Ending January in a positive mood!

I am in a very good mood today! Partly because I have EPCs booked in for tomorrow (I always like to start and end the month with work booked in, makes me feel positive for the month ahead) and partly because of all the news I have seen recently:

1. " Quidos investigate Trading Standards regime

Quidos has conducted a survey of all UK Local Authorities and the amount of enforcement that has been implemented with regard to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.It is clear there is very minimal, and in the vast majority, no enforcement action being undertaken by local trading standards in regard of EPBD regulations. 65 of the 177 authorities, that responded, have made zero enquiries into EPBD compliance. A further 48 authorities had made less than 10 enquiries.In 2008/09 £3.4million was provided by DCLG to cover the costs of EPBD enforcement to Local Authorities (in England and Wales). In the following years this has been reduced to £1.9million per year.

To date over £6,000,000.00 has been funded from the public purse to English and Welsh Local Authorities who have made enquiries of under 7,000 buildings in the past 3 years. Of these inspections 75% of them were conducted by just 14 separate TSOs. A total of 23 Penalty Charge Notices have been issued, which represents a lack of appetite to penalise rather than high rates of compliance. What enforcement that exists, is largely reactive rather than proactive. This would suggest that either there is very high compliance with the regulations and no problems exist; or (and far more likely) that there is very low compliance, and very few complaints are received by the Trading Standards Officers because no-one is aware of the legislation. A chicken and egg scenario.
At present the 200 separate Trading Standards departments are under pressure from financial restraint, and increasing emphasis on more ‘high risk’ areas to monitor, hence collectively it is a difficult task to enforce the EPBD regulations.
Philip Salaman, Managing Director of Quidos commented that “Quidos recommendations are to regionalise the enforcement to eight defined geographical areas, with a small number of dedicated trading standard officers to enforce the EPBD regulations. This has been very successfully adopted in Northern Ireland, and should provide a model for England, Wales, and Scotland.” 
In addition Quidos recommend the provision for private companies to be contracted by these regionalised TSOs to provide enforcement if required. Fines can be defined (and retained) by each region, with a maximum being imposed by DCLG.
Mr Salaman adds: “In these austere times we all face, there needs to be an emphasis on cost cutting. Energy certification can provide that, since it highlights inefficiencies and ways to implement cost savings through reduced energy consumption. Local authorities should look to EPBD enforcement not only as a revenue generating exercise, but one in which to reduce energy consumption across their locality.”

Click here to see the full report on Quidos.co.uk"

Lovely to see that things are getting looked into!

2.  "House prices in England and Wales fell 0.2 percent in December, leaving them 1.5 percent higher than the same month a year ago, figures from the Land Registry showed on Monday. "

Brilliant, lets see some renewed confidence in the housing market then please!

3. "David Cameron has claimed banks are being too cautious in restricting mortgage lending, as Bank of England figures showed borrowing falling sharply. The PM said banks and building societies are to blame for becoming too stringent in their lending regulations, and that they were preventing the housing market from progressing. Speaking to voters in Leicester, Mr Cameron said it was vital for the economy that Britain's housing market became more competitive. His comments followed Housing Minister Grant Shapps recent statement that the Government did not want another housing boom. Banks and building societies have introduced more restrictive mortgage rules since the global economic crash revealed millions had been sold mortgages beyond their means. But the Prime Minister called on lenders to return to 'respectable' lending in order to stimulate growth. 'In a way the pendulum has now swung too far the other way,' he said. 'If you are a single person, you are earning a decent salary. You go to the bank or building society, you are actually quite a good risk - they won't give you 80% of the value, they won't give you four times your salary.'

He added: 'You need a housing market where people are able to sell and move. The housing market has become very stuck and we've got to get it moving again.' But the task he faces was thrown into relief by Bank of England figures published today which showed that mortgage lending fell sharply in the final months of 2010, with buyers walking away in the face of the huge deposits demanded by banks.

