New lenders will be a key part of the mortgage market in
2016. A number of lenders have applied
for authorisation from the regulator and a number of others have contacted AToM
with regards to re-launching in to the market place. It's a buoyant market and lenders can see
growth in 2016, especially whilst rates remain low.
With this in mind, it still amazes me how many people do not
change their mortgage. HSBC have
recently suggested that over two million borrowers in the UK market are
sitting on a lenders standard variable rate (SVR) in excess of 3%. In fact, the average lenders SVR is sitting
around 4.82%, whilst the market continues to enjoy record low rates. Short term fixeds are commonly around the
1.25% mark with five year deals circa 2%.
This makes it worthwhile to review your options and see if you can save
money.
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.
In other news, Halifax
is changing its income multiple to a flat 4.75 times sole or joint
incomes. For loans over £500k, this
remains at 4 times income. I suspect we
will see some other lenders follow suit in to the new year and the lender will
still require a full affordability assessment to be carried out. However, this is pretty generous and many
customers still believe they can only get 3-4 times income, so 4.75 times
income, especially joint incomes, might be an eye opener for some!
Finally, outside AToM we have a box offering free ‘Property
Today’ papers. This is a good gauge to
the local market and how interested people are in properties each week. Last week, we ran out in a couple of days. Possible signs of a buoyant local market
(despite low stock levels), or just a lot of people keeping an eye on
things? Who knows…
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