Another interesting week in store as Georgie boy, the Chancellor prepares to deliver his Autumn Statement tomorrow. Expect a dash of hard realism with a hint of hope that will be crushed by the media fixated on the mantra that bad news sells.
The real issue, like an annoying soap opera you don’t really like but can’t help watching, is still playing itself out in Europe. Rumours are both good, that the IMF is preparing a EU600 billion bail out of Italy to solve its issues, (denied by the IMF for now) and bad, that ratings agencies are poised to basically downgrade the whole of Europe causing further issues, (not denied)!
The mortgage market however is still busy re-pricing upwards on-the-whole, however there are the odd moves downwards especially in the higher Loan-To-Value bracket where 85% and 90% LTV lending is improving, at least as far as the actual rates are concerned.
In the last few weeks we have seen the likes of Northern Rock, Nationwide, Woolwich, Coventry, Natwest, Halifax and Abbey all become more involved in this market which is a real boost.
There are still, however, some other lenders who see their 90% rates as mere window dressing however, in other words happily proclaiming that they support this sector of the market, but not quite for you, or you, oh and you don’t quite fit either…You get the point.