Demand for mortgages from people buying a home fell sharply during the fourth quarter, according to the Bank of England's Credit Conditions Survey. A balance of 41.5% of banks and building societies said borrowing for house purchase 'fell markedly' during the final three months of the year, with demand dropping at its fastest rate since the third quarter of 2008. A combination of falling house prices and economic uncertainty caused by Government spending cuts caused people to delay decisions to move, and these factors are expected to continue to contribute to subdued lending.

But there was a feeling among lenders that the inability of would-be buyers to raise the huge deposits currently needed to secure a competitive rate was also constraining demand.

What's more, lenders thought they may tighten their affordability criteria further as interest rates rose, while some credit scoring criteria may also be tightened in response to new guidance from the Office of Fair Trading and the Financial Services Authority's mortgage market review "

So from that can we hope that the lenders and the government are finally realising that the current tight restrictions on borrowing is making the market worse? Lets hope so!

 

Austerity mum?

I read this morning that a lady had been writing a blog about tightening her belt, cutting costs and saving money during the current climate - only problem was she was writing this "creatively" as she actually lives in a beautiful 8 bedroom house which includes a ballroom -

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gxc4j1ZnMwlk_CYVjKYfxol0Kihg?docId=CNG.ae92b0aa2b694ca3182261c1f11bfc1a.781

Unfortunately as I write this I am not sitting a mini mansion in a lovely countryside retreat I am sitting in my "office"/4th bedroom/boxroom hoping more work will come in this week!

In all fairness it is getting increasingly difficult for the majority of people - negative equity, not able to remortgage, lack of work, overtime cuts, prices going up in the supermarkets and on petrol!

I try and work as much as I can, send out email marketing letters to estate and letting agents, walk everywhere possible - school run etc to reduce petrol costs, I even have one of those meters (that you plug in) in the kitchen telling me how much electricity I am using per minute - it really does help me remember to turn things off at the socket!

We are all having to tighten our belts and its not fun - but in a minute I am sticking the two youngest in their wellies and we are going into the garden so they can play/get filthy and I can sort out the veg patch and the greenhouse and see what I can start to sow ready for the summer months. I do actually like gardening, its relaxing, I get to see results fairly quickly and its really nice eating fresh tomatoes and cucumbers etc. It might not be much but planting garlic last year meant that we haven't had to buy any over 8 months and in these times any little helps.

Positive news?

I am by nature a positive person - I must be otherwise I wouldn't be self employed!

I was reading the news this morning and found this titbit :-

"Looking forward, 29 percent more surveyors thought prices would fall in the next three months than rise, down from 41 percent in November.
Heavy snowfall in December kept transaction volumes subdued but surveyors were hopeful turnover would pick up in the spring. Eight percent more surveyors expected sales to increase over the coming three months than decrease, up from six percent in November.
"Surveyor sentiment does appear more positive for the coming months," said RICS spokesman Jeremy Leaf."

Now that to me is fantastic - surveyors are feeling more positive and thinking that the turnover will pick up in the spring. January has always been a quiet time but if we see increases in Feb, March and April the optimisim and movement within the market will encourage more vendors to put their properties on the market and hopefully work can pick up for everyone.

But the most negative part of it is summed up nicely with this comment :-

"The key issue now is mortgage finance. However, with commentators suggesting lending constraints are unlikely to be eased, it is hard to envisage a meaningful increase in sales levels in the near term."

We desperately need lending constraints to be eased up to start the market flowing again.
Its alot of ifs but and hopefullys but what have you got if you haven't got hope!

Good time to buy?

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/Escape-landlord-good-yahoofinanceuk-508312233.html

This article is something I have read today and its so nice to see some encouragement about buying a property in the current market.

"But while falling prices and low interest rates make rising rents less excusable, they also mean it could be the best time in years to wave goodbye to the landlord and get a place of your own.
After all why would you want to pay someone else's mortgage when you could own your own home?"

The article goes on to list some of the current mortgage deals available to first time buyers  - and (I am definately NOT an expert on mortgages!) there looks like there are some very good affordable deals out there to help people get on the market.

