Politically, we went from Boris Johnson in 10 Downing Street to mass resignations to the chaos of Liz Truss and the mini Budget, all in the space of around four months or so.
After several whole weeks of relative stability under new PM Rishi Sunak, the UK is being crippled by strikes left, right, centre, up and down. It would appear his chances of hanging around until the next general election are not looking good either.
All this has been accompanied by an economic backdrop of rising inflation, consecutive rate rises, the ongoing cost of living crisis, and the continued unwinding of the pandemic.
Keeping calm and carrying on
Meanwhile, products hit a record low of 7,356 at the end of September and average product shelf life shrank to 17 days.
The market still did what it did best, kept (mostly) calm and carried on.
The latest figures from the Bank of England showed that gross mortgage advances had risen 17 per cent to £85.9bn year on year in December.
Whilst there are widespread expectations that purchase activity will drop off next year (if it hasn’t already), there will be a surge of product transfer and remortgage activity to keep the market busy.
Equifax figures reveal that around 10 per cent of fixed rate mortgages are going to expire in the next six months, with average monthly repayments expected to rise by more than £400 for millions of households.
Brokers will be exceedingly important in the coming year, and lenders will have a key role in reaching out to customers who may be struggling. Both will have to work together to do right by their customers and I am sure they will not disappoint.
To spread some festive cheer and or to acknowledge the sheer amount of ‘stuff’ that happened this year, the Mortgage Solutions team has put together a 12 Days of Christmas for the mortgage market in the rearview mirror.
The year in 12 Days (of Christmas)
We hope you enjoy and comment on what your 12 Days would be. Merry Christmas and happy New Year!
- One mini Budget
- Two major laws passed *
- Three Prime Ministers
- Four Chancellors
- Five Housing Ministers
- Six per cent mortgage pricing
- Seven months and counting to Consumer Duty Deadline
- Eight up and coming lenders **
- Nine hundred product removals
- Ten lenders’ repricing daily
- 11 per cent inflation and rising
- 12 months of chaos
* Building Safety Act and Leasehold Reform Act
** OnLadder, Tembo, Perenna, WayHome, Proportunity, Even, Ahauz, Generation Home
