Property news roundup: One in three think they will never own a home

Plus, bingo, historic maps, remortgage growth, and latest mortgage figures

Bingo hall for sale in Marine Parade, Great Yarmouth NR30. On for £725,000 with Aldreds.

More than 80 per cent of those hoping to get onto the property ladder would rather buy a home than rent one and nearly three quarters feel it is important to own the home in which they live.

The poll by ComRes also shows that while just over 60 per cent of people believe there is a housing crisis in Britain (19 per cent don't believe this), only 40 per cent think that there is a need for building new homes in their local area.

While nearly half say that the Government’s Help to Buy schemes have been successful in helping people buy homes they could not previously afford, four in ten add that it is contributing to the increase in house prices.

Bingo!

The Chancellor's Budget gave a marvellous tax break to those who enjoy their bingo so Zoopla has put together a list of some of the best bingo halls on the market.

Historic England and Wales maps now online

The National Library of Scotland has put a huge collection of Ordnance Survey maps online showing the development of England and Wales from the Victorian era up to the 1950s. This means that individual buildings and streets can be easily traced.

Chris Fleet, Senior Map Curator at NLS said: "These new maps cover all of England and Wales and are immensely valuable for local and family history. People can search for the street their grandparents lived in or see how 19 century farmland has turned into today’s suburbs."

Remortgages grow by a third

Over the last year, the number of valuations for remortgaging has grown faster than any other part of the housing market, according to chartered surveyors Connells Survey & Valuation.

Remortgaging activity increased 18 per cent between January and February and the number of remortgage deals has increased 35 per cent since February 2013.

"Household budgets are still recovering from the last half decade of wage freezes and economic stagnation. Remortgages are making up a large part of the market as people struggle to make budgets add up – they’re remortgaging to keep monthly payments down," said John Bagshaw, Corporate Services Director at Connells . "As the likelihood of an impending interest rate hike increases, so will the number of homeowners looking to remortgage as they try to ensure they will still be able to pay the bills in the future."

Mortgage lending up 43 per cent

The Council of Mortgage Lenders estimates that total gross mortgage lending was £15.2 billion in February, 6 per cent lower than January’s figure of £16.1 billion, but 43 per cent higher than February last year and the highest total for a February since 2008.

CML chief economist Bob Pannell said: "First-time buyers have benefited most from the government’s Help to Buy initiatives, with the more recent mortgage guarantee scheme now starting to push typical loan-to-value levels higher. The housing market got a further boost from this week’s Budget. This, together with benign developments in the economy more widely, should bolster short-term sentiment and activity."