Mike Ockenden, director-general of the Association of Home Information Pack Providers says it anticipates that the government will not act immediately.

He says: “It is not just as simple as scrapping HIPs. From our consultation with the government before the election we had agreed that a consultation on the subject would be the best approach.

“Scrapping HIPS would not be good for homeowners.”

But Paul Smith, chief executive of Spicerhaart, says : “Once Home Condition Reports were abandoned, HIPs became a pointless exercise. They didn’t stop time-wasting or sales falling through and the public showed no interest in looking at them whatsoever. The one saving grace of this failed Labour legislation is that EPCs are to be kept.

“As for the industry, we’re now in limbo land. Do we sell HIPs until the law is changed, or don’t we? We need a clear timetable for action and a period of transition to change all our software systems and paperwork. As usual, we’re the ones footing the bill for this ill-thought out mess.”

Quest, a major technology infrastructure supplier for Valuation, Energy Performance Certificate and Home Report technologies is urging the new Conservative-led coalition government to consider adopting a version of the Scottish Home Report in England and Wales.

James Sherwood-Rogers, managing director of Quest, says: “There would be real advantages of incorporating the contents of the Home Report in this new solution for England and Wales to deliver true transparency to consumers.

’It is also important to point out that there would be little cost difference for consumers, as the introduction of a condition survey would be in place of the legal searches. By adopting this tried and tested solution, we believe the new Government can quickly implement a solution that results in minimal disruption to the home buying and selling process, whilst maximising benefits for the consumer.”

Source: Mortgage Strategy

None of the parties has made housing affordability a manifesto priority. This is bad news for the millions of young people who are stuck in rented accommodation, at the mercy of one-month notice periods. Labour and the Conservatives alike think that stamp-duty relief is the answer, but do first-time buyers agree?

First-time purchases are at a 20-year low. Only 347,000 people took out a mortgage for the first time in the year to February, according to GfK, a market research company. This is 100,000 fewer than the previous low, in February 1993.

This slump coincided with the stamp duty holiday on properties costing up to £175,000, which does not bode well for the latest holiday on first-time purchases up to £250,000. Stamp duty, it seems, is not the real problem.

Banks are a fashionable scapegoat. First-time buyers who pass the current Gestapo-style credit checks must then choose between a 25 per cent deposit (an average of £31,500, or £53,700 in London) or punitively high rates.

It’s no surprise that the average age of a first-time buyer with no parental help is now 37, up from 33 in 2007. First-time buyers would prefer not to be treated as sub-prime slime by high-street mortgage-lenders whom their taxes have helped to bail out.

Many first-timers need help to save for a deposit. This is almost impossible for people in their twenties, especially those living in London, owing to a combination of rising rents, high graduate debt, an uncertain job market and low interest rates. Dedicated high-interest savings accounts would be welcome.

First-time buyers support the expansion of part-buy part-rent schemes but need greater market choice and stronger guarantees. Currently, funding is limited and restricted to new-build, and rules for selling are complex. One London-based first-time buyer was put off by “exit strategy anxiety”.

In certain cases first-time buyers are calling for measures that might not prove much help. One popular idea is to scrap the tax benefits enjoyed by buy-to-let landlords and impose heavy taxes on second-homeowners.

This ignores the importance of the private rented sector. Demand is sufficiently high to mean that, even if all landlords sold up, prices would not fall sufficiently for all tenants to be able to buy. As for second homes, first-time buyer demand is predominantly in cities, not in Cotswold cottages.

None of this gets to the heart of the real problem: affordability. We need to build a lot more houses. Developers need access to credit to start building and planning needs to be simplified.

But it would be political suicide for any party to stand for election promising to burst the housing bubble. Homeowners make up almost 70 per cent of the population and most of them are very happy to see the value of their assets rise.

The best that first-time buyers can hope for from a new government is fewer flirtations with tax holidays and more bold action on planning, mortgages, incentivisation of development and expansion of shared-ownership.

Alternatively, first-time buyers could shrug off their victim status, embrace a mortgage-free future, look to the continental model and start lobbying for greater rights for tenants.

Source: The Times

Should you have to pass an exam before you are allowed to take out your first mortgage? According to the Consumer Credit Counselling Service, the answer is yes.

