How is the mortgage market supporting house prices?
OVER the last two weeks I covered the housing market and this column is about why the market has turned and how rates are misunderstood. At the beginning of this rate rise, we were clear they wouldn’t rocket as the mainstream press said, and we explained that in this column. They haven’t. Borrowers tell us […]
Is the housing market high?
THE housing market is at a record high it says. Well, that depends on who is writing the headlines, and for what reason, and from what source. Firstly, there are a few measures for the housing market in terms of an index (e.g. Rightmove, Office of National Statistics (ONS) etc) and you should stick to the […]
The economic comparison of owning or renting a home
THIS week I want to look at how owning or renting a home compare. I’ll have to be broad with the comparison by looking at house prices across the whole of the UK. I’ll compare average rents, repairs, mortgages and see how the numbers work out. The average property value in 1999 (25 years ago) […]
Applying for a mortgage? Here’s my list of mortgage tips
THERE are often some easy tweaks to your finances which can save you quite a bit of money, so I had a chat to my mortgage director about some of the easy, but common mistakes made when applying for a mortgage. When you apply for a mortgage, try to avoid making your way around lenders […]
How your mortgage rates are calculated – get our free review
MORE than 1.4 million people in the UK, including tens of thousands in Northern Ireland, will have had the joy of coming out of the security of a fixed rate mortgage into a tornado of hiked variable rates, often wondering if the weather was going to get worse. It is very stressful indeed. I get […]
Equity release to pay off mortgage?
A QUESTION we get asked a lot is whether you should look at equity release to pay off your mortgage. Do you remember Dudley Moore and his sketch on honesty advertising in the movie ‘Crazy People’? He is asked what marketing is while he’s with his nurse girlfriend in a psychiatric hospital. When he explains, […]
How does the help to buy interest rate work?
LAST week I covered a column I wrote in 2018 regarding interest rates moving to seven per cent or above and stress testing at that level. A second part of that column related to the risks to ‘help to buy’ where I mentioned that 40 per cent of those buying were on an income of […]
Return of the 100 per cent mortgage
SOMEHOW a home became an investment. Then, it became an economy. I’m not sure how that occurred. They are a depreciating asset from day one. Take Switzerland, with arguably the richest population in the world. They don’t really buy houses, choosing instead to invest their capital elsewhere. Home ownership is around 45 per cent. It […]
Mortgage apathy can cost £160,000
FOLLOWING last week’s coverage on the benefits/advantages to use a mortgage broker rather than going to a high street, I mentioned I would cover the savings in rate charges. They are quite staggering, so hang on in while I ramble back over a couple of points I’ve missed. While I mentioned last week that the […]
The benefits of a mortgage broker
IT’S said that a cynic knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Or, as one other friend of mine once put it – ‘we want Swedish services for American prices’. With inflation soaring it’s easy to focus on the actual cost of an item but not the value. Let me show you […]
What are the equity release options for you?
HAVING covered equity release in as much detail as I could over the last few weeks, I’ll now detail the options available for those of you considering releasing equity. There are two types of equity release (although I could argue that selling and downsizing is another). A lifetime mortgage and a home reversion plan are […]
The equity release myths and your questions
WE had several questions from you regarding the last two weeks’ columns on equity release which I will cover. There have been a few old tales circulating around equity release for many years, but those issues have disappeared long ago. “If I take out an equity release, can I downsize later?” Yes. Around 60 per […]