Mortgages London | Mortgages in London

Posts Tagged ‘London Mortgage Advisors’

As it is revealed that house prices are close to being level with 2007 prices, the property market is seeing the rest of the UK catch up with London. Mortgage advisors in the city have said this is due to the revival of 90% mortgages and an influx of first time buyers who can afford to take out a loan. London property prices have risen by just under 15% since this time last year, and this has in turn affected the property prices across the country.

For anyone looking to buy a house in the near future, London mortgage advisors are suggesting that borrowers make the most of the favourable mortgage deals available now by getting a short term fixed rate mortgage at a competitive rate from a mainstream lender. With the market becoming more competitive, it is possible to get unmissable deals direct from a high street bank or building society that are just as good as mortgages from an independent broker.

One of the best deals available at the moment is from the Cooperative Bank. The bank has been enjoying rising popularity recently thanks to an ethical policy that promises to invest money in ventures that do not harm the environment and actually promote ethical campaigns, as such it has also launched a mortgage product designed to benefit first time buyers in London. With London property prices being higher than anywhere else in the UK, it takes much more saving to raise sufficient deposit, and even then, the less of a deposit a borrower can put forward, the higher the interest rates on the mortgage will be.

Mortgage advisors are therefore recommending that Londoners check out the two year fixed rate mortgage with an LTV of up to 90%. This mortgage product has a fixed rate of 2.95% for two years, reverting to a standard variable rate after this term which is currently 4.24%. The advertised application fee is £999 which incorporates an £849 arrangement fee with a booking fee of £140 on top of that. Borrowers can expect to secure up to £1.5 million, which despite the continued rise in property prices, should be more than enough to purchase a property in London.

With the news that house prices are set to soar over the coming months, London mortgage advisors are encouraging potential homeowners to strike whilst the iron is hot, and apply for a mortgage now. Currently mortgage rates are at an all time low and property prices are showing signs of increasing dramatically. In fact it has been predicted that prices could rise by as much as 15% over the next two years and interest rates could quite possibly remain stable for the same period of time.

However, London borrowers should seek the advice of mortgage advisors before applying for a mortgage as approvals are still sluggish. This is due to an edgy lending market, wanting to avoid bad debt in the wake of the mortgage scandals that have been highly publicised. The trouble for borrowers is that being declined for a mortgage can damage credit rating, and make it even more difficult when approaching another lender.

To ensure that you can secure a mortgage based on your current financial situation, speak with as many London mortgage advisors as possible before applying for the deal that best meets your needs, and bear in mind that although approvals are not as high as they were, they are still improving. Reports state that February’s approval figures stood at 46,000, but March saw a slight increase at 48,901, 17% up on the figures for the same month in 2009.

This slow but sure improvement will hopefully boost the confidence of borrowers in light of the new predictions regarding property value. If London properties continue to increase in value dramatically, there could be no time like the present to invest. It has been noted by many advisors however that borrowers remain unsure about committing to a mortgage whilst employment levels and inflation remain uncertain.

London continues to be the UK leader in rising house prices, both monthly and annually. The average cost of a property in the capital is now in the region of £336,000, a rise of 13% since the same time last year; and although the number of approvals is recovering slowly, London saw a 30% increase in completed sales compared to 12 months ago.

The latest news for first time buyers from London mortgage advisors is to wait for a new type of mortgage to become available that will allow you to tap up your flat mate and access around £11,000 extra from a lender. A flatshare portal has come up with a fantastic idea for first time buyers that are currently unable to get onto the property ladder, usually due to the fact that it is nigh on impossible to secure the huge deposits required at the moment, especially if you are a first time buyer on your own.

A Flatmate Mortgage, as it has been dubbed would allow someone buying a property to take into account their flatmates income, which will apparently free up some much needed cash to make securing a mortgage possible. London mortgage advisors have pointed out that this February the number of first time buyer approvals was half of the figures for February 2007, as such, something needs to be done to help this section of society to buy a property.

Convincing a lender that you have sufficient funds for a mortgage is not as easy as it may seem. Many people are in fact better off financially than they appear on paper, and capable of affording repayments. Of course it is understandable that financial institutions do not want to invest in what could potentially become bad debt, but it is clear that proving financial capability needs to be made easier for first time buyers.

It seems totally unreasonable that a first time buyer can prove they are capable of paying hundreds of pounds rent each month, yet that cannot be taken into account when calculating the ability to afford mortgage repayments. When this situation involves splitting financial commitments with a flatmate, there should be no reason why their finances shouldn’t be taken into account when applying for a mortgage.

With a buy to let mortgage, the prospective income from tenants determines the amount a borrower can access, a Flatmate Mortgage could possibly work on the same principle. Whilst the idea is still in early stages, and lenders have yet to be convinced that this is a new type of mortgage that could prove to be both popular and profitable, fist time buyers will need to be patient. Maybe the time it takes to introduce such an idea will prove to be the time it takes to raise the hefty deposits currently required anyway.

The latest news from the British Bankers Association (BBA) is good news for London mortgage advisors. During the month of February, mortgage approvals reached a new high of 35,276. This may only be slight increase on the previous month’s figures of 35,154, but it is a step in the right direction, and a trend that looks set to continue.

London mortgage advisors do however think that the improvement is a reflection of a still nervous market, where buyers are worried about being sold a mortgage that could leave them out of pocket, or worse still, without a home. Following the recent crisis in the industry, who could blame buyers for wanting reassurance before investing in a property, in what has always been a very expensive city.

It has not been just the country’s economic turmoil that has been to blame for what can only be described as a lacklustre market. At the end of last year, the Government began phasing out stamp duty relief, and although this has been restricted to properties at the lower end, it had a noticeable effect on the market during the winter months. Combined with the naturally slow time of year due to the cold weather, it made for rather worrying set of statistics.

The improved figures bring hope for a spring that will continue to see mortgage applications, and approvals continue to rise in London. It seems that first time buyers have decided to take control of their finances to try and secure the best mortgage deal for their money through increasing their deposit. The majority of lending for first time buyers is being found through high street banks, and with the financial industry just as nervous as public, caution is being exercised all round.

This is just what the market needs, a slow rise with safer borrowing. To encourage house buyers to make the most of these types of deals, favourable rates of repayment, both fixed and variable, are available when a large deposit is placed. By placing a large deposit, repayments are lower and therefore easier to meet for borrowers. This avoids economic instability and encourages growth. A spokesperson from BBA however, has said that although new lending is on better and safer terms than before, borrowing is unlikely to increase significantly until there is greater confidence about the country’s economy generally.