The end of the current Help to Buy scheme, the end of the stamp duty holiday in March and lower levels of high loan to value lending are among the potential stumbling blocks for the sector, according to guests on the latest episode of the Mortgage Solutions podcast sponsored by Skipton Intermediaries.
Simon Tipton, at Skipton said: “We’ve got the perfect storm arriving at the end of March, in terms of help to buy for home movers, and changes for the first-time buyer in terms of price caps, and we’ve got stamp duty, so for a lender at the moment it’s really busy… but there are challenges ahead.”
In response, Jane Benjamin, director of mortgages at SBG, said: “We’re definitely in choppy seas at the moment, but one thing that is absolutely apparent is that brokers are great swimmers.
“With regards to resilience, knowledge and value of adviser – the adviser is at the heart of everything to make sure that we align and collaborate both with builders, with lenders to make sure the customer is properly briefed on the challenges that we’re all facing at the moment.”
Adrian MacDiarmid, head of mortgage lender relations at Barratt, agreed that next year will be tougher.
He said: “We have to work harder next year alongside our brokers. Acknowledge the point that brokers are good swimmers, but they may have to learn a different stroke.”
He added: “We have to find a way of way of engaging with different customer segments in a different way, with different financial products, and that may well require a different set of skills from brokers.”
You can listen to the podcast from the link below or from the Mortgage Solutions Soundcloud page.
This podcast is for intermediary use only, is not mortgage advice and the views are the contributors’ own.
