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Extended help for homeowners struggling to pay mortgages after losing their jobs has been introduced by the Government in a bid to slow spiralling repossessions. Thousands more will qualify for help with interest payments after the threshold for qualification was raised and the waiting period slashed by two thirds to 13 weeks.

Source: "http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20090105/tuk-new-help-for-mortgage-strugglers-6323e80.html

Mortgage lenders predict the recession will lead to a huge rise in arrears among their borrowers in 2009. The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said the number of households more than three months behind with their repayments would reach 500,000.

Source: "http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7789274.stm

The number of properties repossessed by mortgage lenders rose by 12% to 11,300 in the third quarter of the year, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said. The number of borrowers in arrears also went up compared with the previous quarter, by 8% to 168,000.

Source: "http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7741172.stm

A lack of available mortgages is "stifling" the housing market, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics). It reported that the number of UK home sales has fallen to at least a 30-year low over the past three months.

Source: "http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7720886.stm

According to website What Mortgage.co.uk, UK consumers are still going to professional advisers for help with their finances. New figures from Unbiased.co.uk, the find an Independent Financial Adviser search, reveal that as the UK continues to feel the effects of the global financial crisis, over 125,000 consumers have sought guidance from an independent financial adviser in the last three months.

Source: "http://www.whatmortgage.co.uk/article/Consumers-continue-to-seek-independent-advice-228629.html

The number of properties repossessed by lenders in the second quarter of this year was up 71% on the same period last year, figures showed today. Rising household bills and increasing mortgage costs resulted in 11,054 new possessions cases in the three months between April and June this year, compared with just 6,476 in the same quarter of 2007. The figures, from the Financial Services Authority, also showed an increase in the number of homeowners who had fallen behind on mortgage repayments.

Source: "http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/oct/28/repossessions-debt

Rightmove, the property search website, will sack 20 per cent of its staff to save 5 million as UK property sales slow to a trickle and estate agents' business dries up. Rightmove generates most of its revenues from fees paid by estate agents to advertise on its website but an online poll earlier this month showed that more than 75 per cent of UK estate agents are threatening to remove properties currently listed on the website.

Source: "http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/construction_and_property/article4998446.ece

LONDON (Reuters) - Gross mortgage lending fell 10 percent in September to the lowest level for any month since January 2005, hit by weak demand and the global financial crisis, Britain's Council of Mortgage Lenders said on Monday.

Source: "http://uk.reuters.com/article/propertyNews/idUKLNE49J03U20081020

The Competition Commission has criticised the Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) market after a flood of complaints of mis-selling by consumers.

Source: "http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7662869.stm

UK house prices registered a 1.3% fall in September, according to the Halifax. The lender said the drop meant the annual fall now stood at 12.4%, with the cost of the average home in the UK now at £172,108. It joined the Nationwide in claiming that the rate of decline was starting to stabilise when looking at three-month comparison figures.

Source: "http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7660695.stm

Three major lenders are raising mortgage rates amid further volatility in the banking sector.The global economic turmoil has made mortgage providers reluctant to lend to each other, pushing the rate at which banks lend money to each other higher.

Source: "http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7637196.stm

The Abbey bank has become the latest high-street lender to cut some of its mortgage rates. It is now making fixed-rate deals cheaper for people who can put down a deposit of just 15%. In the past week other lenders including the Nationwide, HSBC and the Co-op bank have also cut their rates.

Source: "http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7612265.stm

The slump in the UK property market continued in August, with some estate agents selling fewer than one home per week in the past three months.

Source: "http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7604592.stm

UK house prices have seen an annual double-digit fall for the first time since 1990, according to the latest survey from the Nationwide.

Source: "http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7584877.stm

More than a third of adults could survive financially for only 11 days if they were to lose their job or be too ill to work, according to a new survey.

Source: "http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1038445/Why-millions-people-just-11-days-financial-ruin.html?ref=patrick.net

Families across the country could be wasting close to 500m every year by paying over the odds to their lenders on mortgage protection insurance, research from Columbus Direct has suggested.

Source: http://www.mortgagesolutions-online.co.uk/public/showPage.html?page=795055"

One in five borrowers are concerned about meeting their mortgage repayments over the next 12 months, the Financial Services Authority have said, reigniting concerns over rising default rates.

Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL0380280520080304

Research for the BBC Two series, The Truth About Property, found 53% of respondents believed owning property was safer than cash. The poll took place in the aftermath of the Northern Rock crisis, the first run on a British bank in nearly 150 years.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7044113.stm