The Mortgage Finance Blog

Last week mortgage lender, Nationwide, released its monthly house price figures for September. According to the press release, house prices have risen to their 2008 levels due to a 0.9% month-on-month growth in values. The September increase makes the fifth consecutive monthly increase.

Despite signs of recovery in the economy and the housing market, mortgage lenders still seem reticent to lend, particularly to those with smaller deposits. Despite seemingly greater consumer confidence, the number of mortgages available to borrowers with less than 25% deposit has fallen over the last year and rates for borrowers with a 10% deposit are still exhibiting a significant premium.

Despite the good news for home owners, Nationwide advises caution when interpreting the data due to the low volume of property transactions. According to the figures, the number of property transactions is down to half the level of before the downturn.
The full details of the story is available at the BBC website.