It’s hard to have an optimistic view of the housing industry when approval numbers are just half of what they have been over the last decade. Only 48,700 mortgage applications were approved in July, according to the Bank of England. This is just a touch over half of what an average month of 93,000 has been over the last 10 years. The opinion is the housing market is either going nowhere or is preparing for the double dip; it just depends who you ask for which answer you will hear. Economists however, are very pessimistic about the British property market.

An unspeakable amount of homeowners will be stagnating in negative equity status fro a few years, says a leading property organisation. The finances of homeowners have not only been battered by the recession, but now their property is suffering.

The bank is closed for risky mortgages. This coming from a senior official of the Bank of England, in describing how banks are to handle applications now across the UK. This plan from the Central Bank is the initial step in making an effort to prevent another possible credit crisis.

The equity release remortgage is becoming more popular with senior citizens. With the pension plan up in the air and possibly changing tomorrow, an alternative to standard retirement is exactly what seniors need. The equity release remortgage is a product which allows people 60 years of age and older, to release cash from their home as a repayable loan which is taken care of on the sale of their home, after they pass away.

Home prices in the UK have increased almost a half per cent in the month of July. The average cost of a home now in England and Wales has reached 166,798 pounds. Prices overall have increased almost 7 per cent over the past year. These figures provided by the Land Registry.

The property website Rightmove had a huge first half of the year. They reported a gain of almost 49 per cent in profits to 24.5 million pounds. The company experienced its best March ever and activity during the summer remained very high.