In a speech last week, Malcolm Hurlston, the chairman of the national debt charity, called on political parties to introduce some sort of training for first-time buyers. “First-time mortgages should be sold not with pretty ribbons and tax breaks, but with health warnings. They should be sold like driving licences, after study and exam.”

It is feisty stuff, and clearly not the kind of thing anyone involved in the selling of mortgages much likes the sound of. Lovemoney.com thinks that Hurlston has “lost the plot” and that the whole plan is “ludicrous”. Why should people be forced to learn about mortgages if they don’t want to know about them, the author asks, particularly when they can just nip along to a qualified mortgage broker who can advise them on what best to do.

This rather misses the point. Buyers should be forced to learn about mortgages because taking one out at all is the biggest financial decision the vast majority of us ever make. And getting one at the wrong time (before we are financially ready or stable enough to buy) or getting the wrong one (say a discounted deal with a reset we can’t afford) can turn out – and often does turn out – to be the worst financial decision any of us ever make. Witness the deeply depressing rise in repossessions over the last few years, and then think forward to how fast they will rise again as interest rates rise. It isn’t nice.

The truth is that homeownership isn’t a good thing for everyone. But if you don’t grasp the basics of the effects of compound interest, if you don’t know how interest rates impact on house prices, and if no one has told you that there are periods in history when house prices have fallen in real terms for decades, then you might not know that. And I really can’t see the average mortgage broker stopping to explain it: their job is not to put you off home ownership with a proper run though of the potential risks to your long term financial well being, but to sell you debt. That’s not really the same thing.

No one is suggesting that anyone should be banned from taking out a big mortgage. Just that they shouldn’t be allowed to do so before they have fully understood the maths behind it and accepted the risk that comes with massive leverage. It makes sense to me.

Source: Moneyweek

Your Credit Report

One of the first things you should consider when trying to determine whether or not you are ready to be a homeowner is your credit report. If you have a credit score of less than 620, it is probably in your best interest to wait before you make a purchase, unless you use one of our Rent to Own programs. Otherwise, you will not qualify for a good interest rate and you may actually get taken advantage of by a predatory lender. Therefore, if you really have your heart set on becoming a homeowner, you should take some time to work on fixing your credit rating first.

Your Debt Ratio

Your debt ratio will also have an impact on the types of loans you are qualified to receive. In fact, if you have a high debt ratio, you may not even qualify to receive a loan. Or, if you do qualify for a loan, you may find yourself in a very precarious position that will likely lead to bankruptcy down the road. If your regular debt payments are more than 50% of your monthly income, you should definitely take some time to focus on paying down your debts before you consider taking on more debt in the form of a mortgage.

Your Job

Your job is another factor that you should consider before purchasing a home. If your job is not stable, you may find yourself facing foreclosure shortly after you make your purchase. Or, if there is a good chance that you will be relocated to a different town within the next few years, it is probably in your best interest to continue renting until then. Otherwise, you may risk losing money when you sell your home.

Maintenance Issues

One of the perks to renting a home or apartment is the fact that you don’t have to worry about taking care of maintenance issues. Once you become a homeowner, on the other hand, you will need to take care of maintenance issues and will need to make any necessary repairs. If you are unable to make the repairs or perform the maintenance yourself, you will need to hire someone to do the job for you. Obviously, this can be a very costly endeavour. Therefore, you need to be sure you are ready to take on these added responsibilities before you make a purchase.

By taking all of these factors into consideration, you will be better capable of determining if you are emotionally, mentally and financially ready to make a purchase. By making sure you are truly prepared for the responsibilities of homeownership, you will have the greatest chance of finding and keeping a home that is affordable and that suits your needs.

This is the second consecutive monthly fall in house prices reported by the Land Registry following a drop of 0.3% in February, however the annual rate of price growth increased to 7.5%.

The figures contrast with those from Halifax and Nationwide, which both reported price rises in March.

However, the Land Registry’s figures are based on completed sales, which mean they lag other indices, and the lenders said the wintry weather and removal of a stamp duty holiday on homes costing between £125,000 and £175,000 had depressed the market earlier in the year. These factors could still be filtering through to the official figures.

The headline figures disguise big differences in the way prices are moving around the country. In London and the north-east of England prices were up 1.6% during the month, while in the east of England they increased by 0.2%.

In all other regions prices dropped. The East Midlands saw the biggest fall with house prices down 2.1% over the month.

