Fears Help to Buy will kill rental market unfounded – poll
The sooner buying becomes a lot more attractive than renting for the majority of FTBs the better. This will only be achieved though, by further government intervention by taxing investors to a much greater degree or by lenders making the BTL rates a lot less attractive to investors.
I congratulate the West Bromwich Building Society on its stance of increasing rates for BTL mortgages. It is vital that housing is made more affordable for FTBs by both building more and making BTL a lot less attractive for landlords. Landlords should be encouraged to invest in pensions, AIM, EIS, VCT or commercial property rather than in residential homes.
The sooner the coalition government realise this, the better chance they have of achieving the younger generation vote at the next election. BTL investing must be greatly reduced to prick the housing bubble particularly in London and the South East…
Colin Cloy
FCA chiefs spend £10k on trips abroad in first six months of new regulator
I presume they were on these trips looking to buy fine art for their offices.
Its only our money
Ask the Experts: Where should brokers focus in 2014?
I keep reading that lenders will expect much more from brokers post-MMR, but without any clear indication of what is expected?
We only send cases to lenders that we believe fit their criteria, why on earth would we submit any case we knew didn’t fit? So how exactly will this position change in April? We need clear messages please, not ambiguous sound bites.
Good Mortgage Man
Half of Help to Buy 2 applications fail – broker
I don’t even bother with them. I would prefer to turn the business away than get involved in 95% mortgages. For me the criteria is that strict I see it as a waste of time (I don’t think the criteria is too strict, I think rightly so it should be strict).
The whole HTB is just a publicity stunt for the govt. There should be 95% products but as a niche product for the odd person, it should not be a mainstream product. The average person should be able to save up a 10% deposit and if you can’t then you’re going to struggle to pay a mortgage when rates do rise.
Obviously there is the odd exception, e.g. paying more in rent than a mortgage for example but if you’re living at home then saving up 10% should be the minimum I think. NatWest underwrite the case on an assumed interest rate of 7% I have been told – not sure how true that is.
T
Thank you for your comments this week
