On the same page you can also compare rates on savings, personal loans and credit cards. In short, there’s no excuse for not shopping around to find the most suitable deals for your personal circumstances, hopefully saving you a stack of cash in the process.

Check out the mortgage calculator now, and compare rates on savings, loans and credit cards…

Is this the start of the great house price recovery? Probably not. With the economy predicted to contract by 3.5% this year, unemployment set to rise, and the general scarcity of lending capital showing few signs of abating, May 2009 could well be a blip on the graph.

According to the Nationwide House Price Index, April saw a 0.3% fall (-15% year-on-year), while May’s 1.2% rise puts average house prices 11.3% down on 2008 prices.

Whether the recovery’s started or not, it does at least look as though the rate at which prices fall should be wholly more manageable than in 2008.

Learn more about how house prices are calculated, or read the full May 2009 Nationwide House Prices Report.

Which way do you think house prices will go? Has the market bottomed out? Let us know your thoughts by leaving comments below…

While gross lending may be down, the number of individual mortgage approvals rose from just over 24,000 in January to 28,179 in February. This figure is inevitably well down on 2008, but it suggests that more people are buying more houses for less money. Sellers are willing to accept lower offers and those previously priced out of the market are finding themselves in a position to buy. With London house prices stabilising, there are some genuine signs of a modest market recovery and a correction of house prices to more realistic levels.

Findaproperty.com have more detailed info – note that mortgage approvals for house purchases are up, while remortgaging approvals are down.

What do you think about the latest figures, and how do they affect you? Please leave your comments below…

When I’ve compared prices myself, it usually works out about the same price to get a package deal in Greece or Spain as it does to rent a caravan in Devon. Perhaps environmental campaigning is starting to take effect, and we’re all keen to minimise our air miles?

Sadly I fear the reason for this upsurge in caravanning is more pragmatic; the relative strength of the Euro against Sterling is what’s keeping people at home, not a love of campfires and mother earth. Foreign holidays still look cheap to me, but you’ll need about 30 per cent more spending money than in March 2007.

Why do you think more people are risking the British weather for their summer holiday? Please leave comments below…

This comes at the start of a week where the Government is expected to (quite rightly) increase pressure on the banking sector to make bailout cash available to businesses and prospective house buyers.

Read the full story here.

As recently as September 2008 the base rate was 5%. It’s quite possible that the rate could rise as fast as it fell, which would leave first-time buyers on currently attractive-looking tracker deals significantly out-of-pocket. Having shopped around for deals myself recently, I can testify that there’s some cheap-looking tracker deals out there if you’ve got a decent deposit – buying becomes quite a bit cheaper than renting in many cases. But be warned – have you made adequate allowance for big shifts in the base rate? I haven’t, so I won’t be buying.

(If you’re looking for a deal, the 4Homes Mortgage Finder is a quick way to find out the various mortgage offers you can get from loads of lenders…)

Also today, the Bank of England cut the base rate of interest to 1%. If you’re on a tracker, quids-in. It’s the fifth rate cut since October, when the rate was set at what now seems like an astronomical 5%. Expect your savings account’s dwindling interest to take another hit.

4Homes has teamed up with the Energy Saving Trust to bring you video tips fronted by 4Homes fave Naomi Cleaver, as well as the surprisingly useful interactive house tool.

Based on the interactive house recommendations, I can cut my carbon emissions at home by 50%. 50%! And this isn’t by doing things that are completely unrealistic for me, like buying and installing solar panels or trading in my non-existent car for a more efficient model. Instead, just by spending a weekend wrapping my hot water pipes in insulation and switching electronics off at the wall, I could be pumping out 50% less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Great news for polar bears and penguins everywhere. But more immediately for me in these credit-crunchingly difficult times, using 50% less energy means half price bills. Ker-ching.

To save yourself wads of cash and to reduce your carbon footprint, check out the Energy Saving Trust’s videos and interactive tips here.