The Nationwide Building Society has announced that it will cut the price of selected fixed and tracker rate mortgages by some 0.5%.

This is one of the largest organizations that is doing this and hopefully this will carry on to other banks and lenders making it for a more competitive market.

For those buying a home, the two year fixed rate is available from 3.98%. If you’re a new customer, you can borrow up to 85% LTV (Loan-To-Value) and existing accounts who are simply moving can borrow up to 95%.

A three year fixed rate is also available with interest at 4.58% with the same LTV values as the two year loan.

A two-year tracker is also available with rates at 3.08%. New customers have an 80% LTV value while existing borrowers have a 95% LTV.

There are also deals on the table for those involved in a remortgage of a home, with rates up to 4.78%. All deals have a reservation fee of 896-pounds and a booking fee of 99-pounds.

Commenting on the new deals, Andy McQueen, mortgage director at Nationwide said, “We are cutting the price of selected fixed and tracker rate mortgage deals by up to 0.50% so our range offers even better value for new borrowers. We have a superb range of products for existing customers coming to the end of a Nationwide deal including two and three year fixed rates which are currently among the best in the market compared to remortgage deals offered by other lenders.”

He finished by saying, “These mortgages are ideal for borrowers who are uncertain about how interest rates will move in the future as they provide assurance that the mortgage rate will not rise above a certain level.”

The Bank of England confirmed the expectations of many when it decided to hold the base rate down to 0.5% again for the fifth straight month in a row.

Analysts are predicting that this base rate isn’t going to change anytime soon as long as unemployment is high and the recession still looms.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has decided to pump another 50-billion pounds into the system to help get banks on their feet again.

The low base rate is a boon for tracker mortgages as they are based off of the base rate with an added percentage of interest added to the number. There is approximately 3-million homeowners with tracker mortgages who have made out on this deal.

Fixed rate mortgage owners aren’t seeing much in the benefit of a low base rate as many homeowners had their rate locked down before the base rate began to fall. Companies, such as Nationwide, cut their rates this past week for future borrowers but that doesn’t do much for those who have already locked in their rate for some time to come.

According to Moneysupermarket, “The cheapest two-year fixed rate deal on the market is currently from First Direct, priced at 3.34% and with a 1,498-pounds arrangement fee. However, the deal is reserved for homeowners who only need to borrow 60% of the property value.”

According to the company, 90% deals are becoming increasingly difficult to ascertain. To receive a deal like that you’ll need to have an excellent credit rating and employment that is quite secure to gain that type of mortgage.

Halifax has denoted in the past week, that at least for its customers, their spending power has increased by at least 10% over the past year.

The company has a survey that shows how much the money that they spend has at least increased over the last year in comparison with the amount of money they had available in 2008.

According to the company, mortgage holders have more money left over after buying their home essentials than they did the year before.

Halifax says that since March 2008, that they have seen their discretionary income raise from 892 pounds to 989 pounds according to their records.

A Halifax economist said that over the past year, homeowners have seen that income which they should have for household items has increased because of the the mortgage that they have has been lower than in times before.

The fall in the mortgage amount has been a major factor in allowing the homeowner to have more money for things around the home in comparison to making a major house payment when they go shopping for better loans.

We should mention that food prices have increased by at least 10% and utility bills by considerably more, however shopping for your mortgage should still result in better saving if one takes the time to shop around for a short term mortgage.

With a short term mortgage, we will probably see a reduction in the mortgage rate as fall and winter approach and that could see a better result in the amount of money available for consumers, but that is up to the buyer as far as the length of the loan that they want and whether it is fixed or variable.

There are many British citizens who have a spare apartment in London that they use every once in a while that are looking at it as extra income. According to Cluttons, the property consultants, there are many apartments of this type that are available and owners have chosen to start renting them out as a way to increase their bottom line.

Unemployment has caused some of this folks no longer to need their London apartment which has resulted in a rise of some 15% of these properties coming available in comparison to the past. Cluttons says that there are many letting agents who are listing these properties for those working in the London area. Rather than taking out a mortgage, they rent the properties their interested in.

