Scotland

Looking at the figures representing the last quarter of 2010, the average price of a property rose and is now £155,618 – an increase of 1.7% compared to the same period in 2009.

Beating Edinburgh, East Dunbartonshire saw increases of around 10.5% to have the highest prices in the country. However, Shetland outshone those figures as its house prices increase by over 20%.

Like many areas in the UK, the Scotland market did see a reduction as sales decreased by approximately 7% although experts predict the market is likely to stabilise this year.

The Marketing Head for GSPC, Mark Hordern, commented in an article for the Express:

“East Dunbartonshire has a high concentration of desirable properties and locations, notably Bearsden and Milngavie.

“Edinburgh, of course, has lots of equally prestigious areas, but it also has more deprived areas reflected in its overall figure.”

The figures from the RoS include any and all residential purchases/sales once a transaction has completed whether a mortgage was involved or not. However, this does mean there is a delay from offer to completion and so these figures may actually more accurately reflect the offers made last summer.

For those seeking to work as a mortgage advisor in Scotland, they need CeMAP training as with elsewhere in the UK. However, the law regarding property sales in Scotland is slightly different to that of England and Wales so it’s usually advised to complete the CeMAP training in Scotland or at least with a financial training provider whose CeMAP courses reflect the differences in the law.

According to recent reports on the Business7 website, Tesco has agreed a five year deal with global customer management firm Vertex to support its mortgage launch planned for the middle of 2011 with its mortgage employees based in the Scottish city of Glasgow.

Benny Higgins, chief executive of Tesco Bank, said: “We are focused on designing mortgage products that are consistent with the Tesco brand; namely, products that are simple, transparent and reward customer loyalty.

“We are making good progress and plan to submit our proposals to the FSA next month.

“We have been very impressed with the quality of applicants we have seen for our Broadway One office in Glasgow and firmly believe that this is also the right location for customer sales and service staff for our mortgage business.

“Customer service is central to Tesco as a group and these will be crucial roles for the business as we look to enter the mortgage market next year.”

The Tesco Bank is already the UK’s biggest supermarket bank. The firm has more than 6 million accounts with customers over around 30 financial services and products.

Having a base or partial base in Scotland can be helpful for any mortgage business because if you plan to work as mortgage advisor in Scotland some legalities or ways of working are slightly different there than in England and Wales. If a person wants to take the CeMAP exam to become a mortgage advisor, it always makes it easier if your CeMAP trainer has material specific to Scotland.

Scotland

CeMAP

You may or may not be aware, but the law in relation to property in England & Wales is slightly different to that in Scotland so when it comes to mortgage advice-related courses there are a few differences.

Most CeMAP companies only teach their courses in accordance with the law for England and Wales, because there is far greater demand for this service. To cater for Scottish law, they would have to understand the difference and put this into their course materials. When most of their students have no need to know the difference, this increases their costs at what is, in their eyes, a largely unnecessary expense.

However, although they are few and far between there are one or two companies who have adapted their materials to Scottish Law and even teach their CeMAP courses in Scotland as well as other cities throughout the UK. At Beacon Financial Training, we do offer our training courses in Scotland or if someone from Scotland wants to take their CeMAP course in Leeds, for example, or lives in England but intends to work as a mortgage advisor in Scotland, then we can teach the Scottish differences in the same group as normal – there are just some extra materials to be given to the student interested in Scottish law.

Scotland

CeMAP training courses

There are certainly differences in the syllabus for Scotland, because the land laws in Scotland differ to those in England and Wales. As a result, the CeMAP exam taken in Scotland is different too. Although the differences may be slight, for instance there is no ‘leasehold’ under property law in Scotland, you should be made aware of them as every point can be valuable in the exam and to lose even one point on such a small matter would be unfair.

Even for those who live in Scotland and have bought a property there beforehand, the differences may not be obvious.
However, there are very few training providers offering CeMAP courses in Scotland – and few in England and Wales that will teach the difference. The main differences between the courses are in CeMAP 2.

Unfortunately, there is little demand in Scotland for dedicated CeMAP training courses, which is why there are so few training companies running courses there. Those that do run CeMAP courses in Scotland tend to charge more for the privilege and will not run them as often.

A reputable training provider should not only know the differences in the CeMAP syllabus for Scotland but should not charge a premium price for the knowledge.

In the third quarter of 2009, the UK’s house prices rose by 3.7 percent in total. The strongest increase for England was in the South West rising by 4.9 percent, whereas the strongest rise for the UK as a whole was seen in Northern Ireland with 9.7 percent. On an annual basis, compared to last year Scotland came out on top as the strongest performing region of the UK.

This fifth consecutive increase continues the trend for small increases we reported earlier this year and tentatively predicted would continue.

Comments in the media from the chief economist at Nationwide, Martin Gahbauer, state that although the annual rates of change are still negative, all regions saw an increase quarter on quarter this year.

For the mortgages market, the result of this remains unclear and experts debate upon how quickly the mortgage market will be stimulated. Reports show that mortgage lending actually decreased by UK banks in the third quarter of this year, and the banks are under pressure from all sides to increase this.

Indeed, Mr Gahbauer stated new buyer interest has certainly increased over the last few months yet the supply of properties available to purchase remains limited, and it is likely to be this supporting the house prices.

