Gen H has cut rates on all its products with up to 80% loan-to-value, saying it recognises that ‘mortgage costs continue to be a limiting factor for aspiring homeowners’. The reduction of up to 15 basis points is now live for both broker and direct customers. For first-time buyers, the rates are now as follows: […]
Private rented sector tax changes have cost the Treasury £1.5bn in lost revenue and helped propel the lack of homes for tenants, according to a report by the National Residential Landlords Association. Cuts in UK mortgage interest tax relief mean there are 1.2 million fewer properties in the sector than there otherwise could have […]
Specialist lender Vida is offering new right to buy products in a further enhancement to its residential criteria. Purchase only applications are now being accepted from local authorities for right to buy and from housing associations for right to acquire. Applications can be submitted for up to 100% of the discounted purchase price or 75% […]
Nationwide Building Society will cut rates across selected fixed-term and tracker products by up to 45 basis points and its switcher and additional borrowing range by up to 25bps on Friday (25 March). Brokers welcomed the cuts, which came as the Bank of England lifted the base rate by 25bps to 4.25%. The mutual […]
While coming as little surprise to most, today’s base rate rise to 4.25% has still been met with disappointment, along with some resignation as to the predicted direction of travel. The general feeling is that, although less than the 50 basis points rise seen in February, a rise was inevitable given the inflationary uptick in […]
Specialist lender Pepper Money has secured new funding lines worth more than £1.2bn to support its lending growth plans for first and second charge mortgages. Pepper Money has agreed new funding lines for first mortgages with Deutsche Bank, Lloyds Bank and MUFG and with Santander to fund its second charge mortgages. It brings Pepper Money’s […]
The Bank of England (BoE) has increased the base rate by 25 basis points to 4.25%. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted for this change by a majority of 7-2, with the minority vote wishing to keep the rate at 4%. This follows the BoE upping the base rate by 50 basis points to 4% […]
All buy-to-let (BTL) rates have been reduced by Coventry for intermediaries as part of a series of rate cuts and product launches announced today. Some BTL products are going down by up to 100 basis points, while selected residential products are being cut by up to 20 basis points. The society has also reduced new […]
Brightstar has unveiled a new logo and branding which will be rolled out across the business. The specialist distributor says the design incorporates “vibrant and friendly colours” and captures the themes of “demystifying, optimist, present and human”. Its new logo uses the strapline — ‘working together to make things happen’ — which the firm says demonstrates […]
The private rental sector must be recognised as an essential provider of homes – different from but equal to social and owner-occupier sectors
Danske Bank UK has launched a 40-year mortgage term for residential mortgage customers. The new term is available to purchasers, home movers and switchers. Customers can access the new mortgage term through Danske Bank’s carbon-neutral mortgage in Great Britain and all fixes and tracker mortgages in Northern Ireland. However, the lender says the new 40-year […]
The appetite to buy homes won’t disappear in these challenging times,
says Victoria Barnard of LendInvest. People just need the right solution
With buy-to-let pricing much higher than 10 months ago, more landlords are turning to bridging loans, writes Maeve Ward of Mercantile Trust
Not one area of the mortgage market has been untouched by the events of the last few years, from Covid to the infamous mini-budget, but while the residential market is forecast to see a downturn this year, there is reason to believe short-term finance could prove resilient. There are endless reasons borrowers use bridging products, from […]
Compared to the mainstream market, the outlook for the bridging sector seems positive this year, writes Emma Lunn
The question of whether the entire market should be regulated continues
to divide those in the sector. Natalie Thomas investigates the issues
In a turbulent market, mortgage brokers need certainty more than ever. In a recent piece of research, it was found only 26% of brokers are confident when looking ahead in 2023, and 74% are worried about their business in the next year. With the market more volatile than usual, avoiding transactions falling through and chasing […]
Accord Mortgages will reduce rates on its buy-to-let (BTL) products across all loan-to-values (LTVs), including cuts of up to 0.29%. In addition, the lender is extending its end dates to 31 August. From 8am on 23 March, a fee-free five-year fix at 75% LTV, suitable for remortgaging, will be reduced by 0.29% to 5.01%. This […]
The Financial Ombudsman Service posted a 9.5% rise in complaints it received about financial products in the last six months of 2022. The statutory body formed in 2001 to settle disputes between firms and customers, received 79,921 new complaints between the start of July and the end of December, compared to the first half of last year. […]
Full-time employees in England can now expect to spend more than eight times their annual earnings when buying a home, research has revealed. The housing affordability report from ONS looks at data on house prices and earnings to calculate annual affordability ratios. While the 8.3 is down from the 9.1 times earnings figure from the […]
Private rents in the UK increased by 4.7% in the 12 months to February, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveals. The latest figure is a 0.3% rise from January and represents the largest annual percentage change since this UK series began in January 2016. The annual percentage change in rents increased across all regions […]
UK house prices rose 6.3% in January over a 12-month period, according to HM Land Registry’s latest monthly house price index. This continues the picture of slowed growth, following an annual 9.3% rise in the December figures. The new average UK house price is recorded as £289,819 in January, which is £17,000 higher than a […]
Pepper Money has cut rates across its two- and five-year fixed-rate residential range by as much as 90 basis points, as well as launching a 70% loan-to-value tier on Pepper 36 products, starting at 6.75%. The specialist lender says that highlights of these reductions include its Pepper 18 and Pepper 18 Light five-year fixed rates, which […]
