High Street Home Loans has announced that its full range of mortgage products is to be made available to borrowers in Northern Ireland.
The lender has formed a partnership with Northern Ireland-based packager, Case Funding, who will process both prime and credit-impaired mortgage applications for the company. Garry Forrest, sales and marketing director at High Street Home Loans, said: “Northern Ireland is an extremely interesting, dynamic and important region in the UK property market.”
“By partnering with Case Funding, we are taking our quality of service to a new level. This will ensure that our products are readily available, and that any applications are rapidly processed and completed for the benefit of intermediaries and their customers in both the prime and non-conformant segments of the Northern Ireland market.” The move follows the disclosure last month that Mortgage Express, the specialist lending division of the Bradford & Bingley group, has also made its product range available in the Northern Ireland market.
These announcements are the latest by a number of lenders based in the mainland who have either recently moved into the region or have expanded their presence in this market. Platform Home Loans is now preparing to develop its interest in the market following a successful six month trial, and Standard Life Bank appointed its first accounts manager to the province in December.
Alan Dring, head of sales at Standard Life Bank, said these developments were to be expected: “There is currently a good financial feel to Northern Ireland, there is more money, more jobs and the political situation is relatively stable at the moment.”
The optimism over the prospects for the housing market in Northern Ireland was confirmed by the latest quarterly survey conducted by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), which found that house prices in Northern Ireland are rising at almost 16% per annum.
John McClelland, principle IFA at Knightsbridge Financial Services in Belfast, said: “The market is booming now that the political situation has settled down and the population is actually increasing – and this is helping the buoyant housing market.
“I have noticed a number of new lenders coming into the area and there is now more competition for business.”
