First-time buyers are borrowing through mortgages that last an average of 31 years as the affordability of homes remains a stretch. A decade ago, the average mortgage term for those buying a first home was 28 years, according to figures from banking trade body UK Finance. Higher mortgage rates have pushed people to borrow for...
Kevin Peachey Cost of living correspondent Getty Images More than half of first-time buyers received financial help from their family to make house purchases last year, according to estimates by estate agency Savills. An average of £55,572 was given in loans and gifts by the so-called bank of mum and dad to buyers, it said....
Marc Ashdown Business correspondent, BBC News Getty Images Mortgage rates are expected to come down over the next year, which could make owning a home a possibility for millions more people. Thinking about where to start can be a daunting prospect, but there are an increasing number of ways to save up for a deposit,...
A Devon woman with no previous sailing experience said the first part of a round-the-world journey has been “profound”. Wedding celebrant Zena Birch, from Plymouth, started her circumnavigation in January after she was invited by a couple she had helped marry a decade earlier. Ms Birch, who is one of six people on board the...
A pair of critically endangered giant tortoises aged about 100 years old have become first-time parents at Philadelphia Zoo. The zoo said this week it was “overjoyed” at the arrival of four hatchlings from Abrazzo and Mommy, a pair Western Santa Cruz Galapagos tortoises. The births were a “first” in the zoo’s 150-plus-year history, it...