Knowledge Bank has launched software for lenders to identify criteria gaps that may see them excluded from broker searches. The criteria platform says its KB INSIGHTS system allows firms to “interrogate their own criteria’s performance and benchmark it, either against the whole, or a specific area of the market”. It adds the tool […]
SmartSearch has launched a platform with enhanced functionalities driven by the latest technology and customer feedback. The platform includes a new interface and updated features including bespoke configurability and automation, improved compliance standards, audit-ready reporting, row-level encryption and strengthened know-your-customer (KYC). It identifies people on sanctions such as Politically Exposed Persons (PEP), Special Interest Persons […]
LendInvest has launched its residential mortgage product range to the whole of the UK market for the first time in what it describes as a ‘landmark day’ for both the company and the industry. From today, all UK intermediaries will be able to access LendInvest’s new residential mortgage range through its online portal. The range […]
Fleet Mortgages has cut product rates across its entire range of two- and five-year fixed-rate products. The buy-to-let lender says its standard, limited company, houses in multiple occupation and multi-unit freehold block loans in these term ranges have been reduced by 20 basis points. Its product range now includes: 75% loan-to-value two-year fixes for both […]
UK commercial property is adaptable — the top end may be wary but smaller light industrial units are holding their value
With new-build properties growing in popularity, brokers should learn the nuances of this particular mortgage journey
This feels like the fresh start that the majority of the bridging space has been asking for. We have proved our worth
The advice process can filter the conflicting information that bombards landlords — and weed out the misinformation
After Sunak’s miraculous Windsor Framework, let’s hope the government can magic up something meaningful on housing
The boom in UK holiday lets hasn’t subsided since the return of international travel. BTL investors in particular are finding this a useful alternative income source
Jeremy Duncombe speaks to Rebekah Commane as Accord reaches its 20th anniversary having transformed its reputation from last resort to a broker favourite
Advice firms are ‘incredibly robust’ but are not immune to rising costs. This is where networks and clubs come into their own
As equity release increases in demand amid the economic crisis, brokers know they cannot afford to ignore this segment of the market
With communication being such a large part of a mortgage broker’s duty, anything that makes the process smoother should be welcome. Mortgage Strategy spoke to Michael Common, chief executive and co-founder of Nivo, a messaging application that allows financial services firms to communicate with clients and exchange documents in a secure and easy manner. It also […]
The UK property market has lost none of its appeal to Middle Eastern investors. If anything, current economic factors make it even more attractive
As an exhausted mortgage sector looks forward to the Christmas break and wonders what surprises the next year holds, Natalie Thomas looks back at a tumultuous 2022
Click here for the results Theoretically, the service from lenders to both directly authorised (DA) brokers and appointed representatives (ARs) should be uniform. However, the scores given in the Mortgage Finance Gazette Rated for Service Awards highlight some differences in the way the two demographics are served by lenders, either unknowingly or intentionally. ARs made […]
How has your year been so far? The general feeling seems to be that the market is somewhat subdued, particularly for home purchase and buy-to-let. In fact, the results of our Twitter poll this month found close to half of respondents were experiencing an ‘all-time low’ in buy-to-let business. There are green shoots as rates […]
The residential mortgage sector has seen an unprecedented level of change over the last few years as the market adapts to the impacts of Covid, and more recently, the current economic climate and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. Consumers have adapted their lifestyles accordingly, but high street mortgage lenders haven’t kept pace with these socio-economic changes. […]
Since I began working for LiveMore six months ago, what has struck me is just how many intermediaries are starting to ask about 50 years old to 90 years old plus mortgages. The question is, why now? The savviest advisers have already picked up on the potential of this rapidly growing market, and they’re not […]
At the start of every year we see a flurry of articles predicting what we can expect in the months ahead. New trends that will emerge in our market, or new challenges and opportunities. But if there is one thing that we have learnt over the past few years, from the pandemic to the war […]
Throw-away phrases are at the bedrock of the outdated and unhelpful belief that remortgaging in later life is to be avoided at all costs
You are still quite new to OSB Group so how are you finding it all? I knew I was coming into a brand new role that had not previously existed, so I was slightly anxious about how people would react both to me and the role. But I have been made to feel incredibly welcome […]
We aim to amplify the voices of all intermediaries, up and down the country
Listen to your clients, stay with them through the whole mortgage process and be there for them in the future. But never over-promise, and always be honest
Using broker feedback, focusing on solutions rather than problems — and prowess with decking
Although Consumer Duty compliance presents challenges, with the right tools, processes and culture it can offer a big competitive advantage, and new advisers in particular should find it a blessing
We aim to amplify the voices of all intermediaries, up and down the country
By Harry Landy, Managing Director of Enterprise Finance This month I wanted to take a closer look at the bridging market, because with contradictory news about the mortgage markets and property transactions over the last month or so, it is little wonder uncertainty is reigning supreme in the sector. On the one hand, we had […]
LendInvest’s Roy Armitage comments on the art of specialist underwriting
By Ian Boden, Sales Director, LendInvest For all of the talk of doom and gloom around the prospects for buy-to-let over the last couple of years, the truth appears to be rather different. Far from deserting the sector, lenders are now presenting landlords with a wider range of borrowing options than ever before. New figures […]
