The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) have revealed that the UK housing market is as flat as it ever has been and expects very few people to be buying homes over the next few years. These assumptions were backed up by data from Hometrack which showed that house prices increased by just 0.2% in April.

The CML also said that those who were thinking about moving house have decided against it because of high deposit rates required as well as feelings of uncertain about the economy and upcoming general election. With little sign of a quick house sale in sight, month on month house prices have pretty much stayed the same with homesellers asking just 0.1% more in March than in February.

Did you watch the budget announcement last week? There was some moves made by Chancellor Alistair Darling that will affect those on the housing market. Most notably, the stamp duty threshold has been raised to £250,000 which is a massive boost for first-time buyers.

The changes will be effective from April 6th and mean all those eager to get a foot on the housing ladder can think more positively about doing so. At the other end of the market, stamp duty on house sales over £1million will be raised to 5% which has already resulted in a rush for a quick house sale by many.

An octuplet mum is facing repossession after her dad failed to keep up repayments on a house he was leasing her. Nadya Suleman’s father was supposed to pay £2,500 a month and a one-off £300,000 payment last month but got into arrears. Now, mortgage lender, Amer Haddadin, is to start repossession proceedings after seeing no other way to secure the California property.

Mr Haddadin signed the property over to Ed Suleman last year but the lack of repayments has left the mortgage provider no other option than to start foreclosure proceedings. Whether the situation can be solved any other way than repossession and a subsequent fast house sale is down to the lender and any court involvement.