Loans to first-time buyers in Wales have risen by 30% compared to the same time last year, latest figures show.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders said the change was significant, and the figures suggested the upward trend would continue.

Overall lending for all types of buyers was up by 22% compared to the first quarter of 2013. The figures showed a fall compared to the last quarter of 2013 but were an "expected seasonal dip", the CML said.

The typical loan for first-time buyers in Wales was £98,000, significantly lower than the UK average of £118,750.

Peter Hughes, chair of CML Cymru, said:

Mayor Boris Johnson has backed plans for one of the biggest ever housing estate renewal scheme in London.

The regeneration project will see a complete overhaul of the housing estate in Hackney with more than 3,000 new homes built.

The Woodberry Down Estate dates back to the 1940s and has been in need of improvement for many years.

The first phase of regeneration started in 2005 when developer Berkeley Homes built 862 new homes, with a further 180 homes currently being built.

The green light has now been given to a further seven phases of the ‘Woodberry Down Masterplan’ which will see the

Thinking about selling up and want to know how much your property might be worth at auction? If so, why not send us a few details about your property, and one of our auctioneers will give you a ring, to chat further about your requirements.

Selling a property by auction is easier than many people think, and the prices that we achieve are usually higher than expected too. Our auction partners have sold more than 2,500 properties throughout the UK, over the past 12 months; that's more than any other auctioneer since, well since auctions started! This year the aim is to surpass 3000 sales!

So if

Five seaside towns in Aberdeenshire have recorded at least a doubling in house prices since 2004, a report by Halifax has found.

Fraserburgh experienced the biggest rise with a 141% increase - from an average price of jut over £53,600 in 2004 to more than £129,000 in 2014. Cove Bay, Peterhead, Inverbervie and Stonehaven saw the next biggest gains.

In the UK as a whole, house prices in seaside towns have risen by about £500 a month over the last decade.

But Halifax found that coastal living was still significantly cheaper than property prices across Britain generally.

Newbiggin-by-the-Sea in

A house whose previous owners are buried in the back garden has been snapped up in a well-heeled area of London for around three-quarters of a million pounds.

The four-bedroom property, which also needs completely refurbishing, is likely to be worth an estimated £1 million once it has been spruced up, according to estate agent Gascoigne Pees, which has had the task of selling the house.

The two former occupants of the house in Teddington, south west London, were thought to be artists and their last wishes were to be laid to rest in their large back garden.

The property, which is understood to

A bunker built to house Scottish Office staff in the event of a nuclear attack has been bought by a technology firm. The bunker at Cultybraggan Camp, near Comrie, has been sold to online service company Bogons Ltd for £150,000.

Built at the end of the Cold War but never used, the bunker was bought along with the wider camp by the Comrie Development Trust in 2007. The money raised in the sale will go towards paying off loans taken out to purchase the camp.

The bunker is thought to be the last of its kind built in Britain, having been completed in 1990 at a cost of £30m. It would have served as

Northern Ireland house prices are rising, according to new figures covering the first months of 2014.

The Residential Property Price Index records growth of 7% on this time last year. For the time of year, sales - at 4,200 - were their strongest since 2007.

According to the data compiled by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, the index calculates the average residential property price at £102,000. Prices grew by 3% between October 2013 and March 2014.

Stormont's Finance Minister Simon Hamilton said the statistics were "further evidence of steady, balanced growth from the low

The North Yorkshire spa town of Harrogate the spa town famous for ‘healing’ mineral waters, has been crowned as the happiest place to live in Britain in a report which asked people how contented they are with their home and local community.

The survey of nearly 50,000 people by property website Rightmove also suggests that it's not so grim up North after all, and that someone living in Hull or Preston is generally happier with their surroundings than someone residing in Twickenham in London or in Oxford.

Inverness in Scotland was ranked second in the "happy at home" index, while Taunton

Llandrindod Wells is the happiest place to live in Wales, according to a survey by property website Rightmove.  And having visited, we can quite believe it!  Landrindod Wells is a firmly placed ‘hub’ of Wales and hive of activity. Branching out from its fine central location are a wealth of historic places & events, natural & manmade beauty spots and future promise.

In addition to the originality contained in the local arts and craft shops, the variety of products and services offered on and off the main streets there are numerous warm and welcoming restaurants and accommodation choices (B&B

Fixed mortgages remain the most popular products for home buyers in the UK, and they have a preference towards longer term loans, new research shows.

Fixed rate mortgages in the wider mortgage market account for 77% of intermediaries’ mortgage business, according to the latest research from buy to let specialist Paragon Mortgages.

The popularity of fixed rate products has remained consistently high over the past 12 months and tracker products accounted for 18% of their buy to let mortgage cases in the first quarter of 2014, a slight decrease from the 19% reported in the fourth quarter of 2013