Home · Business · Sep 20 archive
UK Homeowner Builds £13,500 Garden Office to Cut Mortgage Costs
Confirmed
In Short: Cheryl Crossley, 37, has built a garden office that saves her £500 a month on mortgage costs, according to The i Paper. The 4.5m by 1.5m structure, which she jokingly calls a 'coffice,' cost £13,500 and took three weeks to build.
Cheryl Crossley, 37, has built a garden office that saves her £500 a month on mortgage costs, according to The i Paper. The 4.5m by 1.5m structure, which she jokingly calls a 'coffice,' cost £13,500 and took three weeks to build.
Crossley says the garden office is 'very narrow and a bit like a coffin' but perfect for her needs. The project did not require planning permission and has helped her avoid moving to a more expensive area.
Meanwhile, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported that homebuyer affordability improved in July, with the typical mortgage payment dropping to $2,175. Edward Seiler, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Housing Economics, noted that earnings growth has outpaced the increase in mortgage payments.
The Builders’ Purchase Application Payment Index (BPAPI) showed that the median mortgage payment for purchase mortgages increased to $2,210 in July from $2,199 in June. The national mortgage payment to rent ratio (MPRR) also increased from 1.35 at the end of the first quarter to 1.43 at the end of the second quarter.
Joel Kan, MBA's Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist, said that increasing mortgage rates continue to put pressure on new home sales activity. FHA loans hit a three-month high as buyers leaned on government programs to offset rising rates.
Nicholas Barta, division president at Security First Financial, told Mortgage Professional America that persistent rate pressure cuts directly into buyer eligibility. Applications to purchase newly constructed homes declined in August for the fifth straight month.
Rachel Springall from financial information service Moneyfacts said borrowers expecting mortgage rates to drop have had their hopes dashed. Someone on a typical two-year deal, borrowing £250,000, is likely to pay £120 more a month in mortgage repayments than they would have had they secured the deal at the start of March.
Andrew Bailey, Bank of England governor, told MPs on the Treasury Committee that UK borrowers have seen the biggest rise in mortgage rates, apart from Japan, since the conflict started than in other countries in the G7 group of major economic powers.
Debbie Calixto, a sales manager at mortgage lender loanDepot in Indian Wells, California, said a mortgage is the loan that funds a home purchase for many buyers and makes homeownership possible for most people.
What this adds
The garden office project highlights a creative solution to rising mortgage costs, but it does not address the broader economic challenges faced by homebuyers.
What's confirmed
- Cheryl Crossley, 37, has built a garden office that saves her £500 a month on mortgage costs, according to The i Paper. The 4.5m by 1.5m structure, which she jokingly calls a 'coffice,' cost £13,500 and took three weeks to build.
- Crossley says the garden office is 'very narrow and a bit like a coffin' but perfect for her needs. The project did not require planning permission and has helped her avoid moving to a more expensive area.
- Meanwhile, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported that homebuyer affordability improved in July, with the typical mortgage payment dropping to $2,175. Edward Seiler, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Housing Economics, noted that earnings growth has outpaced the increase in mortgage payments.
- The Builders’ Purchase Application Payment Index (BPAPI) showed that the median mortgage payment for purchase mortgages increased to $2,210 in July from $2,199 in June. The national mortgage payment to rent ratio (MPRR) also increased from 1.35 at the end of the first quarter to 1.43 at the end of the second quarter.
- Joel Kan, MBA's Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist, said that increasing mortgage rates continue to put pressure on new home sales activity. FHA loans hit a three-month high as buyers leaned on government programs to offset rising rates.
- Nicholas Barta, division president at Security First Financial, told Mortgage Professional America that persistent rate pressure cuts directly into buyer eligibility. Applications to purchase newly constructed homes declined in August for the fifth straight month.
- Rachel Springall from financial information service Moneyfacts said borrowers expecting mortgage rates to drop have had their hopes dashed. Someone on a typical two-year deal, borrowing £250,000, is likely to pay £120 more a month in mortgage repayments than they would have had they secured the deal at the start of March.
- Andrew Bailey, Bank of England governor, told MPs on the Treasury Committee that UK borrowers have seen the biggest rise in mortgage rates, apart from Japan, since the conflict started than in other countries in the G7 group of major economic powers.
- Debbie Calixto, a sales manager at mortgage lender loanDepot in Indian Wells, California, said a mortgage is the loan that funds a home purchase for many buyers and makes homeownership possible for most people.
What's still developing
- April saw the highest monthly total of Chapter 12 agricultural bankruptcies in six years following years of volatile net income.
- Here’s what that could mean for credit cards, car loans, mortgages, savings and stocks.
- This is according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Purchase Applications Payment Index (PAPI), which measures how new monthly mortgage payments vary across time – relative to income – using data from MBA’s Weekly Applications Survey (WAS).
- A decrease in the PAPI – indicative of improving borrower affordability conditions – occurs when loan application amounts decrease, mortgage rates decrease, or earnings increase.
- Ten-year Treasury yields, meanwhile, have soared to their highest level since 2007 and expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike are surging, potentially putting further upward pressure on US mortgage rates.
- "More homebuyers turned to FHA loans in response to higher mortgage rates, and those loans accounted for 35% of applications, the highest share in three months," Kan said.
- It marked the fifth consecutive month of annual declines, a sustained pullback that underscores the pressure elevated mortgage rates continue to place on new-home demand.
- “One of the biggest mistakes buyers make is focusing only on principal and interest and underestimating the true monthly payment,” Calixto warns.
- Because a mortgage can involve decades of payments, fees and terms, it’s important to understand how it works before you borrow.
- Here’s what you need before taking out a mortgage.
- A mortgage is a legal agreement that lets you borrow money to buy a home, with the property serving as collateral — meaning the lender has a legal claim to it until the loan is paid off.
- “A lender provides financing that you repay over time, so you don’t have to pay the home’s full purchase price upfront.” When you take out a mortgage, you commit to monthly payments over a set term, often 15 or 30 years.