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Tuesday 5th May 2015, Property media watch:
“The UK’s flagship housing schemes aimed at boosting the property market continue to flourish with first time buyers benefitting the most, the latest published data shows. In the first two years of the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme to the end of March 2015, some 47,018 properties were bought with the total value of these equity loans at £1.99 billion and the value of the properties sold under the scheme totalling £10.01 billion.”
“The Co-operative Bank has launched the UK’s lowest-ever two-year fixed rate at 1.09%. It is available directly from the bank on mortgages up to 60% LTV to both new and existing borrowers and has a £1,499 fee. The bank has also launched its lowest ever 90% fixed rate, again a two-year fix. It is priced at 2.64% and has a £1.499 fee. The mortgage war, which started last summer, has seen reignited in recent days with both HSBC and Barclays launching five-year fixed rates at 1.99%.”
“First-time buyers need salaries of £29,079 to get onto the property ladder in the West Midlands – meaning the average worker falls more than £8,000 short, new research claims. Research from KPMG shows the tipping point required to buy a home in the region is edging closer to the £30,000 mark, on the basis of a loan-to-income ratio of 4.5. Experts say with the average annual wage in the region standing at £20,431, people will increasingly struggle to stump up a 10 per cent deposit.”