‘Dangerous to ignore’ housing bubble risk – BoE
The problem as we all know is lack of stock. We need to build more houses but once people feel more confident in the economy and their jobs, they will want to move home.
Both of these factors will increase stock but there is panic buying going on at the moment, with property going for well over asking prices…
Good Mortgage Man
Interest rates to hold this week but pressure for pre-election move mounts
Unemployment is down only because more people have gone self-employed, which could be a big cause for concern. There’s around 1.2m people in part time work who want a full time job another concern.
Wage growth hasn’t “finally outstripped inflation”, inflation has fallen to meet wage growth, and then strip out bonuses from it and wage growth is still under CPI, a third concern. GDP is looking good because consumers feel more confident about the economy, and therefore spending more rather than saving, not because they are significantly better off.
This is a period of growth, rather than sustainable recovery, and putting the bank rate up anytime soon will not be a good move.
The Cynical Broker
Letter to the editor
There has been much coverage of the latest lender’s requirements under the new MMR guidelines. We now have a government which, at the last Budget stated that is was intended that more opportunity will be given to us, the great British public, to manage our own affairs, including not having to buy annuities at retirement etc, whilst on the other side of the coin, we have lenders who state that if you have a cat and are spending £10 per week on cat food (an exaggeration – but I am sure you get the idea) then you are not able to manage your affairs in a responsible manner and cannot, therefore, be granted a mortgage.
Where is the common sense approach gone? Are the mystical underwriters devoid of any element of common sense?
George King
Industry-wide strategy causes interest-only to fall 12% – CML
From an intermediary perspective, I feel the bigger issue is that those investment-linked borrowers with perfectly credible savings/investment provision are being forced onto repayment with no reference to their own risk profile.
Similarly those simply over-paying an interest-only mortgage in line with payments akin to repayment are being forced to accept less flexibility than should be available.
sharky
MMR will be seen as a success – Lloyds
I am angry at such comments as “support brokers throughout the process to make the transition as smooth as possible” as if this is something they need to help us with so we can achieve a standard.
We have been fully assessing affordability and proofs of income etc for a number of years. But, has MMR actually happened. I am aware of 5 clients who has told us that since MMR they have bee into lenders branches , had personal contact with staff and were told of products and rates they should be able to get. within 10 minutes.
Annoyed Broker
Thank you for your comments this week
