Latest Mortgage Market Update

As first seen in our May 1st 2024 market update newsletter.

🔎 Mortgage Market Update

It’s been a busy start to 2024, we have particularly seen a lot of activity from mortgage borrowers aged 50+ and first-time buyers.

Inflation in the UK continues to go in the right direction, but we have yet to see any movement from the Bank of England in terms of the first rate cut.

Some Economists had predicted this could happen in June, but that could be in doubt now seeing as inflation in the USA went back up in April.

We have seen some innovation in the UK Mortgage market this year already, with a lender launching a £5000 deposit scheme (not 5%) and another lender offering fixed rates of up to 40 years and up to 6x income multiples.

All in all, the market remains stable and after all the upheavals of recent years, that is far from being a bad thing.

💭 Age 50+ Mortgage Options

With cost of living issues continuing to have an impact, and changes to company pension schemes over the years, the “early retirement” aspirations which, a generation ago were a reality for lots of people, appear to no longer be a realistic option for many these days. From a lending perspective, this has resulted in lenders having to change their attitude to customers entering middle age and above, who still have the need for affordable mortgage borrowing.

Many High Street lenders will now allow lending on “traditional” mortgages to age 75, with some maybe going even older in certain circumstances. A new lender, has taken this concept further, by considering much longer term mortgages, on a repayment basis, well into retirement.

Options for 50+ or 60+ lending have never been greater and the signs are that this will continue to develop as lenders continue to adapt and potentially “merge” their criteria to accommodate the increasing demand. As one of a minority of firms authorised to advise across all these areas, you can be assured that our objective is to find the right solution for you, whether from the High Street or Specialist sectors.

Click here to learn more about your over 50s mortgage options.

🔜 Mortgage Deal Ending Soon?

If your current mortgage deal is ending before 31st October 2024 then now is a great time to start reviewing your options.

As part of our free remortgage review, our team will review what deals are available with your current lender and compare these with what is available elsewhere and recommend the most cost-effective way forward for you.

🌉 Bridging Loans

We are now offering Bridging Loans and one area this can come into its own is Downsizing.

Some mature homeowners can be reluctant to put their homes on the market until they have identified a suitable property for themselves to buy.

Whilst this is understandable – it could be their final move and it needs to be right – it puts them on a back foot and quite often by the time they have listed their homes for sale, the property they wanted has been sold to someone else who could move more quickly.

This is where bridging can come in. You can potentially “chain break” by raising capital secured against both the property you are selling and the one you are buying (a “cross-bridge”), then the bridging loan can be repaid when the original home sells.

Whilst it might not be the cheapest way of financing a move, it’s certainly one of the quickest and we find some people find this much more attractive than having the stress of trying to get a sale and purchase going through at the same time.