NEWS
14th December 2011
Will the New Year see rates start to rise?
Matthew Johns from The Mortgage Advise Bureau (South West) Ltd comments on the latest Bank of England base rate decision.
Some forecasters have recently commented that with the economy remaining extremely weak, further support in the form of up to an additional £100bn through the Monetary Policy Committee’s “Quantitative Easing” (QE) programme may be required, but this remains to be seen. Unsurprisingly the outcome of the December Monetary Policy Committee meeting witnessed no change in the Bank of England base rate and the level of new money injected into the economy remains at £275bn.
Attention remains focused on the Eurozone crisis and in particular the discussions taking place to attempt to bring about stability to the debt crisis and to put forward and agree plans to stimulate economic growth.
In spite of all of this uncertainty, activity in the UK mortgage market has remained fairly consistent, with the number of purchase and remortgage borrowers only marginally lower than the previous month but in line with seasonal factors. We continue to see borrowers favouring fixed rate mortgages with three quarters of buyers and two thirds of remortgage customers electing to fix their payments.
Lenders continue to offer low mortgage rates with Moneyfacts reporting that in December the average two year fixed rate is 4.24%, up by only 0.02% compared to November’s average. However, the average five year fixed rate has fallen further to 4.58% from 4.67% last month.
Significant numbers of mortgage borrowers will be coming out their tie-in period early in the New Year. However, the Bank of England has warned that with the wholesale cost of funds rising and lenders having to offer more attractive rates to encourage saver’s deposits, mortgage rates may start to edge up a little if lenders want to maintain their margins. Potential borrowers could benefit by taking some time to talk to an independent whole of market mortgage broker.
For further information on how the latest base rate decision affects you, please call 01752 204000, Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit us at or visit us at 96D Ridgeway, Plymouth, PL7 2AG.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
A fee of up to 1% of the mortgage amount may be charged depending on individual circumstances. A typical fee is £95.
2nd December
Why it makes sense to use a mortgage broker
Research conducted by the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI) has concluded that there are a number of benefits to consumers who visit a broker as their chosen place to find a mortgage as opposed to a high street lender says Matthew Johns of Mortgage Advice Bureau.
The difference between information only and advice & recommendation
“When looking for a mortgage, customers have no shortage of information available in the market place both within newspapers and the internet, but they still need to wade through this to determine what suits their needs. This is where an independent broker can really help as they have access to the entire mortgage market and are best placed to scrutinise the choice available on the customer’s behalf to make a recommendation.
The majority of brokers provide “advice and recommendation” which differs from most high street lenders who provide information only. What this means for the customer is that a broker will determine what is the right solution for an individual’s needs and provide a written recommendation detailing how and why the product is right for the client. An information only proposition offered by many high street lenders will provide the customer with a product, or several products, and leave them to determine the right solution.
Choosing the wrong product could be costly
Choosing the wrong product could at best be costly, and at worst lead to borrowers losing their home. A saving of just 1% on your current interest rate would mean you pay £30,000 less over a 25 year term based on an interest-only mortgage of £125,000, so the cost of a mistake is significant.
Special Requirements
Many customers have what are termed by lenders as specialist or non-conforming requirements. This may be as a result of the type of employment they are engaged in or as a consequence of previous financial difficulties. Many high street lenders do not provide products within this sector of the market and research shows that the vast majority of these types of mortgages are arranged by a mortgage broker.
Despite current market conditions, brokers still have access to 1,000s of products including exclusive deals, many of which are not available directly from lenders, and this equips them to meet most clients’ requirements.
A broker provides a clearly defined service and offers convenience in the sense that they will be acting on behalf of the customer. They will scrutinise all of that data on behalf of the client, ascertain needs, make a recommendation as to what is most suitable, arrange the paperwork, submit and manage the application (usually on-line) and liaise with the lender throughout the process and beyond completion on behalf of the client, to make the process as smooth and stress free as possible.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
A fee of up to 1% of the mortgage amount may be charged depending on individual circumstances. A typical fee is £95.
Matthew Johns is an award winning Financial Adviser having won a Top Adviser award at Mortgage Advice Bureau’s recent “Raising the Bar” Annual Conference at Pride Park Stadium. To make a no obligation appointment, please call Matthew on 01752 204000, 0775 526757 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Matthew receiving his award from Regional Sales Director for Mortgage Advice Bureau, Gareth Herbert and Guest speaker Olympian Sarah Storey OBE.
