A couple of interesting titbits this week and the first is a debate in Parliament over the fact that a track record of rental payments should be considered as evidence of affordability for mortgages.
There are many people who are paying higher amounts of rent than they would do in monthly mortgage payments but are struggling to meet “affordability” hurdles from lenders. This does seem a little crazy as surely someone who has proved themselves by paying rent for a period of time is a better credit risk than someone straight out of home who has never budgeted to meet rental payments before.
We will watch this debate with interest.
It was interesting to read a report from Aldermore that says that three in five self-employed people say that house buying is impossible. This is far from the truth as there are now a wealth of options available for Self-employed and contractor applicants, with some lenders only needing one year’s accounts.
As an industry, we need get out there that there are options available for the self-employed and it may not be quite as difficult as they are being led to believe. If any of your applicants question this send them our way and we will show them the wealth of options now available.
Meanwhile rates continue to stay low and even drop a little more, with borrowers now able to get 2-year variable tracker rates from 1.18% (3.42% APRC), 2 year fixed rates at 1.14% (3.35% APRC) and a 5-year fix from a mere 1.78% (3.16% APRC).
Buy to Let rates are now available from just 1.44% (4.06% APRC).