Only 5% felt that now is not a good time to invest in residential property, the main reasons being the belief that prices have further to fall, difficulties in securing mortgage finance and, thirdly, concerns over the financial security of tenants.

Investors are taking a long term view, with 65% stating that rental income for retirement is their main motivation, followed by long term capital growth (27%). Just 8% cited short term capital growth as their reason for investing.

A large proportion are buying either outright with cash or with a very small mortgage, meaning they are not facing the usual hurdle of Continue reading →

Overall, households paid £7,500 per year in direct taxes (such as income tax and council tax). The richest fifth paid 24 per cent of their gross income (£19,700), while the poorest fifth paid 10 per cent of gross household income (£1,300).

However, the lowest income groups pay a much higher share of their income in indirect taxes (such as VAT and duties on alcohol and fuel). The proportion of income paid in indirect taxes has increased for all groups between 2009/10 and 2010/11. The increase can largely be explained by the standard rate of VAT increasing from 15 per cent to 20 Continue reading →

And as consumers face average water bill increases of 5.7% this month, one in 10 people (10%) say they would not be able to manage financially if their household bills were to rise further over the next 12 months.

A further third (36%) say they would only be able to manage by making sacrifices elsewhere.

Santander’s analysis reveals that the price of gas has almost trebled (up 181%) in the past 10 years. Electricity has doubled (up 109%), while water bills have risen by 64%, and council tax is up by 57%.

By comparison, salaries have risen from Continue reading →

These were the key aspects for the property sector of a Budget dominated by the decision to reduce the controversial 50p top rate of income tax to 45p from April 2013.

Instead the Budget took a swipe at the wealthy in a series of other tax and anti-avoidance measures.

Justifiying the end of the 50p top rate of income tax paid on earnings over £150,000, Osborne said it damaged competitiveness and had only raised a third of the £3billion expected.

Instead, five times as much would be raised from the very rich by other policies in the Budget.
Continue reading →

However the BPF said the property industry was left disappointed by "small beer" tax increment financing proposals, the lack of Mortgage REITs to support bank deleveraging, and the Chancellor ignoring calls from his own backbench to provide empty property rate relief.

Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said: "We asked the Chancellor first and foremost to do no serious harm in his Budget to an industry that is still struggling – by and large we’re satisfied this is the case. It certainly could have been a lot worse."

Adrian Coles, Director General of the Building Societies Continue reading →

Although the land itself and the business owning it will exist, the transactions are not part of any genuine agricultural business. They are generated only to create an artificial loss that can be set off by users of the scheme against their other income to reduce their tax bill.

To close this scheme and protect the Exchequer from significant losses, the Government is introducing legislation in Finance Bill 2012 to prevent property business loss relief arising from tax motivated arrangements. The legislation came into effect yesterday.

This is the third contrived and aggressive avoidance scheme that HM Revenue & Customs has become aware Continue reading →

The research from West One Loans, the largest privately funded bridging lender in the UK, reveals demand from buy-to-let investors is driving the rapid expansion of the bridging industry. More investors are turn to bridging as a means to finance their projects, largely due to the inability of mainstream mortgage lenders to cope with high demand for buy-to-let finance.

Gross lending in 2011 was 110% higher than 2010 and in December was more than two and a half times higher year-on-year.  The volume of loans advanced was 62% higher last year than in 2010, thanks to an increase in the number of Continue reading →

Once a bailiff has gained entry by peaceable means, they can return to take your goods and break in if you don’t let them in. 

In the UK today bailiffs are commonly used to collect council tax arrears or to enforce a court judgment. However they are also used to collect parking fines and penalties, tax debt, or child support arrears. 

The Money Advice Trust is inviting consumers and advice agencies to share experiences of dealing with bailiffs who try to blag their way into a property. Some of the most common techniques witnessed by National Debtline, which is run by the Money Continue reading →

In addition, the number of plans sold also increased to 4,399 (Q4 2011) from 4,148 (Q3 2011) – the highest level since Q1 2010 (4,716). This is excellent news for the market as it shows that despite the continued economic turmoil, people have sufficient faith in the housing market to use their equity to improve their finances.

However, while people have increased confidence in the housing market, the majority continued to choose plans which allowed them to reserve a proportion of their equity and then access it in smaller tranches. Indeed, drawdown now accounts for 62% (Q4 2011) of the market followed Continue reading →

However, it also delivered a stark warning of the scale of the challenge facing property lenders, revealing that around a half of this debt, in a range of £85billion-£114billion, could not be refinanced on current market terms and that one quarter was secured on a loan-to-value ratio of more than 100%.

The study, the largest of its kind to look at UK commercial property debt, estimated total UK debt of between £280billion and £292billion at midyear 2011 (down from £288billion to £298billion at the end of 2010) including £46billion outstanding in the CMBS market and an estimated £19.9billion held by NAMA.

This continued Continue reading →