Zoomf Blog - UK Property Blog.

• First-time buyers trapped by rent rises. They can’t afford to buy a house, but soaring rents are making it hard to even rent a house. According to buy-to-let mortgage lender Paragon, monthly rent bills have risen by an average 11.7% across the UK this past year, although tenants in South Wales are paying almost 30% more than this time last year. Read more at The Times.
• Mortgage approvals falls to record low. Yesterday, the British Bankers Association reported that the numbers of loans approved for house purchase fell from 34,752 in April to 27,968 in May. If we compare to last year that’s 56.1% lower than in May 2007 and the approvals figures are by far the lowest since the data began in 1997. Read more at the FT.
• Household fuel bills could rise by 40%. Fuel bills are already up by around 15%,  but senior executives of Britain’s leading energy companies are warning that householders are likely to face further sharp rises in gas and electricity bills. It looks like we’ll be wearing two pairs of socks in bed this winter. Read more at The Guardian.
• From smug to mug in 24 months. Matthew Bretherton takes us through his personal mortgage woes over at Money.co.uk.
• Changing the world with Google MapMaker. Google is putting the users in the driving to seat improve their Google Maps product, Joe Public will be able to edit, add and moderate different mapping features to make Google Maps the hottest mapping software out there. The UK and US are not available for editing yet, they’re obviously trialling it out on ’smaller countries’, but it’s worth checking out. Read more at GeekEstate.
• What would happen if you clicked through to Zoomf and you were greeted with a page that said ’sorry folks, we’ve gone to the beach’? You’d probably be a bit narked. But that’s what happened to Faceparty users yesterday, except the Faceparty developers chose London Zoo as their destination of choice and used a lot more expletives to convey the message. Oh and they blamed the users too. If you don’t mind swear words, read more at TechCrunch.

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