Building Society Launches Record Low 0.89% Mortgage Rate

Britain’s lowest-ever mortgage rate has been launched, priced at 0.89% for two years. The new move by the Yorkshire Building Society suggests that competition in the home loans market may be intensifying. The previous lowest rate was 0.98%. The Yorkshire’s claim to be offering an “all-time low” rate was verified by the financial data provider Moneyfacts, but is not fixed. It is pegged to the society’s standard variable rate (SVR), offering a discount for two years, so it is not for homebuyers looking for the certainty of fixed monthly payments. The deal is also restricted to people needing to borrow no more than 65% of the value of their property and who are happy to pay a fee of £1,495. Read more on the Daily Express website.

Council To Make 70 Families Homeless... To Re-House HOMELESS Families

Peterborough City Council has spent £1.2 million over the last six months on housing families in Travelodges. Now it has signed an agreement to house the families in homes in the city. But in order for this to happen 74 current families will be made homeless - meaning they might then have to be re-housed by the council themselves. Angry residents, some of whom have lived there for decades, say they received the eviction letters completely "out of the blue" and are shocked that they must now suddenly leave, just weeks before Christmas. Read more on the Express website.

Pressure To Slash Benefits outside Richer South-East

Policy Exchange says lowering the limit would reflect the difference in the cost of living – and save the nation’s coffers £100million a year. Piling pressure on the Government, the think-tank says the cap should be reduced by 10 per cent – to £23,400 – for those living in the rest of the UK. It comes ahead of a major piece of research this month examining how a future government could find further savings in the welfare budget. The Policy Exchange paper will also say that child benefit should be capped at four children and payments progressively reduced after the first child. It says the collective benefit changes would lead to savings of £1billion by 2020. Read more on the Daily Express website.