News & insights - Remortgage

Clydesdale Bank has become the latest lender to introduce a new range of mortgages specifically for professionals.

With recent figures indicating subdued wage growth and inflation, some experts believe that next month’s anticipated base rate increase is no longer a certainty.

The gap between the best fixed rate mortgage deals and lenders’ standard variable rates has widened substantially over the past nine years, according to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Homeowners with only a limited amount of equity now have a greater choice of remortgage options, with lenders including Virgin Money, Tesco and Atom Bank improving their offerings at this end of the market.

Competition in the mortgage market has been heating up recently, with new figures revealing the ever-shrinking margin between average 2 and 5 year fixed rates.

The Sunday Times looked this weekend at the new style Retirement Interest Only mortgages (RIOs), which have been launched in recent weeks, following a rule change by the Financial Conduct Authority.

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has voted by 6-3 to leave the base rate at 0.5% in June, the seventh month since the last change.

More than 40,000 homeowners remortgaged in April, according to latest figures from trade body UK Finance, up 36% compared to the same month last year.

Interest rates could be kept on hold for longer in the event of a “disorderly” Brexit, according to the Governor of the Bank of England.

The Sunday Telegraph reported this weekend on the narrowing gap between 2 and 10 year fixed rates, as lenders compete to attract borrowers looking for longer term peace of mind.

Two lenders, Sainsbury’s Bank and The Mortgage Lender, have entered the buy to let market this for the first time, widening the range of mortgage options available to landlords.

More should be done to help ‘mortgage prisoners’, according to the city regulator the Financial Conduct Authority.

The Guardian took a look at the property market this weekend, after data revealed a 3.1% drop in UK house prices in April.

Expectations of a base rate rise in May were dampened following comments from the Bank of England governor Mark Carney, but it’s still vital for homeowners to consider the impact of higher rates.

Homeowners in the UK have by now on average earned enough to cover their mortgage payments for the rest of 2018, according to research from Halifax.

The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which decides whether rates should move, voted by seven to two to keep the base rate at 0.50%.

The race to remortgage was the main theme of this weekend's papers, with the Times keen to point out that 25 lenders have increased their rate in the past 2 weeks.

After several years of steady increases, the number of people working on zero hours contracts has plateaued.

House prices are growing at their slowest rate for five years, according to Halifax’s latest monthly House Price Index.

There are just a few days to go before around 211 million paper £10 notes featuring Charles Darwin cease to become legal tender. That’s enough cash to pay off more than 14,000 mortgages of £150,000 each!

Homeowners and buyers could face steeper mortgage rates when the government’s scheme to boost lending finishes at the end of this month.

Homeowners with interest-only mortgages who could face a shortfall in their repayment plans should take action or contact their lender as soon as possible to discuss their options.

The financial press reported this weekend on the increasing popularity of ‘Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor’ (JBSP) mortgages, which allow the income of family members – usually parents – to be taken into account, while the property title is held only in the child’s name.

Interest rates were kept on hold in February, but the Bank of England warned that rates could rise “somewhat earlier and by a somewhat greater extent” than previously forecast.

As household name M&S Bank entered the mortgage market and launched its first product range last week, the Times looked at what they will be offering in terms of criteria.