A lettings partner at Cluttons’ Belgravia office, Louisa Woodbridge had comments about this type of situation, “The pied-à-terre has long been a status symbol in prime central London, so it is little surprise that their existence has diminished somewhat in recent times as the recession takes hold.”

She continued to say, “This has created new opportunities for more London tenants to live in some of the most desirable central locations, at rents they can afford. Pied-à-terre owners looking to generate income from their property are usually keen for a quick return, so this lifestyle can now be achieved at some very competitive rental rates.”

Cluttons currently is renting properties like this. As an example they have one near Holland Park. Situated just off High St. Kennington, that is currently renting at 395-pounds per week.

First time buyers usually have the hardest time when it comes to securing their mortgage. They usually are unfamiliar with the process and the amount of deposit they must place as security when receiving their first loan.

On the other hand, if they are educated in the process before they seek their first loan and do their homework, chances are better that they will receive the loan on the first attempt.

Mortgageforce, a lender with a long reputation, has been making loans to all types of borrowers and are well known in the industry.

They have just released some statistics that are somewhat surprising for the month of July, where they released figures that show that first time buyers made up some 20% of the company’s mortgage applications for the month of July, compared to only 9% for the month of June.

The company states that purchasers for all types of transactions also increased the past month accounting for 41% of the company’s business and that compares to 23% in June. Mortgageforce is also confident that the business seen at both Nationwide and Halifax also show this same trend.

Katie Tucker, the Technical Manager at Mortgageforce said, “Stable house prices and the availability of higher loan to value mortgages support each other more than you might think: we all know that more 90% mortgages means more buyers can get on the ladder, but it works both ways, property values stabilising means lenders can offer higher loan-to-values without as much risk, so without needing as much deposit. We expect to see even more 85% – 95% deals out there soon."

Tucker added that half of the purchase transactions were 86% to 90% loan to value (LTV) deals. She also said, “This is high against trend and undoubtedly a result of pent up demand.”

The National Housing Federation came out with new statistics this month that shows that in the future, housing prices will increase to new levels.

According to their research, you can expect them to fall by 4.6% by the end of this year, then you’ll see a rise in them in subsequent years.

Look for a 1.1% rise in 2011, 7.5% in 2012, 8.4% in 2013 and 6.8% in 2014.

The average price at then end of their forecast for 2009 will be 189-thousand pounds for a house in England.

In 2014, look for housing prices, on the average, 155.7-thousand pounds in the North East, 159.3 in the North West, Yorkshire and Humberside – 175.6. Further on, West Midlands 180.5-thousand pounds, London, 354.9, South East 293.6 and South West 225.4, all in thousands of pounds.

Federation Chief David Orr said, “Our new research shows that while house prices are falling in the short term, they will inevitably increase in the long term because of a fundamental under-supply of housing. Even though house prices are falling, and are set to remain sluggish in some areas for the foreseeable future, affordability is not improving for many low-to-middle income households. For millions of people who want a home, getting a mortgage can be like winning the lottery. First time buyers and those wanting to buy shared ownership properties remain victims of a deep freeze in mortgage lending.

He also said, “We welcome the Government’s recent promise of a national affordable house building drive, but if we are to avoid run-away house prices in the future when the economy picks up, ministers must ensure we build the right numbers of homes for social rent now, so that housing supply meets demand.”

As many expected to happen, the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to keep their interest rate held at 0.5%.

This rate has been unchanged since March and because of the recession, many believe that this rate will remain unchanged for the rest of the year, according to Moneysupermarket.

According to the company, “Demand for fixed-rate mortgages has been strong as borrowers have sought to lock into a fix while interest rates are at their lowest. Fixing was particularly popular in spring, when the average fixed-rate deal was the lowest it has been since the start of 2004.”

Rates on tracker mortgages are directly linked to the base rate, so in many cases, you’ll find a lower rate available on loans. This could change however if the base rate changes then the tracking rate will likely go up accordingly.