Moving forwards, it is likely these small increases may continue and could be maintained for the next few months. The issue, as many agree, is the lack of mortgage lending by the banks.

However, in just the last two weeks, we have seen the return of the 90 percent mortgage for new house purchases offered by HSBC. If this stimulates competition, we hope to see the return of the 90 percent mortgage for borrowers seeking remortgages and a subsequent increase in mortgage lending, albeit with stricter controls upon proof of income and credit checks required for borrowers as mortgagors remain risk averse.

CeMAP

Scotland

CeMAP training courses

Scottish property law is slightly different to that in England Wales, which means that the CeMAP exam for mortgage advisers in Scotland differs as well. The process of buying a property in Scotland is different from buying a property in England and Wales. One difference in Scotland for example is that under Scottish property law there is no ‘leasehold’.

Because of the differences to the property law in Scotland, the CeMAP training courses in Scotland are different to those in England in Wales. The bulk of the differences in the CeMAP courses in Scotland lie in the ‘CeMAP 2’ section of the syllabus.

It is often difficult to locate a CeMAP training company that offers CeMAP training targeted towards Scottish law, and they’re often more expensive when you do find them.

CeMAP Training in Scotland

CeMAP training courses

Scotland

The figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) showed that the number of homebuyers showing an interest in Scotland continued to rise for the fifth consecutive month like the rest of the country, however, it was at a slower rate than last month.

However, the number of properties being put up for sales has dropped drastically as RICS reported that 47 per cent more Scottish surveyors had reported a decrease in new property instructions than had reported a rise.

A spokeswoman for Rics Scotland, said:

“Lower house prices and an increase in mortgage approvals are encouraging buyers back to the market, although at nowhere near the levels we saw a couple of years ago.”

Despite this, the figures still show a positive improvement across the nation as backed by the figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) that we discussed yesterday too.

CeMAP

Scotland

Although the figures show that mortgage lending in Scotland fell by 18 percent in the third quarter of this year, the number of mortgages approved there still accounted for 12 percent of the total UK lending, which makes being a mortgage advisor in Scotland one of the best places to be a mortgage advisor at the moment.

The statistics also show some other interesting news, such as the average deposit on those home loans was 16 percent.

CML policy consultant Kennedy Foster said: “The year-on-year decline in house purchase lending has been less pronounced in Scotland.  As the Crosby report recognised earlier this week, intervention is needed to restore the availability of mortgages and we hope to see its recommendations implemented swiftly. This would help address the mortgage supply issues, but consumer demand for loans will continue to fall away in the weaker economic outlook.”

Whether this is true or not depends upon how you view the financial services market in Scotland. In Scotland, the financial services sector accounts for more than 86,000 employees that work in this area. Only London and West Yorkshire, predominantly in the Leeds area, have a higher percentage of staff in the financial services sector.

The worst part of the financial services sector affected by the credit crunch is the high-end areas, such as hedge funds and derivatives trading, which is not concentrated in Scotland, according to Dougie Adams or the Ernest & Young ITEM Club. However, many do work for banks such as HSBC, Lloyds TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland, working in call centre servicing mortgages and personal accounts.

If the HSBC and Lloyds TSB merge, then there could be redundancies, although when Natwest and Royal Bank of Scotland merged, the redundancies did not follow for two years.

However, house prices in Scotland have not risen as much as in other areas south of the border, hence credit problems caused by rising house prices probably will not hit Scotland as much as other areas and thus call centre workers in mortgages and mortgage advisors may not feel the effects as much.

The debate on how Scotland will be affected rages on.

Scotland

Among the calls from Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy First Minister, are for cuts to VAT in order to assist the construction industry in Scotland. She also wants to see the government offer more assistance to homeowners who have been made unemployed in the current financial crisis and have fallen into arrears with their mortgage payments. In addition to this she wants to see the government make significant investment in affordable housing in Scotland, and to introduce plans to help homeowners who are struggling to repay their mortgages introduced sooner.

As those who have completed their CeMAP training in Scotland will know, the rules for mortgages in Scotland are different from England and Wales.

The current scheme to help homeowners struggling with repayments, the Income Support for Mortgage Interest (ISMI) scheme, sees the government offer assistance to homeowners who have fallen into arrears by helping to pay the interest. However this scheme is only available on mortgages under £100,000 and doesn’t offer any financial help until nine months of arrears have been accrued.

New plans exist to reduce the waiting period from nine months, and to cover mortgages up to £175,000. These proposals aren’t being implemented soon enough for the Scottish government however, who want to see the plans come in before the end of the year.

Sturgeon has made these suggestions in a letter to Alistair Darling, who is expected to announce tax cuts next week.

Ms Sturgeon stated:

Next week, Alistair Darling has a gilt-edged opportunity to do the right thing by lending a helping hand to boost Scotland’s housing industry.

There has never been a more opportune time for the chancellor to inject significant funding for much needed affordable housing across Scotland.

At a time when so many jobs are being lost, he should also provide a boost for Scotland’s construction sector.

The chancellor is set to present his pre-Budget report on Monday, where plans for increased public spending to aid the flailing economy and tax cuts are predicted.