Anyone who received an offer of a standard variable rate mortgage from the Halifax between the 20th September 2004 and the 16th September 2007, and still had the mortgage on the first of January 2009, can expect to receive a rebate.

The lack of mortgage availability has forced young people to either rent a property or remain at home with mum and dad. We’ve heard a lot recently about people relying on the ‘bank of mum and dad’ to help raise the deposit necessary to get a mortgage, but parents could also benefit from the contractor mortgage drought.

Good news for contractor mortgage seekers at last! The Leeds Building Society, the UK’s fifth largest building society has announced that it intends to increase mortgage lending to £1.25billion this year, an increase of 25% on last year. The decision came after the society reported operating profits of £84.5 million last year.

The largest mortgage lenders in the UK have 75% of the share of the market and yet provide only 29% of the best contractor mortgage deals, according to a new survey. The research investigated among others, HSBC, RBS, Santander, Halifax and NatWest.

Home sellers in the UK have been raising their asking prices this month, according to Rightmove Plc.

The threat of an interest rate rise spurred more people to remortgage in January, according to Countrywide, the mortgage broker.

On Tuesday, the Council of Mortgage Lenders participated in a summit organised by Grant Shapps, the housing minister, to find ways to help the UK’s first-time buyers take the first step on the housing ladder.

Financial outsourcer HML predicts that 0.3% of all mortgaged houses will be repossessed this year.

Grant Shapps, the housing minister, hosted a first-time buyer summit yesterday in which he discussed the difficulties facing this group with mortgage lending companies.

Some experts are now predicting that the Bank of England will increase the base rate later rather than sooner. This comes after Thursday’s decision to hold the base rate at 0.5%.

Contractor mortgage hunters will be interested to learn that Halifax Intermediaries launched a range of new mortgage deals last Friday as well as cutting the rates on some of its two year fixed rate products by up to 70%.

Home owners and people with contractor mortgages no doubt breathed a collective sigh of relief yesterday as the Bank of England’s MPC held the base rate at 0.5% for another month.