Students rate good internet access as their top priority when looking for a home. A good online experience is better than value-for-money accommodation or a digs in a nice location. Nine out of 10 opted for broadband as the number one concern in a survey of more than 15,000 students at universities and colleges across […]

Three million homeowners are staying put rather than moving home over concerns about jobs, money and mortgages. A lack of confidence in the economy is undermining the housing market, a new survey in advance of the RESI 2011 conference later this month has found. RESI 2011 is a networking event for house builders, social housing […]

Renters are outnumbering home buyers by two to one as buy to let relentlessly moves in to gear as the household of choice, according to a new study. Nine of the top 10 areas for renting are in the south, with Gwent, South Wales, creeping in to the places at eighth position. The most popular […]

The availability of homes to rent is drying up as tenant demand continues to outstrip supply, according to letting agents. Strong demand from frustrated would-be buyers is the key driver behind the rush for lettings, said the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), as many prospective tenants are struggling to find a mortgage or raise […]

There’s not much to report about our Directory this week, safe to say that we are now four weeks into Beta testing and have nearly 500 businesses involved in the tests. The expansion of the Directory is revealing some interesting challenges in terms of search speed and categorization which we are hoping to resolve during […]

This video has been very popular among certain demographics of the population. A must for any one that has a sniffle…… ….. I am hoping I don’t get anything this serious!

Home ownership is set to tumble back to levels last seen 30 years ago as house prices and rents are set to surge upwards, according to a new study. Buy to let is expected to rise to almost one in four homes over the next decade. The drivers of change are strict mortgage lending criteria, […]

Mortgage lenders and the tax man are teaming up to beat fraudsters by checking income claims against tax returns and payroll records. Banks and building societies can now ask HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to verify a borrower’s income by cross-checking loan applications with official income records. The new move is part of a growing […]

The Big Six mortgage lenders account for 81.5% of all buy to let and home buyer mortgages in the UK, according to figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders. The Big Six advanced £110.8 billion in 2010, while the 27 remaining lenders advanced £23.5 billion – an indication of the gulf between the major and […]

The topsy-turvy housing market has produced another crop of confusing statistics this month. The latest house price data from the Land Registry shows average house prices went up 1.3% from June to July but down 2.1% compared with home values in July 2010. The average house price in England and Wales is now £163,049. London […]

Property investors running small companies could benefit from government plans to cut red-tape. Many property people run their buy to let or buy to sell businesses through limited companies – and some have other business interests with a corporate structure as well. The government plans to slash record keeping costs for around five million firms […]

Landlords are feeling good about the prospects of their letting businesses, according to a new survey. Around two-thirds of landlords rate their likely trading over the next three months as ‘very good’ or ‘good’, according to research by the National Landlords Association (NLA). The sentiment survey asked 600 landlords their opinion about the private rented […]

Parents are willing to pay more money to buy or rent a property in a good school catchment area, according to new research. Around a third of buyers and renters with children aged 10 or less rate moving in to a good catchment area as a priority.

Sharing digs is booming in popularity as young home-seekers are failing to raise mortgages to buy properties of their own. In just a year, the number of flat sharers has mushroomed by 100,000 – up from 2.749 million a year ago to 2.85 million in 2011. The findings, from property web site easyroommate.co.uk also revealed […]

Every landlord wants to maximise their rental. Whatever the circumstances, when people rent it’s not just the number of bedrooms, fitted kitchen and access to train station that are important to them. It’s the all important lifestyle.

We are continuing to work on improving our Directory speed and ease of use prior to uploading over 200,000 businesses in the next few weeks.

This video has been amazing everyone in the office and is a must for all water park fans…… ….. I am hoping it took no more than one take to produce!

As the largest buy to let lender pulls out of the corporate buy to let market, landlords with companies now have limited options for borrowing. The Mortgage Works – the specialist buy to let lending arm of The Nationwide – was one of a declining number of lenders willing to take on lending to property […]

Buy to let property clubs that rip off landlords are blamed for rising rental home repossessions. The clubs ran relentless marketing campaigns during the peak of the housing bubble aimed at persuading property investors to part with their cash on homes advertising rent returns and valuations that were close to fraudulent. Since the credit crunch, […]

Buy to let tenants parking in the streets near their home can spark huge rows with neighbours who think they ‘own’ the roads outside their homes. Many rented homes come with inadequate parking – or a free-for-all to find a space on the road nearby. Research findings have revealed 44% of home owners believe they […]

The case for investing in buy to let is moving into sharper perspective as financial firms with a vested interest in selling to landlords disclose their business insights into the sectors. For landlords thinking about the future of the rental businesses and the prospects of expanding, it looks rosy. The latest private rented sector statistics […]