The mortgage market affordability test
First-time buyers may get a boost from the recent announcement that the Bank of England will no loner expect lenders to check if they can afford mortgage payments at higher interest rates – but experts do not expect it to lead to a mortgage free-for-all. From 1 August, banks and building societies will no longer be […]
2022 Mortgage market is calming down after last years ‘wild west’.
Mortgage lenders are expecting the housing market to return to pre-Covid-19 patterns this year after the chaos of 2021. The housing market has felt a little like the wild west over the last year with tales of fierce competition, outbidding and gazumping as people flocked to the countryside in the second year of the pandemic. […]
Interest Rates go up again!
The Bank of England has increased the base rate by 25 basis points to 1.25% The increase marks the fifth base rate rise since December 2021 after a decade of historic lows. The Monetary Policy Committee minutes say that UK GDP was weaker than expected in April, partly reflecting a further decline in Test and […]
Ever increasing rent prices
The average rent price increased by 8.7% throughout the UK on an annual basis in March, shows new data from HomeLet. This gives an average rent price of £1,078 per month – a 0.8% increase on February. Excluding London, the yearly rise comes to 7.4% and the average rent bill to £910 a month. On […]
Lifetime Mortgages
A lifetime mortgage is a type of equity release, a loan secured against your home that allows you to release tax-free cash that you have tied up in your home and you can still continue to live there. Lifetime mortgages are available to homeowners aged 55 or over. You can take the money as a […]
Zero-hour contract mortgages
A zero-hour contract mortgage is a home loan specifically for those who don’t have a full-time contract of employment but do have a zero-hour contract. Getting a mortgage on a zero-hour contract can be tricky depending on your situation, as many mortgage lenders require more stable income to approve applications. But the good news is […]
What is a Buy to Let mortgage
A Buy to Let mortgage is for people looking to buy a property to rent out, rather than live in it. The rules around buy-to-let mortgages are similar to those around regular mortgages, but there are some key differences. Buy-to-let mortgages are a lot like ordinary mortgages, but with some key differences. The fees tend […]
What is remortgaging?
Remortgaging is when you switch from your current mortgage deal to another, usually a different provider, giving you the opportunity to choose a different and potentially better deal than the one you signed up to when you first bought your home. When you remortgage, the amount you repay is transferred to another mortgage policy, which […]
Rental Returns
Despite the difficult economic environment, many of the fundamentals for a positive rental sector for Landlords still remain, when you consider the following three statements… Enough new homes are being built: there aren’t. A deposit for first-time buyers is easy to secure: it isn’t. Mortgage interest rates are sky-high: they aren’t. Were those factors true, […]
New Year, New Challenges
As we embark on a brand New Year and start getting back to work despite what COVID can throw at us, undoubtedly many of us will face a variety of challenges throughout 2022, so we thought, what better time to remind you what we do here at Asset Harbour and how maybe we can help […]