Here is our regular monthly mortgage and protection news update as well as details of our extended team. Don’t miss out, read on now…
MORTGAGE NEWS & UPDATES
House prices now 21% higher than pre-Covid: Nationwide
Annual growth of 14.3% in March means that the average house price is now 21% higher than in early 2020, shows a new report from Nationwide.
It describes detached properties going up by almost £68,000 and flats by £24,000.
On a monthly basis, prices rose 1.1%, the eighth increase in a row, leaving the average house price at £265,312, Nationwide adds.
“The continued buoyancy of housing demand may in part be explained by strong labour market conditions,” says Nationwide chief economist Robert Gardner.
He continues: “The unemployment rate has continued to trend down in recent months (to 3.9% in the three months to January) from already low levels. Wage growth has accelerated, though it is running below inflation.”
Gardner adds that the “significant” savings that many people managed to harvest during the lockdowns is, “also likely to have helped prospective homebuyers raise a deposit.”
SOURCE - MORTGAGE STRATEGY
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Homeowner and renter cost gap at widest in five years – Halifax
According to the Halifax buying vs renting review, annual home ownership costs were £1,378 cheaper than renting in 2021 compared to £1,369 in 2017.
The gap narrowed in the last three years, reaching a historical low in 2019 when the difference in costs was just £116.
Halifax based its analysis on the mortgage needed for a three-bed house compared to the average rent of the same property.
It found that in 2021, monthly rental costs rose six per cent annually to £874 while buying costs increased two per cent to £759. This represented a monthly difference of £115.
Halifax suggested that over the term of a 25-year mortgage, this would result in a difference of more than £27,600.
SOURCE - MORTGAGE SOLUTIONS
Demand for housing still high despite growing listings: Zoopla
The appetite for houses in the UK was 65% higher in the four weeks to 20 March against the five-year average, shows that latest house price index from Zoopla.
Demand for family homes specifically was especially high, Zoopla adds, saying it was “more than twice as high as usual for Q1”.
At the same time, new supply of homes for sale was 5% higher than its five-year average, leading Hargreaves Lansdown senior personal finance analyst Sarah Coles to state that this shifting balance of supply and demand, “is making life slightly easier for buyers, and has boosted the number of sales agreed, but it hasn’t yet started to hurt sellers.
SOURCE - MORTGAGE STRATEGY
Average fixed rates reach five-year high and product shelf life falls
Two and five-year fixed points have reached their highest rates since 2015 and 2016 respectively with borrowers urged to act now to lock in lower rates.
Accord to Moneyfacts, the average rate for a two-year fixed rate product is 2.86 per cent, which is the highest since June 2015 when the average price was 2.87 per cent. It is also up 0.21 per cent since March this year.
The average rate for a five-year fixed rate product is 3.01 per cent, which is the highest since October 2016 at 3.02 per cent. It is also a rise of 0.13 per cent compared to the prior month.
The firm added that the margin between these rates was 0.15 per cent, which is the smallest difference since 2013 when it was 0.08 per cent.
The shelf-life of products has also diminished with the average now 21 days, which is down from 29 days in April last year and a reduction of over half from 48 in April 2020. It said that this was joint lowest in its records.
Average rates for two-year tracker products increased by 0.18 per cent month-on-month to 2.21 per cent. This is also up from 2.27 per cent in April last year and 1.88 per cent in April 2020.
The average Standard Variable Rate (SVR) has also risen by 0.1 per cent month-month to 4.71 per cent in April and is now at a two-year high. It was last at this level in April 2020.
Product choice has also improved with total products now standing at 4,925, which is up from 4,838 in March and an increase from 3,842 in the same period last year.
SOURCE - MORTGAGE SOLUTIONS
TEAM news & updates
OUR EXTENDED MORTGAGE BROKER TEAM
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