Annual figures, meanwhile, show price rises across all regions of England and Wales, although the comparison is with a period last year when the housing market was in the doldrums. In London prices have risen 13% since March last year to an average of £336,409.

The south-east and east of England have also seen double-digit growth, registering rises of 11.5% and 10.3% respectively, but in the north-west of England prices are up by just 2.5%.

The Land Registry’s most up-to-date figures for the number of properties changing hands each month confirm that there was a flurry of completions in the run-up to the end of the year when the stamp duty holiday was scrapped.

The figures show there were 34,171 completed sales in January, a rise of 30% on January 2009′s figure but considerably lower than December’s figure of 76,072. The latter was the highest all year, and up by around a quarter on November.

Separate figures published today by property website Rightmove suggest that stamp duty changes introduced in March’s budget are unlikely to boost sales in the coming months.

Stamp duty was scrapped for first-time buyers purchasing homes costing up to £250,000 for two years, but a survey by the website found this has had little impact on buyers’ intentions.

Only 26.3% of people planning to buy a property during the coming 12 months are first-time buyers, a figure just 0.5% higher than when the same survey was done in January

Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, said: “A rise of just half a percent on the past quarter falls a long way short of the desired impetus many were hoping the new stamp duty threshold could bring.

“First-time buyers are vital at the foot of the property market food chain, but these results suggest this area of the market has been left malnourished by the recession and restrictive lending.

“This survey of first-time buyer intent is an early indication that we are unlikely to see any significant growth in their numbers over the next 12 months.”

Sourced from: The Guardian

This recession made a good case for the renting over buying argument. But as the country tentatively enters the recovery phase, buying a house makes sense in many circumstances. The rent versus buy analysis has many considerations, including home prices, how long you planning on staying, the down payment, interest rates, and the future rise or fall of home values. Some of these are easy to evaluate and for others it would be nice to own a crystal ball.

According to a recent Sunday Times article, the consideration really is how are current home prices relative to pre-bubble prices. “The situation is getting more complicated because the housing bust has been playing out unevenly across the country.” Some places, like London, home prices are still higher than they were before the housing bubble. Other places, like Leeds, prices are comparable to those of pre-boom years.

However, the purveyors of doom are warning that house prices are still falling. According to a recent Associated Press article, the government index of home prices shows a 0.2 percent decline in April, continuing a three month trend. That coupled with a stagnant national median home sales price is cause for concern. Some economists speculate that home prices could fall as much as another 20 percent, especially if a hung parliament is the result of the upcoming General Election.

Even with the bad numbers, home sales nationally are up 18 percent from the lowest point during the recession (AP). Home sales across the country rose in all regions, including 6 percent in the Northeast. For sale signs are coming up like spring flowers in neighbourhoods across the country, which is a reassuring sight.

Short of owning that crystal ball, timing the housing market perfectly is part luck and part research. Knowing the local market and using an experienced property professional to guide you are the best ways to navigate the buying versus renting conundrum. Are home prices holding steady or rising? How are prices compared to five years ago? Two years ago? Fortunately, the Internet has a wealth of price information to evaluate.

Then there are the personal factors: How long do you plan to stay in the area? Can you afford to own a house in the neighbourhood where you are renting? Do you like the rental enough to stay awhile longer? There is no crystal ball and there is probably not a “perfect” time to buy. The best a person can do is crunch the numbers and be realistic about both the hard numbers and the softer realities.

This leaves first time buyers, or buyers who have little equity in their existing property, still looking to raise a large deposit towards their property purchase. Saving is the traditional way to make up the shortfall between what you have and what you need, but with the average house price in the UK now over 160.000, buyers could be looking at trying to find in excess of 40.000 to cover the deposit and associated costs, before they even start to look at properties.

Thankfully, there is a solution. Rent-to-buy schemes are being introduced throughout the country, to enable property purchasers to rent the property of their choice, with an option to buy after a fixed period. The properties included in these schemes are listed by private vendors and are attractive, freehold, residential properties offered on a full ownership basis, and not to be confused with any government shared-equity schemes.