17th November 2011
Over 7,500 Mortgage Deals now available
Following last month’s decision by the Monetary Policy Committee to re-introduce their programme of Quantitative Easing (QE), the expectation is that we are unlikely to see further intervention until the effects of this can be assessed.
As a consequence the base rate has remained unchanged and the level of new money injected into the economy through the purchase of assets including government bonds remains at £275bn.
The Eurozone crisis continues without a real resolution on the horizon and appears to be deteriorating, with Italy now the main sovereign debt concern of the markets although the proposed Greece bailout has yet to be ratified.
In spite of all of the international bad news and continued weakness in consumer confidence in the UK, the mortgage market has remained remarkably resilient. Although overall new mortgage activity in October was down by around 10% compared to September, remortgage borrower numbers have increased by almost 9%.
Mortgage product pricing remains at all time low levels in October, with Moneyfacts reporting the average 2 year fixed rate as 4.22% and the average 5 year fixed rate has reduced further to 4.73%. This appears to have encouraged increasing numbers of remortgage borrowers to take advantage of current pricing.
October witnessed overall mortgage product numbers increasing, having reduced a little in September they returned to levels similar to August, Brokers currently have access to around 7,500 deals, over 50% more products than in the same period last year.
For further information on how the latest base rate decision affects you, please call 01752 204000, Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit us at or visit us at 96D Ridgeway, Plymouth, PL7 2AG.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
A fee of up to 1% of the mortgage amount may be charged depending on individual circumstances. A typical fee is £95.
7th October 2011
50% more Mortgage products available compared to last year!
The debate taking place in recent weeks had been around not would the Monetary Policy Committee raise or reduce interest rates this month, but whether they would vote to re-introduce their programme of monetary stimulus known as Quantitative Easing (QE)
The Bank base rate has remained unchanged but the decision has been made that a further £75bn of new money will be injected into the economy through the purchase of assets including government bonds.
With the UK’s underwhelming second quarter gross domestic product figures actually being revised downwards to only 0.1% from a previously reported 0.2% it would appear that the MPC has recognised that the economy is in need of further medicine to attempt to keep us from falling back into recession.
This combined with the continuing crisis in the Eurozone is having a further negative effect on already weak consumer confidence. Activity in the mortgage arena has been fairly steady throughout the summer period and we have witnessed a small upward bounce in activity during September, which from a seasonal historic perspective is fairly normal, albeit at lower overall volume levels than in the boom years.
In spite of the turmoil in world stock markets and the Eurozone debt crisis, the UK mortgage market has continued to be reasonably robust. Mortgage product pricing remains at low levels with Moneyfacts reporting that borrowers requiring 90% LTV, traditionally first time buyers and those movers with low levels of equity, can now access 2 year fixed rates at an average of 5.39%.
The average 2 year fixed rate is now 4.22%, marginally up on September, but 5 year fixed rates have fallen further and the average is now 4.73%. These rates have stimulated increased activity amongst purchase and remortgage borrowers during September as people capitalise on these unprecedented rates. Overall mortgage product numbers declined a little in September but have rebounded in the first week of October, returning to levels similar to August. Intermediaries currently have access to around 7,300 deals, almost 50% more than the same period last year.
Matthew Johns is from Mortgage Advice Bureau (South West) Ltd. For further information on how the latest base rate decision affects you, please call 01752 204000, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit us at 96D Ridgeway, Plymouth, PL7 2AG.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
A fee of up to 1% of the mortgage amount may be charged depending on individual circumstances. A typical fee is £95.
22nd September 2011
Mortgage lenders in the UK continue to support the market with excellent value products.
Matthew Johns from Mortgage Advise Bureau (South West) Ltd comments on the latest Bank of England base rate decision.
Another month has passed with no change to the Bank of England base rate following the monthly Monetary Policy Committee meeting earlier in September. Recent debate has been focused upon whether the MPC would vote to recommence the process known as quantitative easing, in essence the printing of money, to stimulate the economy due to persistent growth weakness.
Once again the vote was for no increase in the process known as the “asset purchase programme”, but with the economy having been confirmed to have grown by only 0.2% in the second quarter of this year, we may be approaching the point where the policy setters are required to apply further medicine to what appears to be a patient still very much in intensive care.
Mortgage lenders in the UK continue to support the market with excellent value products. Although we saw borrower numbers in August reduce by approximately 3% compared to July, this can largely be attributed to seasonal factors. In the same period in 2010, we witnessed a significant rise in activity in both the purchase and remortgage sector as people continue to take advantage of the excellent value of rates offer relative to historic levels.
