Lender Nationwide reported that the average cost of buying a home in Scotland was £149,541 in the second quarter of 2008,  0.6% more than the same period last year, making scotland the only place in the uk showing annual growth, in comparison with a 3.4% drop accross the rest of the UK.

A sharp contrast to a year or two ago when rates would have been 4.25% to about 5.25%

An example of how this hits the pocket is below:

Borrowing £150,000 over 25 years at 4.25% would have cost £821.43 per month on a capital and interest repayment mortage.

Now borrowing £150,000 over 25 years at 7.02% will cost £1074.56 per month on a capital and interest repayment mortage.

Worrying times for anyone coming to the end of their current mortgage deal. However, it seems not all is lost as there could be some light at the end of the tunnel for borrowers. Today, swap rates have decreased from its 6.52% high last week, by 0.16% to 6.36%. We hope that this recent downturn is not short lived and trust that lenders will play a fair game by reflecting this decrease in the rates that they will have on offer in the next few weeks.

However, there is good news:

Clydebank housing assocaition is offering first time buyer home ownership through a shared ownership option, giving you the chance to buy your first property.

You pay only £76,000 - £101,600 for £127,000 flats, they are available through the homestake scheme.

They have at present only a few remaining of the stunning  Development of two bedroom new build flats in central Clydebank at Dean Court all with fitted wardrobes, excellent storage space, en-suite master bedroom, Superb fitted kitchen with dining area - washer and dryer thrown in!
For more info contact Ester at clydebank housing association on 0141 941 1044

I can vouch personally for the shared ownership scheme, as its how I personally got on the the property ladder in clydebank many years ago!

Mchugh and Co, Caledonia Bureau, Clydebank Estate Agents and Remax.

Over the last few weeks there has not been a great deal of movement overall and properties are listing for much longer, but recently in the last couple of days in my area of clydebank I have notcied that four properties now have a sold sign on them, perhaps we are now bucking the trend and this could be the beggining of an uptrend, will have to monitor the situation closely, but it looks like there might be light at the end of the tunnel.

If you have a property on the market for sale and really cant shift it, then perhaps an idea could be to let it out, the rental market is having a huge upturn just now as demand for rental properties is soaring, as not many purchasers are able to either obtain a mortgage or willing to pay ridiculous interest rates on offer at the moment from the lenders, monthly rental prices across the board are up 25% on this time last year, this could be a last resort for sellers that at least could cover the monthly payments of the property until the market and global credit crisis settles and buying activity starts to happen again.

We have been working with estate Agents in Clydebank to iron out the bugs and give the system a thorough testing. We still have some way to go but to get an idea of just how usable the system check this search for property for sale Clydebank.

We will be using this blog to keep you up to date on what is happening here at Locationate as well as the wider property market.