate mortgages fell to a six-and-a-half-year low during February in a further sign that competition was slowly returning to the market, figures have shown.

The average cost of a two-year loan dropped to 3.88% during the month, down from 3.97% in January, to stand at its lowest level since July 2003, according to the Bank of England.

There was also a fall in the average cost of a five-year fixed rate mortgage, with this dropping to 5.49% from 5.56%, while tracker rates increased slightly to 3.69%, although they remained at their second lowest level since records began in 1997.

A number of banks and building societies cut their rates during February, with many launching new best-buy deals in a bid to tempt borrowers to remortgage away from their lenders' standard variable rates.

There was also a big increase in the number of products available for people with only small deposits, as lenders became more comfortable with the risk these borrowers represented.

The number of different mortgage products available also broke through the 2,000 barrier for the first time in more than a year during the month.

But despite the improvement in mortgage rates, the cost of unsecured borrowing increased or remained the same during February.

The average rate charged on a credit card rose to 16.51%, up from 16.37% in January.

A spokeswoman said: "The changes are in response to very strong demand for our mortgages over recent weeks.

"It is important for us to preserve a controlled level of business that ensures we meet our desired levels of service."

Source: Press Association