Once again, our partners over at Charles Cameron have released their laterst mortgage update which we thought would be of interest to our members
The Council Of Mortgage Lenders recently released figures showing that the mortgage market experienced its strongest April since 2008, with lenders advancing an estimated £12.1bn to borrowers up 4.3% on the £11.6bn advanced the month before. Our property search friends at Garrington also reported a noticeable surge in demand during April in the London Property Market with increased interest from overseas investors. The table below shows gross lending for each April since 2008.
| Year | Gross Lending |
| April 2008 | £24.4bn |
| April 2009 | £10.4bn |
| April 2010 | £10.2bn |
| April 2011 | £10 bn |
| April 2012 | £9.9bn |
| April 2013 | £12.1bn |
Fixed rates are proving increasingly popular with our clients who are looking for the certainty of securing their mortgage payments over the longer term. Two lenders have introduced new 10 year products with rates below 4%. There continues to be fierce competition amongst lenders to gain market share and hardly a day goes by without news of another lender slashing its rates. With rates at these historic lows, now is a great time for borrowers to review their mortgage arrangements.
The FCA have estimated that there are 260,000 borrowers who have interest only mortgages who have no repayment vehicle in place. They have discouraged lenders from offering interest only mortgages to those clients that can be considered financially sophisticated. Lenders have chosen to interpret this in different ways. Barclays have approached this in what appears a sensible way, by adopting a minimum salary criteria of £75,000 and/or a joint income £100,000. Skipton Building Society have also adopted a similar approach and their minimum income level is £40,000.
We reported last month that the demand for BTL mortgages continues to increase and BM solutions are relaxing their lending criteria by lifting their minimum income criteria of £25,000. Precise Mortgages have also shaken up the BTL Market by reducing rates by up to 1.25% for both their 80% and 75% Loan To Value products
Please see below latest rate information (some of the products are semi exclusive to Charles Cameron & Associates.)
For further information members should contact us in the usual way.