Property news roundup: Third of homeowners won’t repay mortgage until their 60s

Plus, what smells sell, Help to Buy stats, and start now to move before the summer holidays

More than 7,000 buyers have signed up since the scheme was launched in mid-April (PA)

A third of homeowners with repayment mortgages will not have repaid the loan until they have reached their retirement years.

Of these, nearly one in 20 will be aged over 70 before it is paid off, says the report from mortgage and secured loans broker Ocean Finance.

People living in the East Midlands are most likely to still be paying off the debt when they are over 61 years old (18.7 per cent) while those in the South West are the most likely to have paid off the entire debt, with just 7.8 per cent likely to still be repaying it in their 60s.

Ian Williams, spokesman for Ocean Finance, says: "As the average age of first-time buyers continues to rise, millions are now in a situation where they won’t have finished repaying their mortgage until they’re about to retire.

Move by the summer holidays

Anybody who wants to sell their house and move by the start of the school summer holidays should put their house on the market by 20 March, according to figures from Move with Us and Home.co.uk. They calculate that the average time it takes to sell a property at the moment is 126 days.

What smells sell well

White tea and fig is the new way to sell your home successfully. This is the scent house builders Millgate have recently been using (instead of the more traditional coffee and baked bread) in their show homes.

Millgate's Sales & Marketing Director, Johnathan Cranley said: "After extensive testing and consideration, we selected the white tea and fig scent for our homes as the blend creates a soothing, luxurious environment. From its roots in China, white tea is renowned for its health benefits whilst fig exudes a sophisticated yet subtle scent which appeals to our buyers."

Help to Buy drives recovery in mortgage buying in 2014

Help to Buy is the main factor behind a 50 per cent increase in the proportion of properties bought using mortgages in the first two months of 2014, suggests a new Quick Move Now study.

Donna Houguez, Quick Move Now’s market analyst, said: "We are now seeing the true impact of the Help to Buy scheme as successful offers made in the last quarter of 2014 are reaching completion stage.

"Bolstering this is the general mood of optimism in the economy – buyers feel more secure in their employment and are thus willing to take on the financial responsibility of a mortgage. We are also seeing an increase in buy-to-let investors taking advantage of the low interest mortgages available for the time being."