|
John's Blog -
Newswire
|
|
Written by John S
|
|
Wednesday, 17 June 2009 15:14 |
|
 There is without doubt something stirring in the mortgage market.
The combination of rising swap rates (swap rates are the borrowing rates between financial institutions and have an impact on fixed rate pricing) and lack of lender competition is starting to have an immediate impact on the buy to let mortgage market. As per Monday’s rate alert email the Lloyds group, and in particular BM Solutions, have increased their fixed rates significantly. |
|
Read more... [Uncertainty clouds over the mortgage market again]
|
|
|
John's Blog -
Newswire
|
|
Written by John S
|
|
Wednesday, 10 June 2009 15:29 |
|
 Without doubt the biggest news this week is about the reorganisation within the Lloyds Banking Group. For those of you that haven’t read any news in the last couple of days, here’s what it means for buy to let mortgages:
1. BM Solutions (or Birmingham Midshires as it’s also known) will be staying, hurrah! 2. Cheltenham & Gloucester are closing all their branches and their mortgages will only be available via brokers. 3. From the 1st of July, Bank of Scotland will no longer offer mortgages (but later in the year will offer Bank of Scotland branded mortgages on the high street) 4. Intelligent Finance will stop offering mortgages and instead their offset mortgage will be available via Scottish Widows. |
|
Read more... [Good news for all, BM is here to stay]
|
|
John's Blog -
Newswire
|
|
Written by John S
|
|
Wednesday, 27 May 2009 15:23 |
|
Well this week I’m (almost) feeling sorry for some of the lenders. I know they are an easy target for many people (OK, me included sometimes) but in many cases they really are also ‘feeling the pain’.
Take the example of some building societies - there are two events that have recently happened that almost certainly means higher pricing:
1. Downgrading of the credit ratings for a number of them.
2. High increases in levies paid to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme
|
|
Read more... [Lenders feeling sorry for themselves]
|
|
|
John's Blog -
Newswire
|
|
Written by John S
|
|
Wednesday, 03 June 2009 15:14 |
|
A long and forgotten lender - Platform - seems to have come back into the market again in the last few days. Owned by Britannia building society, they have been effectively out of the market with their 7.49% 3 year fixed rate (ouch!). However their new 75% loan to value product has a rate of 6.29% for 3 years and an arrangement fee of £1495. Ok, so it’s not the lowest 75% product available, but: - You can buy up to 3 properties with them
- They have no maximum with other lenders. In other words, if you think you are maxed out with all the lenders at 75%, then think again – if the rental fits why not give them a try.
|
|
Read more... [There's more to us than buy-to-let you know...]
|
|
John's Blog -
Newswire
|
|
Written by John S
|
|
Thursday, 21 May 2009 13:42 |
|
 Last week we heard that the number of loans handed out for house purchases in March rose by 29% on February. That certainly in line with the steady rise in applications being approved. With this in mind, I just want to touch upon the difference in rates/arrangement fees between buy to let mortgages and residential mortgages.
A common comment we get is “why are buy to let mortgages still in the 5% plus bracket with 2.5% arrangement fees, when base rate is 0.5% and residential rates are 4%?”. It’s understandable to be irked by this, but it now has to be put into the context of the current market conditions. |
|
Read more... [Highlighting the Differences]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Page 6 of 10 |
