No longer safe as houses The housing market appears to be stalling, with price inflation, the massive £1.3 trillion in personal debt amassed by Britons and the new-found caution of lenders all paying a part – up to 400,000 people were refused for mortgages in 2007, while the number of people having their homes repossessed rose 30 per cent in the first six months of the year. If you are one of the thousands whose cut-price, fixed or special starter mortgage deal is coming to an end in 2008, it’s unlikely that you’ll get away without paying more than you have in the past – and you should try to factor the extra hundreds or even thousands of pounds into your budget. Remortgaging and equity release schemes are also likely to be vulnerable, especially as house price growth has slumped in recent months, so you can no longer bank on price increases to get you out of trouble. One more thing to watch out for is high application or set-up fees that lenders have introduced to claw back some of their losses. One specialist website reports a 46 per cent rise in mortgages with an application charge of more than £1,000. Even so, for those with substantial savings, a good job and an excellent credit report, all these hiccups could make 2008 a good time to buy. Watch out for city centre flats, where supply is outstripping demand and developers are willing to discount heavily. See your free Experian credit report now – and set your finances in order for 2008.
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