Since the price of property has fallen significantly over the course of the last twelve months and now interest rates on secured loans are at the lowest level in many years, a large number of people are starting to come round to the idea that it might actually be rather a good time to consider buying a house, whether it is as a family home, or as an investment.

In the most recent survey, conducted by the Building Societies Association (BSA), 46 per cent of those people interviewed thought that now was probably a good time to think about buying. This figure has increased from 34 per cent in September and shows some positive signs for the housing and secured loan markets.

Of course, the main problem faced by anybody wanting to buy a house at the moment, is that of securing the necessary finance through a secured loan or mortgage, as banks and building societies continue to impose strict lending criteria on their loan agreements.

However, for someone with a clean credit history there are still plenty of good secured loan deals available on the market, although to get the benefit of these deals, a potential borrower will be looking at a loan to value ratio of around 70 per cent maximum.

For someone who would require a high loan to value, has a less than perfect financial history, or doesn’t quite fit the mould of a perfect borrower, it is still extremely difficult to obtain the secured loan they want and unfortunately, this is likely to be the case for some time yet.

But on a more positive note, if you are in the enviable position of having a suitable deposit and a clean financial record, there are some great deals on secured loans out there and property prices are more affordable than they have been for a long time, so to answer the question at the top of this article is…yes, if you’ve got the money, there’s never been a better time to buy a house!

It looks as though another specialist loan company is facing difficulties this week, as Welcome Finance announced that it was placing a cap on the amount of new lending it was prepared to undertake.

Welcome Finance, who deal exclusively with loan brokers and financial intermediaries and specialise in secured loans in the adverse credit and sub-prime sectors, has told those brokers holding agencies that it intends to place a limit on the availability of secured loans for at least the next two months.

The news comes as Welcome’s parent company, Cattles, has recently applied for a banking licence, which will allow the company to expand its business by accepting retail deposits from customers and is currently awaiting approval from the Financial Services Authority (FSA), but the company’s share price has dropped significantly, causing concerns over the future of the bad credit loan provider.

The cap on new secured loans comes as bad news for both borrowers and brokers alike, as it limits the options for them to source a loan for a client with a less than perfect credit history even further, following several other secured loan companies withdrawing from the sub prime market altogether over the course of the past few months.

Meanwhile, Cattles have announced that they are still committed to the intermediary adverse secured loan business over the long term and have no plans to withdraw agencies at the present time, despite limiting the amount of new lending they are prepared to offer.

A spokesman for Cattles, Paul Marriott said on Monday this week “We plan to stay in the intermediary market for second charge loans, but given the current market conditions we are carefully managing the level of business across all of our agencies.”

It is a well known fact that personal finances are beginning to get tough for a large number of individuals with homeowner loans and secured loans on their properties, but it would appear that the situation is actually getting worse according to a recent survey.

The research company Standard and Poor’s has been monitoring the level of arrears on homeowner loans and mortgages since 2000 and has revealed that there has been a 50 per cent increase in the number of borrowers who are in at least one months arrears with their loan, over the course of the last twelve months.

The figures, which are taken up to the end of September this year, have shown that 3.24 per cent of all those loans in arrears are made up of prime loans, where borrowers have previously had an excellent credit rating and no arrears on any previous loans or mortgages, this is double the figure for the same period last year and the highest level since the survey began.

The number of cases which are now in arrears of three months or more has also increased to 1.16 per cent of all homeowner loans, but if bad credit loans are included, this figure rises to 1.44 per cent.

The recent reduction in interest rates may be of some comfort to borrowers who are struggling to keep up to date with their loan repayments, provided that their lender has passed on the full saving to them, but despite this, the level of homeowner loan arrears is continuing to increase at an alarming rate and many experts predict that we are likely to see a large increase in the number of properties being repossessed as we go through 2009.

The impact of the credit crunch seems to be taking its toll on all sectors of society in the UK, including the elderly.

A recent report from Saga has claimed that an increasing number of old people are being forced to take out secured loans on their homes in order to be able to pay for long term care fees and nursing home fees, as they are finding it increasingly difficult to sell their homes in the current economic conditions.

In the past when an elderly person has gone into long term care, the normal course of action is for them to sell their home and use the funds released to pay for the care fees.

However, with the property market standing still at the moment, this is no longer an option and for a large number of people who do not have a sufficient level of savings to pay their bills, the only option is to take out a secured loan on their home and as most banks and building societies will be unlikely to offer a loan of any kind to someone in this position, they will be forced to approach their local council for a secured loan.

A lifetime mortgage, or equity release loan, will not be an option in this situation either. Although this type of secured loan is becoming increasingly popular and usually doesn’t require the borrower to make monthly repayments, one of the requirements of the loan is that the borrower must be living in the house and if they enter long term care, the house must be sold and the loan repaid, placing them right back with the original problem they started with.

Yes I know…now we’re in December, the festive season is upon us, ’tis the season to be jolly, and all that sort of stuff. The season of goodwill to all men and a time of giving…ah yes, that’s where the problems tend to start!

It seems that most of us in the UK tend to go a bit silly when it comes to spending money on our loved ones at Christmas time. Don’t get me wrong and start calling me Ebenezer Scrooge; I enjoy Christmas as much as the next man, but it’s worth making a small note of caution to those individuals who are about to hit the high street.

Many people simply spend money which they haven’t got, just so that they can buy presents for their family and friends, which end up being pushed into the back corner of some cupboard and forgotten about (the presents that it, not the friends!).

This spending without thought about the consequences can cause extreme problems for people who put the cost of Christmas on a credit card, or in some cases take out a personal loan to cover the additional expense, particularly in January when the credit card statement lands on the door mat, or the personal loan repayments start going out of the bank.

With the current economic slow down, things appear to be slightly more sensible this year, with high street stores reporting low sales figures and more people shopping on line for their presents, thereby saving themselves money, but despite this, it is likely that many of us will overspend just for the sake of a couple of days, which kind of misses the point of Christmas.

Think carefully about what you are spending and keep a record of the amount spent, remembering that it all has to be repaid in January. If you do take out a personal loan to cover the cost, only take a term of one year maximum, because the likelihood is that you will need another loan to pay for next Christmas and so the problem is exacerbated.

Have a good Christmas by all means, but I think a little bit of the Scrooge attitude won’t go amiss, particularly in the current economic climate.