Mortgage lenders Mortgage lending companies such as Nationwide ( http://www.nationwide.co.uk/default.htm ) or Halifax ( http://www.halifax.co.uk/home/index.shtml ) provide regular surveys covering entire UK rather than just England and Wales. These are usually available monthly, and are based on final price agreed by their mortgage customers, thereby ignoring other lenders figures, and 25% of cash transaction house sales. Useful in giving snapshots of property market, although frequently different lenders figures contradict each others trends.

Price comparison sites Comparison websites, such as Moneynet ( http://www.moneynet.co.uk/mortgage-research/index.shtml ), provide an impartial analysis of mortgage deals, alongside an analysis of what people are buying and borrowing in terms of property. The information provided by these sites can become slightly distorted by speculative enquiries where purchases are never intended to be completed, and no track record is kept on actual house purchase amounts.

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors ( http://www.rics.org/default ) A survey from Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, based on responses from a small number of institute’s members in England and Wales, shows surveyors’ confidence in house market prices (rising or falling), rather than what is actually happening.

Property websites Rightmove ( http://www.rightmove.co.uk/ ) use data collected from about 35% of homes for sale on their website to compile sample for their survey. As over half of all UK's estate agent chains list their available properties on Rightmove site, sample size is sufficient to provide extensive representative information.

Overall different measures can all provide potentially useful information for consumers, but there is currently no definitively accurate guide to UK house price market. Different studies cover different areas of housing market, and often provide contradictory results. Predicted future trends are always subject to possible inaccuracy, and therefore should not be relied upon for complete accuracy. Buyer and seller beware.

Additional reference material from href="http://www.bbc.co.uk.

An interest-only mortgage allows you to repay just interest on your loan, but you have to take out an investment that will mature to pay off outstanding amount. With an interest only mortgage you'll normally also have to pay into another savings or investment plan that'll hopefully pay off loan at end of term.

A lender might require you to take out life insurance to pay off your mortgage should you die. You can choose from basic ‘term assurance' with low monthly payments that stop when your mortgage term ends. You can also get insurance to protect your income or just your mortgage payments if you become ill or disabled, or lose your job.

If you cannot meet your mortgage payments you should contact your lender as soon as you realise that you have a problem. Although your mortgage is secured on your home, lenders see repossession as last resort: they stand to make more money from your mortgage than sale of your home.

Lenders will work out a plan with you to reduce your payments for a time or stop them temporarily, and work out a new term for your mortgage. It is wise to remember that your home is at risk if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage or other loan secured on it.

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