Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
February is on track to record the highest number of new home listings in a decade, according to Zoopla’s latest House Price Index. Combined with falling mortgage rates, the market is currently looking particularly good for first time buyers, with 40% of homes for sale now cheaper to buy with a mortgage than rent. Reflecting…
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The latest EY ITEM Club data has forecasted that consumer credit lending growth will remain largely flat at 5.8% in 2026 (from 6.1% in 2025), 5.7% in 2027, and 5.3% in 2028. Even though consumer credit remains expensive, demand is expected to remain steady over the coming years. This is largely due to a combination…
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New research from the Building Societies Association (BSA) shows that many aspiring first-time buyers could be closer to owning their own home than they think, but too many are ruling themselves out before exploring what is possible. The findings show that almost half (47%) of people who want to buy their own home have never…
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The Bank of England has announced that it has held interest rates at 3.75% following the first meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee of 2026. The Bank has voted by 5 to 4 to keep rates on hold at 3.75%. Four members voted to reduce the base rate to 3.5%, giving an indication of forward guidance. Commenting…
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Almost four in ten landlords plan to refinance buy-to-let property during the next 12 months, Paragon Bank research has revealed. The research, which covers Q4 2025, found that 39% intend to refinance throughout 2026, a figure that unsurprisingly increases in line with portfolio size. Over half (53%) of those with four or more buy-to-let mortgages…
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Latest data from the Bank of England data has shown that net mortgage approvals for house purchase fell by 3,100 to 61,000 in December 2025. By contrast, approvals for remortgaging rose by 1,600 to 38,400 in December. Net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals remained unchanged when compared to November at £4.6 billion in December. The…
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The Building Societies Association’s (BSA) latest Property Tracker survey, conducted in January 2026, shows that the barriers preventing would-be homebuyers from achieving their aspiration remain financial – raising a deposit (64%), affording monthly mortgage repayments (50%) and access to a large enough mortgage (45%) – rather than attitudinal. With the main obstacles tightly clustered around…
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Latest data from the Equity Release Council has found that the equity release market grew 11% in 2025, with total annual lending increasing from £2.3 billion in 2024 to £2.57 billion in 2025. More than a quarter of advisers responding to the Council’s latest survey (26 per cent) say customers are now using equity release…
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The gap between what aspiring homeowners can realistically afford and the actual cost of purchasing a home has widened significantly in recent years, according to the latest research by the Home Builders Federation (HBF). As a result, despite strong demand for housing, millions are unable to turn that demand into a purchase, with young people…
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Research by Pepper Money has found that more than 16 million people have now experienced adverse credit, showing that rising living costs and financial pressures are driving a sharp increase in credit struggles across the UK, the highest figure since the study began nine years ago. The data showed that adverse credit is now increasingly common…
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Latest data from UK Finance has found that buy-to-let (BTL) lending rose by 22.7% in Quarter 3 (Q3) 2025. The research showed that there were 59,467 new buy-to-let (BTL) loans advanced in the UK worth £10.9 billion in the third quarter of 2025. This was up quite significantly compared with the same quarter in the…
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New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that consumer finance new business grew in November 2025 by 3% compared with the same month in 2024. In the eleven months to November 2025, new business in this market was 5% higher than in the same period in 2024. The credit card and…
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Latest Bank of England data showed that net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals increased to £4.5 billion in November, following a decrease of £1.0 billion to £4.2 billion in October. Mortgage approvals for house purchase fell by 500 to 64,500. By contrast, approvals for remortgaging rose by 3,200 to 36,600 in November. Approvals for…
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