The key advantage of a rent-to-buy scheme is that, as a potential home buyer, you live in your selected property for a typical period of 3-5 years. During this time you are able to discover if it is the right property for you and, whilst doing that, the rent that you are paying counts towards (or is discounted against) the amount of deposit that you need should you decide to proceed with the purchase of the property. The ultimate purchase price of the property is determined before you move in, and this allows for additional equity growth during your rental period (should prices rise), which then facilitates better and cheaper mortgage options when you decide to buy.

The main categories of homebuyers that are already successfully involved in rent-to-buy schemes are;-

* Those who have found it difficult to raise the full amount of the deposit particularly in the Home Counties and South East of England where prices are way above the UK average.

* Families and individuals who were previously renting and saw that it made more financial sense to pay the same amount of money to own their own home.

* People who may have a poor credit rating, and have found it difficult in the past to get large LTV mortgages.

By investigating the current rent-to-buy opportunities in your area, you open the door to more accessible home ownership, and extend the options for buying your own home.

Oliver J Darraugh is one of the UKs most prolific authors on the subject of rent to buy and the options that is offers new home buyers.

The desire to have a fast and reliable broadband connection has jumped into the top five requests for people moving to the country according to County Homesearch.

A survey among the 20 branches of the home-finding agency shows that among wanting a degree of peace and quiet, privacy and lovely views buyers are also looking for houses that have a good broadband connection.

With more remote working and people running small businesses from their homes, the demand for swift broadband has become an essential for many people relocating to the country and houses without it are often undesirable.

Jonathan Haward, chairman of County Homesearch says: ‘Clients who don’t really know their kilobits from their megabits or their ADSL from their wireless connection nevertheless are beginning to ask for speedy broadband connections. Some sections of the country are virtually broadband free or very patchy and this undoubtedly puts people off who want to either keep in touch with their businesses or who want to run a company from their home.’

According to the agency, broadband is mentioned in virtually every search – especially in the more remote areas. Andreas Bonney, director East Anglia, adds: ‘Put simply, everyone wants fast broadband now. There have been a couple of occasions when clients have told me not to view a house because of lack of coverage.’

Source: Country Life

Karen Barrett, chief executive of unbiased.co.uk, says the government has given this group of would-be homeowners a “helping hand” by raising the stamp duty threshold to £250,000 and they may wish to take advantage of this.

However, she states it is important that first-time buyers do not rush into purchasing a home without undertaking sufficient research.

“Buying your first property is daunting and requires careful planning and research – not only into finding the right house, but also ensuring you will be able to cover the monthly mortgage repayments, the fees and the extra costs involved,” adds Ms Barrett.

Her comments come in response to the site’s new Advice Drivers report, which reveals that first-time buyers accounted for 40 per cent of all mortgage enquiries in March.

However, although it would seem that this group of potential purchasers are seeking advice, it may not be transpiring into sales. New figures from GfK Financial show that the number of first-time buyers has dropped to its lowest level in two decades.

The national housing survey show that the time it takes to sell a property has held at 8.3 weeks for both April and March, though this has improved from the 10 weeks it took to sell at this time last year.

The proportion of asking prices being achieved has also levelled off at 94%, compared to 89% in April 2009.

The number of available properties went up by 3.7% in April while the number of new buyers registering with agents went up by just 1%.

The upcoming general election has been cited as a reason for buyer uncertainty, with the number of viewings per sale hitting 11.2 in April.

Sales figures have also dropped markedly going from an increase of 13% in March to just 6.3% this month.

Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack, says: “The changing supply/demand balance together with clear evidence of growing price resistance and caution amongst buyers, suggests that we are set to see less upward pressure on pries in the near term.”

Yet the survey recorded that average house prices were up 0.2% in April, compared to the 0.3% increases seen in February and March. Price rises in London have boosted the national average, with prices rising in the capital up by 0.6% over April.

The year-on-year rate of house price growth is now at 1.8%, up from 1.3% last month.

Donnell adds: “It was clear that given the strong end to 2009 that spring 2010 was unlikely to compare with a traditional start to the selling year. There has been evidence for some months that the supply/demand balance has been changing steadily but the buyer slowdown has been exacerbated by the announcement of a May election.

“The bounce in market confidence over 2009 was all about pent-up demand feeding back into an under-supplied market.

“However, the fundamental issues which have plagued the economy for some time still remain. Rising unemployment, lack of mortgage funding, public spending cuts and the prospect of tax rises post-election continue to act as a back-drop to a fragile and increasingly polarised housing market.”