Average mortgage rates for two year fixed rate deals were 4.27% in August, but five year fixed rates have fallen below that psychologically important 5% level with Moneyfacts reporting that average five year deals now stand at 4.93%.
The number of mortgage products has decreased to the 6,500 level, but is still significantly ahead of the corresponding period in 2010 when intermediaries would typically have only had access to approximately 4,600 deals. This provides further evidence that the market (although nowhere near back to what we would have called “normal”) is in a much healthier position now than twelve or twenty four months ago.
Matthew Johns is from Mortgage Advice Bureau (South West) Ltd. For further information on how the latest base rate decision affects you, please call 01752 204000, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit us at 96D Ridgeway, Plymouth, PL7 2AG.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
A fee of up to 1% of the mortgage amount may be charged depending on individual circumstances. A typical fee is £95.
10th August 2011
Fixed rates hit all time low levels.
Matthew Johns from Mortgage Advice Bureau (South West) Ltd comments on the latest Bank of England base rate decision.
A poll conducted by the BBC found that a majority of leading economists no longer envisage a base rate rise until next year. Of the 32 forecasters, who are also regularly polled by the Treasury, 26 predicted that rates would not rise this year, and three predicted there would be no rate increase until 2013.
In light of this no-one was surprised that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to retain the bank base rate at 0.5% for the 29th consecutive month.
Although the US Senate finally agreed to raise the debt ceiling and the Eurozone countries recently agreed further bailouts for Greece and a restructuring of debts for Portugal and Ireland, markets still fear that sovereign debt defaults are likely.
Mortgage lenders in the UK continue to offer exceptional mortgage products relative to historic rates with Moneyfacts reporting that 2 and 5 year average fixed rates have fallen further in August having hit all time low levels in July.
Average mortgage rates for 2 and 5 year fixed rates fell back further this month from July falling back by 0.09% and 0.13% respectively and now stand at 4.27% and 5.03%. Average two year tracker rates dropped significantly in August having risen in July and now stand at 3.27% a fall of 0.23% from the previous month.
Lenders have broadly maintained their overall appetite to lend during July with mortgage product numbers averaging approximately 7,250 deals, a slight decrease on June but as we are now in peak holiday season, activity levels do historically level out somewhat during the summer holiday period though.
Product choice and product pricing for borrowers both new and existing remains very healthy relative to the same period last year and significantly improved on this time two years ago.
Matthew Johns is from Mortgage Advice Bureau (South West) Ltd. For further information on how the latest base rate decision affects you, please call 01752 204000, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit us at 96D Ridgeway, Plymouth, PL7 2AG.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
A fee of £95 may be charged depending on individual circumstances.
16th June 2011
Mortgage products continue to improve to over 7,000 products.
Andy Blacklock from Mortgage Advice Bureau comments on the latest Bank of England base rate decision.
The short-term outlook for the UK has deteriorated since the Bank of England issued its quarterly report in February and inflation is now forecast to increase to more than 5%. In a normally functioning economy policy setters would be raising interest rates to counter this.
Although we have once again returned to economic growth the feeling is that the economy remains far too fragile to cope with any rise in interest rates in the short term.
We continue to hear significantly different comments from forecasters giving their opinion on what will happen with the economy and the policies that should be adopted to both shape and influence it.
On the one hand, some believe the Bank of England base rate should be raised now and steadily throughout the remainder of 2011 and into 2012, forecasting a base rate of 2.75% by the end of next year. Others take the opposite view and believe that the rate must and will remain where it is possibly remaining at the current 0.5% both this year and all of next.
Who knows who is correct but in terms of what is happening to mortgage rates May has seen a flurry of activity with lenders withdrawing and re-introducing new products, refreshing and re-pricing existing mortgage deals with hardly a single working day going by without some product change taking place.
Average mortgage rates for 2 and 5 year fixed rates fell back by 0.06% and 0.18% respectively in June from May and now stand at 4.44% and 5.44% respectively. Average two year tracker rates also reduced further to another new low of 3.38% in June down by 0.02% from May.
Mortgage product numbers overall have continued to improve, with the number of deals throughout May averaging a little over 7,000. However, we have seen a further increase from lenders, recently with product numbers averaging more than 7,400 in the first two weeks of June. This demonstrates an increasing willingness to lend and more products means greater competition and better rates for borrowers.
Andy Blacklock is from Mortgage Advice Bureau. For further information on how the latest base rate decision affects you, please call Matt Johns or James Webster on 01752 204000
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
A fee of up to 1% of the mortgage amount may be charged depending on individual circumstances. A typical fee is £95.