Getting more first time buyers on the market is definately a step in the right direction - it stops the market stagnating and allows the market to start moving freely. The amount of people an improvement in the housing market would benefit is unbelievable - DEAs, estate agents, solicitors, builders etc it would definately be helping the current economy and taking off alot of the gloom.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend - I'm back on decorating duty!

a little rant.

Am in the mood for a little rant this morning - mainly because the eldest is back to her usual tricks of asking me to "magic" something up that she needs for school 1 minute before we need to be out the door!

We all had a good Christmas and New Year and have finally started decorating the house - we've only lived here five years but we have had 2 babies in quick succession during that time but atleast we've started and I now have a weekend of painting woodwork to look forward to.

Its very quiet on the work front at the moment, it normally is in January but I can't help thinking that although the majority of people blamed HIPs for the drop in house sales we need to look at the fact that there are not enough mortgages being approved. Once 100% mortgages went so did alot of first time buyers. I am not suggesting that we go back to those days but there has to be another solution to open up the market to first time buyers - if the first time buyers are once again able to get a mortgage then that will move the rest of the market. If the rest of the market gets moving we will have busy estate agents, surveyors and energy assessors - that surely will help the economy and improve alot of things for everyone. It would be a ripple affect and one that is much needed at the moment.

I hope that everyone else is well and wish everyone a successful and happy 2011.

Mortgages - some good news?

Michelle Slade, spokeswoman for financial information group Moneyfacts.co.uk, said: We are seeing a bit more competition back in the market as lenders want to do more lending.
They are trying to kick-start the remortgage market. Many people are on low SVRs and have no reason to move.
But despite the recent decline in mortgage rates, the cost of home loans still remains high compared with the Bank of England Base rate and swap rates.
Melanie Bien, of mortgage brokers Private Finance, said: Lenders are keen to entice borrowers off their cheap standard variable rates by offering increasingly competitive mortgage rates, which make them better profits. Yet while these mortgage rates are attractive, the best deals are still only available for those with significant equity in their homes, of 40 or even 50 per cent. The vast majority of those remortgaging will have much less equity, and therefore find it more difficult, to access a market-leading rate.

The latest mortgage index from John Charcol reveals that borrowers making enquiries about remortgaging spiked by 42% in October.

Commenting, Drew Wotherspoon, director of marketing at John Charcol, said: "October's actual mortgage figures showed a broadly even spilt between purchases and remortgaging for new cases.
“However, the real interest lies in the amount of enquiries to John Charcol in October. In September we had 600 new remortgage enquiries, but this figure rose to 855 in October, a significant increase of 42% month on
on month. This tells us that people are finally considering their options and are no longer content to simply sit on their lender's Standard Variable Rate (SVR).

And even more good news -

There has been a 22% increase in the number of products available for first-time buyers since the start of this year, according to moneysupermarket.com.
Clare Francis, site editor of moneysupermarket.com, said: "It's encouraging to see the number of mortgages available for those with reasonably small deposits increasing, but there is still a premium on rates for loans available up to 90% discouraging many first-time buyers. The best rates are still only available to those with large deposits - you need at least 25% and in some cases 40% to qualify and this is pricing many out of the market.
"First-time buyers are integral to keeping the housing market moving - if there aren't enough people jumping on at the bottom the market will eventually grind to a halt. A shortage of first-time buyers is evident around the country with many people struggling to sell their properties. Unless more lenders start offering 90% mortgages at affordable rates, it is difficult to see how this will be resolved. Increased competition would also help to push rates down, bringing the cost of mortgages available at high LTVs closer to the market-leading deals.
"Despite Base Rate having been left on hold at 0.5% again this month, an increasing number of economists believe interest rates will start rising sooner rather than later. Anyone thinking of buying for the first time may therefore be better off acting sooner rather than later as mortgages rates are likely to go up too. The housing market is also fairly subdued at the moment as the build up to Christmas starts, so it could be a good time to buy as sellers may be more than willing to negotiate on price."

Very good news, if the lenders are getting more interested in lending again there is a good possibility we will start to see more people coming onto the market and therefore bringing new life to the housing market within the UK. Plus if the lenders are showing confidence within the market it will hopefully spread.