House prices rose again in August for the 11th straight month, according to Nationwide, further highlighting the increasing strength of the UK property market.
Prices are now an average of 3.5pc higher than in August 2012, after the latest rise of 0.6pc last month, with the average home valued at �£170,514.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has again reported a house price rise in the UK, as Government schemes continue to strengthen the property market.
This is backed up by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), which has said that prices are now rising at the fastest rate since their peak in 2006.
Research from the Post Office has indicated that second-time buyers are experiencing significant barriers that are preventing them from moving from their starter home into a second home.
The Step-Up Report, which involved research on more than 1,000 homeowners, revealed that the average age of a second-time home buyer has now risen to 42. This is up from 35 in 2009.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has announced three firms who target homeowners struggling to sell their properties by promising them quick sales.
The firms, which have not been named as yet, could face action after it has emerged that they may be selling houses for customers for as little as half of their market value, in return for promising to sell the house quickly; sometimes in less than a week
The amount of mortgages approved for first-time buyers has risen to the highest level recorded in the last five-and-a-half years, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). Since the recession in 2008, getting on the property ladder has been has been a hard task for first-time buyers, with lenders asking for higher deposits and increasing rates.
With mortgage rates falling, Leeds Building Society has taken a step further than the competition and is now offering the first 0% interest mortgage to hit the market.
The falling rates have sparked a price war between lenders who are all looking to offer the most attractive deal to buyers, but this is the first time a mortgage lender has been seen to offer a rate of 0pc
There has been a significant rise in the amount of mortgages approved for first time buyers in 2013, according to the Building Societies Association. Figures released indicate that that there has been a 50pc increase in the amount of mortgage loans approved so far this year in comparison to the same period in 2012.
Buy-to-let mortgages now account for 13.4pc of all outstanding mortgages, a rise of 0.5pc from the same period a year ago. Landlords and investors are prospering from cheap mortgage deals brought about by Government initiatives such as Funding for Lending, which makes mortgages more readily available at a lower cost
The Financial Conduct Authority has said that there has been no mass evidence collected in relation to the mis-selling of interest-only mortgages to homeowners in the UK.
Since the news that over a million people with interest-only mortgages face a shortfall when it comes to making final payments on their mortgages, many have said they did not fully understand the product they were buying, and now face drastic measures to raise the money required to complete payments on the loan.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has spoken of its concern over the ability of more than a million people to pay off final charges on interest-only mortgages.
There are currently 2.6 million people in the UK with this type of mortgage, and it is thought that over half would struggle to meet final payments when they are due.
