“Despite a backdrop of uncertainty we have a strong and competitive mortgage market in the UK, with a steady growth in recent months,” Jones (pictured) told delegates at the lenders’ annual Mortgage Dinner 2019 on 4 December.
The UK’s gross mortgage lending was expected to reach £265bn in 2019. Product transfers would account for £165bn, up four per cent from 2018.
Highlights of the year included a growing number of first-time buyers entering the market, the proportion of customers on reversion rates hitting 17 per cent – half what it was four years ago – and continuing provision of affordable finance in buy to let.
However, Jones said: “The potential end of Help to Buy in 2023 presents a major challenge to growth in new housing delivery.”
And he warned that longer fixed-term deals had stored up issues for remortgage activity in years to come. “Five-year fixed rate mortgage deals now account for nearly half of all fixed rate sales, where two-year deals once dominated. Longer terms inevitably mean fewer remortgages in the coming years, which the industry must deal with,” Jones said.
