In January, the average mortgage interest rate was 2.53%. How does that compare to yours?

Some eye watering statistics from The Money Charity this week.  The Charity has reported that total mortgage lending stood at £1.37 trillion at the end of January.  This is up from £1.32 trillion in 2017.  Averaged over the 11.1m households with a mortgage, this equates to £123k per home in January.

The average interest rate was 2.53% at the end of January.  Product offerings now exceed 11,000 across the market and rates start from circa 1%.

There were 24,840 loans approved for house purchase in January, according to UK Finance, 5% lower than a year earlier.  The average loan approved was circa £189k.

This decrease is interesting as it is a common knowledge that owning a home can be cheaper than renting.  The report goes on to suggest that inclusive of all benefits, private renters spent an average of 34% of their income on rental payments.  In comparison, people who owned their home only spent on average 18% of income.

The Ministry of Justice reported that 47 mortgage possession claims were issued every day, throughout quarter four 2017.  31 mortgage possession orders were made every day.  18 properties were repossessed every day.

And just because this caught my eye - Child Poverty Action Groups ‘The Cost of a Child in 2017’ report estimates that couple families now spend £155,142 on raising a child to their 18th birthday - £23.61 a day!  This is up 2.4% compared to last year.

This will go some way towards why the report suggests that around 9.45m (35%) households have no savings, while a further 2.97m (11%) have under £1,500. 

I know, stark figures indeed.  But sometimes we do just need to review what we have, where we are at and how can we change things.   It always surprises me how few people know what rate they are on, the type of mortgage, i.e., fixed rate, tracker rate, etc, and whether they are paying interest only, or capital repayment.  Unsurprisingly, almost everyone knows what it costs per month to the nearest penny! They will haggle for a £10 discount on a new washing machine, or sky TV,  but will stay with the current lender when their ‘promotional rate’ period comes to an end, ‘brush it under the carpet’, and deal with it ‘tomorrow’. But, we all know tomorrow never comes.  A review of what’s on offer from other Lenders could give you a nice surprise and probably a few extra pounds in your pocket!