Tag Archives: lending
Mortgage rate savings have been significant in UK over last two years
Fixed rate mortgages in the UK fell to their lowest levels in 2015, whilst the standard variable rate remained static, meaning the potential savings for borrowers have increased. Indeed potential savings have improved significantly by 50% over the course of the past two years, according to the latest research from Halifax. The average interest rate on a new fixed rate mortgage fell a further 0.59over the past 12 months, whilst there was no change in the standard variable rate over the same period. This means that the average fixed rate now stands at 2.66% compared with the average standard variable rate of 4.49%, with the gap between the two widening by 1.81 percentage points since August 2012. As a result the amount homeowners could be saving by switching to a fixed rate deal has increased by 50% in the past two years. In November 2013, the average monthly payment of a home owner who took out a two year fixed rate on a £100,000 mortgage would have been £485. At the same time, the payment on a standard variable rate mortgage would have been £551, a monthly saving of £66. According to the research a borrower taking out a fixed rate in November 2015 would be paying £457 a month on a £100,000 loan compared with £555 on the average standard variable rate, saving of £99 a month and 50% higher than two years’ earlier. ‘With the base rate remaining at record low levels for another year, fixed rate mortgages fell further in 2015. Over the past three years average rates have fallen sharply, significantly widening the gap between them and standard variable rates. As a result, borrowers have been able to make considerable savings,’ said Craig McKinlay, mortgages director at the Halifax. ‘Whilst remortgaging activity has picked up in the last year, this is only in line with new loans. As a result, remortgage activity’s share of all lending has remained relatively subdued, especially when compared to its strength in 2008,’ he explained. ‘Without the concern of a base rate rise in the immediate future it seems borrowers’ appetite to remortgage has been dulled, meaning that some could be missing out on significant savings,’ he added. The research also shows that remortgage activity remains well below the 2008 peak. The widening gap between fixed rates and standard variable rates appears to have helped improve remortgaging’s share of all new mortgage lending from 29% in August 2012 to 32% in November 2015. However, this growth is far slower than that seen in the gap between fixed and variable rates, and demonstrates that remortgaging remains considerably below the peaks of 50% that it reached in 2008. Continue reading
UK home owner lending down month on month which CML says is usual winter dip
Home owner house purchase lending totalled £10.7 billion in November, down 9% on October but up 18% on November 2014. The latest data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders also shows that first time buyers borrowed £4.2 billion, down 9% on October but up 14% on November last year. Home movers took out 32,300 loans, down 10% month on month and up 9% compared to November 2014. In total, this was £6.5 billion borrowed, down 10% on October but up 20% year on year. Home-owner remortgage activity was down 9% by volume and 14% by value compared to October. Compared to November 2014, remortgage lending was up 24% by volume and up 36% by value. Gross buy to let lending fell month on month, down 6% by volume and 8% by value, but the substantial growth year on year continued. ‘As expected, mortgage lending activity eased back as the normal dip in the winter months began,’ said Paul Smee, director general of the CML. ‘There was still growth across all lending types in November compared to the year earlier suggesting continued improvement. Our forecasts anticipate that gross lending will continue a slow but steady upward trajectory over the next two years,’ he added. A breakdown of the figures shows that house purchase lending in the UK in November saw a decrease month on month by volume and by value of mortgages advanced, but compared to November 2014 volumes and amount borrowed overall increased. As previously reported, UK gross lending overall in November totalled £20.5 billion, down 6% on October but up year on year by 27% compared to November 2014. This was the highest lending level in the month of November since 2007. First time buyer lending declined by volume and by value compared to October, but saw a year on year increase in loan numbers and amount borrowed. Competitive mortgage rates mean first time buyers continue to pay low levels of their monthly household income to service the capital and interest rate payments of their mortgage at 18.3% in November, joint lowest average percentage level since we began tracking this in 2005 alongside June and September 2015. Home movers borrowed £6.5 billion in November, this was down compared to October but was the highest November level since 2007. Home movers spent 18.2% of their monthly gross household income to pay capital and interest repayments, unchanged on October but a decrease compared to November 2014. Remortgage activity saw a decrease by volume and by value in November compared to October, but increased year on year to have the highest volume of remortgage loans in the month of November since 2011 and the most borrowed in the month of November since 2008. Gross buy to let lending decreased in November compared to October but was substantially up on last year. Buy to let remortgage continues to be the driver of… Continue reading
Demand from buy to let landlords for remortgages likely to rise in 2016
Buy to let remortgage transactions outstripped purchases by more than two to one in 2015 but this could be reversed in 2016, according to the latest industry sector index report. Remortgages for vanilla buy to let property accounted for 64% of transactions with Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and Multi-Unit Freehold Blocks (MUFBs) seeing even greater remortgage activity at 78% and 88% of transactions respectively, the data from specialist brokers Mortgages for Business shows. The results aren’t surprising, according to David Whittaker, managing director of Mortgages for Business. ‘For some time now landlords have been making considerable savings through remortgaging. Many have also been releasing equity to make improvements and plan further purchases,’ he said. ‘However, I anticipate that we will see a reversal of this trend in the first quarter of this year as landlords hurry to expand their portfolios before the stamp duty surcharge kicks in on 01 April,’ he explained. ‘The number of enquiries for purchase finance is already well ahead of where we were this time last year, particularly from those looking to sell their personally owned property into a corporate vehicle,’ he added. Although yields across all property types rallied in the fourth quarter of 2015, in real terms they continue to plateau as rental income fails to keep pace with rising property prices. However, returns for the more complex properties remain healthy and well above the psychologically important 6% mark. The number of lenders operating in the market remained static at 33. However, the number of buy to let mortgage products available to borrowers grew slightly to an average of 975. ‘It is unlikely that this average figure will be topped going forward unless new lenders enter the market, or some of the existing providers start to offer products to limited companies. Of course, that figure is only an average, at one point at the beginning of December our tracking system showed 1,168 products,’ Whittaker pointed out. Continue reading