Borrowers seem, at least at this time, to prefer a fixed rate mortgage because of the stability of the loan payments for the length of the loan.

Moneysupermarket says, “You need to think carefully about which type of mortgage is most suitable for your needs. Fixed rates give security, particularly if you need to budget carefully, as you know exactly what your monthly payments will be for a set period of time. In such circumstances, it’s worth fixing, even if you seem to be paying a premium for doing so, because of the peace of mind it gives.”

Keep your credit score in good shape and the chances are better for you to receive the type of loan that you want for the property that you have in mind.

The effort that a bank makes to be competitive with others is the difference between whether they’ll do extra business with borrowers who are looking for mortgage loans and others who are either happy with the business they doing with or are unaware.

Nationwide made the announcement today that they are cutting some of their rates by up to 0.5%. These include fixed rates and some tracker mortgages.

The packages that this applies to include some of its two and three year fixed rate loans and some of it two year tracker deals. This can be used by new customers and remortgagers as well.

The bank immediately is retaining it’s 99-pound reservation fee, which is currently existant, for the building society. The fee is not refundable and you will be unable to add the fee to the loan itself.

In an era where the recession has hit the housing market, most banks have been increasing their mortgage rates to cover some of the losses they have experienced. Mortgage rates have also been effected by some area that have seen a slump in the housing market.

Last week, Alistair Darling, Chancellor, threatened to report banks to the Competition Commission if they failed to reduce some rates. Nationwide may be the first bank to start a new trend in this motion to reduce rates.

The mortgage business is thriving in other countries just like it is in the United Kingdom as potential home buyers are looking for loans that are competitive.

One of these other countries is Australia, where some of the cities in the country have a dense population with people looking for homes.

The two biggest lenders in the country have been declared according to some research by CoreData which shows they have obtained the largest share of the market. According to statistics, they were responsible for nearly $30.3-billion of the $35.6-billion in new loans.

The two are CBA and Westpac and they have 85% of the mortgage business in the country.

Westpac’s loan book increased by $15.2-billion for the June 2009 quarter, which was a gain of approximately 8%. On the other hand, CBA (excluding their Bankwest franchise) grew 6.5% to $227-billion.

There are two other major players in the Australian industry, ANZ and NAB. NAB showed a growth of only 2.2% while ANZ had a 1.8% increase.

CoreData’s Andrew Inwood said it was no longer simply about offering two types of product offerings and in the case of CBA, he said the bank was offering the cheapest variable load rate on the market. He also said that “CBA and Westpac had been able to effectively steal business from those banks that can’t commit to service.”

When you combine the ‘big two’ together for there total mortgage loan offerings, they were able to sustain an outstanding residential lending factor together totaling some most substantial lending in the mortgage arena.

Markit and YouGov have announced the launch of the Markit/YouGov Household Finance Index(HFI), a new survey designed to provide the earliest and most accurate indication of actual changes inhousehold finances each month. The HFI is intended to anticipate changes in consumer behaviour accurately.

The survey tracks objective “hard data” on actual month-on-month changes, focusing on household spending, saving and debt levels, but also includes several forward-looking opinion questions to help anticipate future trends.

The Markit/YouGov HFI is the first in a series of polls and indices which will combine Markit’s and YouGov’s respective experience in business and consumer sector surveys.

The survey signalled a further deterioration in finances on a month ago in June, continuing the trend that has been seen since the survey data were first collected in February. Some 32% of  respondents noted a worsening of their financial situation compared to a month ago while just 6% reported an improvement.

However, the resulting “net” deterioration in finances indicated by the June survey was less than recorded in any of the previous four months, wth the HFI for the current month rising for the third successive month to 37.5, up from 36.5 in May.

The deterioration in the outlook for finances was attributable to an increase in job insecurity, which rose compared to May but remained less widespread than in the spring.

Concern over jobs reflected a further fall in business activity at respondents’ workplaces and a corresponding drop in income from employment, which have both fallen over the five months since the survey started. However, in both cases, rates of decline were less steep than in early spring.