House Prices Keep on Moving Up…

Last week saw the latest figures from both the Halifax House Price Index and the ONS which again showed a further uplift in house prices.

In their report, Halifax hit the nail on the head, namely that although the Stamp Duty holiday is now starting to tail off as a driver of transactions, people these days want something altogether different from their properties, namely space and a home office.

The demand for a new type of home, coupled with the Government’s mortgage guarantee scheme, will continue to support transaction levels in the months ahead, and potentially in the medium-term.

Everything has changed due to the pandemic and that change will play out over several years yet.

There may well be a minor correction in price growth later this year, but the lack of supply and cheap money means house prices are unlikely to fall materially.

Elsewhere we have seen Virgin Money become the latest lender to launch into 95% LTV mortgages and they will lend on flats with a maximum of four stories, but not New Build.

Before that we saw the launch of the biggest Building Society Nationwide into the 95% LTV arena with some market-leading pricing, starting at 3.49% for a 2-year fixed or 3.79% for a 5-year fixed.

The latest announcement follows on from their launch last month of ‘Helping Hand’, which enables first-time buyers the option of borrowing up to 5.5 times their income when taking a five or ten-year fixed rate up to 90 percent LTV.

Meanwhile, TSB has launched the lowest fixed rate for some time with their 0.99% (yes under 1%) 2-year fixed rate for remortgages.

As ever, the market is changing at a rate of knots so watch this space!

Best Mortgage Rates

In terms of mortgage rates, for standard residential mortgages, borrowers can obtain 2-year fixes at 0.99% (3.20% APRC) for remortgages and 1.04%, (3.20% APRC) for purchases, and 5-year fixes from 1.22%, (2.70% APRC) whilst variable tracker rates are around from 1.29%, (3.20% APRC).

Those looking at Buy-To-Let can now obtain products from 1.19%, (4.40% APRC) for a 2-year fixed or 5-year fixes are available from 1.69% (3.70% APRC).

To discuss how much you can borrow with one of our friendly advisers please call us on 020 7220 5110 or send a message via our contact form.