Think of number one when it comes to your monthly mortgage costs.

SWAP rates (the mechanism through which lenders can acquire a fixed price for funding over a specific period of time) have dropped to a ten month low and as such some lenders are passing on the reduction through their interest rate offerings.  Just in the last few days we've seen Natwest cut some rates by up to 0.39%, now offering five year fixed rates at below 3% and Halifax also cut selected rates by up to 0.4%.   I suspect others will follow suit in the coming days.  This is great news for the end customer as not only are the lenders in the midst of a rate price war, their funding costs are also lower and thus they can pass on bigger savings to you! 

So with such positive news and some fantastic rates around, it does surprise me that the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has advised that remortgaging figures for August were down 4% compared to Julys figures. 

Remortgaging away from your current lender should not be looked upon negatively!  Many lenders will cover the cost of surveying your property, as well as covering the legal fees in transferring your mortgage from one lender to another.  But most of all, you should think of number one as this could save you money on your monthly budgets and, subject to terms and conditions, this can only be a good thing. 

The CML reported that First Time Buyers and Buy to Let investors were both up in August, by 3% and 13% respectively.

The National Association of Estate Agents also reported that Augusts figures showed that just 3% of all recorded sales were to buyers aged 18 to 30 years old.  This is the lowest level since August 2013 and possibly shows that many First Timers are getting older and just don't have available funds for deposits.  Or are they still struggling to get mortgage finance?  With the options available to AToM for First Time Buyers, with deposits as low as 5%, at an all time high, I'll stick with the former!  Seek advice..