Help to Buy should not be a permanent feature of the mortgage market or become the UK equivalent of Fannie Mae, the Government owned mortgage arm which crashed in 2008 claims BSA Chairman

The Government is 'woefully under-prepared' for the impact a rapidly ageing population will have on society and public services, a Lords Committee has warned.

Chancellor George Osborne gave the mortgage market a welcomed boost last month when he announced a package of measures aimed at helping borrowers with a small deposit to get on the housing ladder.

One in five (19%) homeowners feel that 2013 could be a good time to consider remortgaging, research released by Lloyds TSB has revealed.

House prices in the first three months of 2013 were 1.2% higher than in the final three months of 2012 according to the latest Halifax House Price Index.

A recent report by Lloyds TSB suggests that the number of UK homes being sold for 1 million plus has rocketed and is the highest for nearly 6 years.

It is not the 1 million mortgage properties but rather, one and two bedroom properties which deliver the highest rental returns with average yields of 6.8% and 6.4% respectively, data from Countrywide shows.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders estimates that total gross mortgage lending increased to £11.6 billion in March. This is 9% higher than February's gross lending figure of £10.6 billion but 8% lower than £12.6 billion in March 2012.

More tenants are paying their rents on time this year, according to new research by Countrywide Letting Agents. The Countrywide Quarterly Letting Index shows that rental payment arrears fell in the first quarter of 2013 compared to the previous year.

Mortgage lending increased 1% in February compared to the previous month, according to the latest data from the British Bankers' Association.