Mortgage Rates & Repossessions are up but not that much says lettingfocus.com
So the Monetary Policy Committee, (MPC), bowed to pressure and cut the Bank of England Base Rate by another quarter point to 5.25%.
For borrowers on tracker rate mortgages linked to the Bank of England Base Rate this is of course good news.
But given the current credit issues many lenders may decide not to pass on the full interest rate cuts as they struggle with their own profitability levels meaning many borrowers on products linked to lenders own standard variable rates will lose out again.
However, the good news is that there are still many lenders actively looking for remortgage business from people with good credit records and the coming months and falling base rate will give those previously worried about remortgaging and extra fillip to do so, especially as valuation and legal costs are sometimes included in many of the remortgages now available.
I think the rate cut is good news for Buy-To-Let landlords who are enjoying the current conditions.
With property prices easing off, rates falling and rents going up fast, this is rightly seen by many as a year of opportunity.
Yesterday I did a quick “trip” around the mortgage lenders. I found that once you spread the typical ubiquitous “application fee” over the average three year term, you are now finding that mortgage rates come in about 0.95% above BOE base for the bog standard buy to let loan - which is a wee bit above the .75% above BOE last time I did the maths back in the summer and before the credit crunch really hit.
So, not that bad, all in all!
However, loan to values much over 80% are pretty scarce and if they do come, they come at a higher interest rate.
As usual, apart from the likes of Bradford and Bingley and a few others, most mortgage lenders on the high street are still completely clueless about buy to let other than, “Here is your rate mate.”
When I asked about tenancy deposit schemes, two of the biggest lenders on the high street said, “We don’t do those, sir.”
Oh how I laughed!
One day, their staff will get some training on this. One day.
So, if you are a high street lender and you don’t understand buy to let, I’m one consultant who would love to help you!
Today, we got the latest mortgage repossession figures. Again - not too bad really!
OK, the 2007 repossession figures are up on last year but still massively down on those seen in the early nineties, when nearly 80,000 were recorded in one year compared with 27,100 last year. The figures today are reportedly, slightly lower than those of 1999 so this is by no means the worst the market has seen. Still, the media gobbled it up with glee as more proof that the housing market is set to implode.
I still am not convinced of that at all.
If you need more advice on where to buy investment property ask me. I’m David Lawrenson from independent property investment experts www.lettingfocus.com
I’m the author of the landlords bible “Successful Property Letting - How to Make Money in Buy to Let” the UK’s top selling property title.
I’m an expert on property letting and a well known writer on buy to let and I contribute to newspapers and a host of property websites, write a property investment blog and run a landlord and tenant advice service - check out my columns for FinancialExpress.net and Archant’s “The Guide” magazine
I also work as a consultant helping banks, building societies, housing associations and web portals with their buy to let and property products and services.
You can read more of my landlord blog and details of my networking, advice, property investors seminar programme at my website www.lettingfocus.com.
My next London landlords networking meeting is on March 12th. Click here for details: Property Investment Advice
What’s unique about lettingfocus.com is that we offer independent property investment mentoring because unlike most people in the buy to let and property “advice” business we are not linked to a property company, developer, agent or bridging loan financier and do not receive commissions from any of these sources.
If a property investment is lousy – We’ll tell you straight and we will tell you all about buy to let and property investment - the good and the bad and we won’t make silly promises that you’ll become a millionaire overnight.
Copyright: David Lawrenson 2008. This blog is updated at least twice a week. Permission must be sought before using the material in the blog.
For borrowers on tracker rate mortgages linked to the Bank of England Base Rate this is of course good news.
But given the current credit issues many lenders may decide not to pass on the full interest rate cuts as they struggle with their own profitability levels meaning many borrowers on products linked to lenders own standard variable rates will lose out again.
However, the good news is that there are still many lenders actively looking for remortgage business from people with good credit records and the coming months and falling base rate will give those previously worried about remortgaging and extra fillip to do so, especially as valuation and legal costs are sometimes included in many of the remortgages now available.
I think the rate cut is good news for Buy-To-Let landlords who are enjoying the current conditions.
With property prices easing off, rates falling and rents going up fast, this is rightly seen by many as a year of opportunity.
Yesterday I did a quick “trip” around the mortgage lenders. I found that once you spread the typical ubiquitous “application fee” over the average three year term, you are now finding that mortgage rates come in about 0.95% above BOE base for the bog standard buy to let loan - which is a wee bit above the .75% above BOE last time I did the maths back in the summer and before the credit crunch really hit.
So, not that bad, all in all!
However, loan to values much over 80% are pretty scarce and if they do come, they come at a higher interest rate.
As usual, apart from the likes of Bradford and Bingley and a few others, most mortgage lenders on the high street are still completely clueless about buy to let other than, “Here is your rate mate.”
When I asked about tenancy deposit schemes, two of the biggest lenders on the high street said, “We don’t do those, sir.”
Oh how I laughed!
One day, their staff will get some training on this. One day.
So, if you are a high street lender and you don’t understand buy to let, I’m one consultant who would love to help you!
Today, we got the latest mortgage repossession figures. Again - not too bad really!
OK, the 2007 repossession figures are up on last year but still massively down on those seen in the early nineties, when nearly 80,000 were recorded in one year compared with 27,100 last year. The figures today are reportedly, slightly lower than those of 1999 so this is by no means the worst the market has seen. Still, the media gobbled it up with glee as more proof that the housing market is set to implode.
I still am not convinced of that at all.
If you need more advice on where to buy investment property ask me. I’m David Lawrenson from independent property investment experts www.lettingfocus.com
I’m the author of the landlords bible “Successful Property Letting - How to Make Money in Buy to Let” the UK’s top selling property title.
I’m an expert on property letting and a well known writer on buy to let and I contribute to newspapers and a host of property websites, write a property investment blog and run a landlord and tenant advice service - check out my columns for FinancialExpress.net and Archant’s “The Guide” magazine
I also work as a consultant helping banks, building societies, housing associations and web portals with their buy to let and property products and services.
You can read more of my landlord blog and details of my networking, advice, property investors seminar programme at my website www.lettingfocus.com.
My next London landlords networking meeting is on March 12th. Click here for details: Property Investment Advice
What’s unique about lettingfocus.com is that we offer independent property investment mentoring because unlike most people in the buy to let and property “advice” business we are not linked to a property company, developer, agent or bridging loan financier and do not receive commissions from any of these sources.
If a property investment is lousy – We’ll tell you straight and we will tell you all about buy to let and property investment - the good and the bad and we won’t make silly promises that you’ll become a millionaire overnight.
Copyright: David Lawrenson 2008. This blog is updated at least twice a week. Permission must be sought before using the material in the blog.
This entry was posted by lettingfocus, on
Friday, February 08, 2008.
