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John's Blog -
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Written by John S
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Thursday, 14 May 2009 08:26 |
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No surprise last week that the base rate was put on hold – in fact it passed with little comment. I had been invited this week to a mortgage strategy summit with the top players within the mortgage industry (to my surprise). It was a bit like the G20 summit but for mortgage brokers, and it has given me a fantastic insight into the current state of the market from both a lender’s and broker’s perspective. |
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Read more... [Mortgage Strategy Summit]
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John's Blog -
Newswire
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Written by John S
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Wednesday, 06 May 2009 15:51 |
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 There have been a couple of changes this week that have started us thinking that there is a bit of a mood change in the buy to let world.
Even though swap rates have slowly reduced in the last month, today I am going to give you a couple of examples of lenders slightly tightening their criteria. Where interest rates are heading is a moot point but the pricing of buy to let mortgage deals at the moment certainly seem to have lost any connection they may have had with bank of England base rate. There is a very wide gap between buy to let mortgage rates and residential rates and they seem to be heading further apart. Add into the mix the dearth of buy to let mortgage lenders and buy to let mortgages look like they are heading slowly back upwards. |
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Read more... [Pondering Future Rates]
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John's Blog -
Newswire
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Written by John S
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Thursday, 23 April 2009 09:19 |
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 I’m sure everyone has been glued to the budget over the last two days (yawn), so I’ll keep my comments brief about how it affects the mortgage market. For me, the best quote so far is “Mr Darling has used a water pistol to try to put out a fire.”
So what did the budget do for the housing market? Well: - It extended the stamp duty holiday until end of next year.
- The government will continue its Mortgage Interest Scheme for another six months for those who have lost their job, as long as they are looking for work.
- To quote the man himself: “…the introduction, following state aid approval, of the scheme to guarantee securities backed by mortgages – which will help to ease the flow of mortgage finance." A. Darling
- Total new borrowing is forecast to reach £700bn by 2013 – and you thought Mortgage Express were reckless lenders!
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Read more... [Mr Darling's Budget]
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John's Blog -
Newswire
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 29 April 2009 08:51 |
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 So, are you getting confused about what is actually happening with the economy? I know I am! There’s so much contradictory information within the housing market being released, that no wonder both buyers and sellers are getting bemused.
I’ve been getting more involved in residential mortgages this week and the difference in pricing in residential and buy to let mortgages really is astounding. Buy to let mortgages are almost certainly |
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Read more... [A sensible strategy]
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John's Blog -
Newswire
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Written by John S
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Wednesday, 15 April 2009 14:36 |
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 I hope you all had a great Easter and you’re ready for the spring bounce!
The Bank of England met last Thursday and promptly did nothing, which I think was widely expected, so the base rate remains at 0.5%. Other news includes Cheltenham & Gloucester who have radically changed their buy to let criteria which in turn has further tightened their underwriting criteria. For example a loan to value of 75% now needs rental cover of 100% calculated at a notional rate of 8% - and remember that £35K minimum provable income. It’s still not clear whether this is a move within Lloyds Group of contracting criteria (and so BM Solutions will follow) OR C&G as a brand are looking to reduce their business. Let’s hope that BM Solutions, with their current high efficiency and good rates will be promoted to the leading buy to let provider for the group. |
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Read more... [Lenders continue to tighten their belts]
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