Hot on the heels of our recent stories about movement in the mortgage market and more finance available to landlords, it looks like these green shoots were far more than one-off good news stories for property investors and other buyers.
First of all, the number of house sales and purchases seems to be increasing steadily. Over the last couple of days alone, the British Bankers' Association, Lloyds TSB and The Land Registry have published statistics for England and Wales. Whilst the individual numbers vary, all report an increase in mortgage approvals and the number of transactions.
According to the Council for Mortgage Lenders (CML), remortgaging figures are on their way up as well. The CML published its estimate for September which shows a near 10% increase on August. Having said that, remortgaging is still noticeably lower than it was this time last year. However, CML do expect the upwards trend to continue.
And in more upbeat news, Halifax has joined the ranks of banks and building societies who have recently dropped their mortgage interest rates for first time buyers and remortgaging, offering up to 90% LTV for first timers.
We've said it before in this blog - whilst the good news in the mortgage market have only spread slightly into the buy-to-let side of the market, they are showing a trend towards more choice in mortgage finance, which can only be good news.
Tuesday 23 October 2012
Tuesday 16 October 2012
More loans for landlords
One of the UK's newest banks, Shawbrook, has not only broken even after just one year in business, but they have also teamed up with The Loan Engine to offer short term secured loans.
Buy-to-let investors are among their key target markets and among the products specifically developed for this audience are: loans for investors looking to buy, refurbish or release equity from the after-works value of a property as well as short-term loans for acquisitions such as at auction. Light refurbishment work can also be financed through one of the bank's loans.
After a number of stories on mortgage funding becoming more easily available to home buyers, this may be the beginning of further good news for the BTL market. Watch this space!
Buy-to-let investors are among their key target markets and among the products specifically developed for this audience are: loans for investors looking to buy, refurbish or release equity from the after-works value of a property as well as short-term loans for acquisitions such as at auction. Light refurbishment work can also be financed through one of the bank's loans.
After a number of stories on mortgage funding becoming more easily available to home buyers, this may be the beginning of further good news for the BTL market. Watch this space!
Thursday 11 October 2012
Mortgage market on the move - Good news for property investors?
If the mortgage market is anything to go by we should expect movement across all of the property market soon. By movement, we mean an increase in the number of transactions per month, year etc.
What makes us think that? Quite simply, an astonishing amount of new mortgage deals have been introduced into the market recently and yesterday's announcement by HSBC is just one recent example. Without a doubt it appears that the 90% mortgage is back - HSBC is following Nationwide in offering one - at least for those buying to live in a property.
At the same time, mortgage interest rates seem to be falling, not only for HSBC clients but also for ING Direct customers.
In further mortgage news, intermediary lender Precise has launched a range of prime mortgages and Tesco Bank are extending their range of mortgage products, to name just a couple.
Meantime in the buy-to-let market, rental yields have increased almost across the board in the third quarter of this year, mostly due to high tenant demand and still falling property prices in some locations.
The high demand is certainly something we are seeing in Edinburgh this year. With students just back at university and the holiday season over, virtually none of our clients' properties are empty. On the contrary, we've been able to source properties to buy for investor clients which are now successfully let and we envisage this trend to continue.
What makes us think that? Quite simply, an astonishing amount of new mortgage deals have been introduced into the market recently and yesterday's announcement by HSBC is just one recent example. Without a doubt it appears that the 90% mortgage is back - HSBC is following Nationwide in offering one - at least for those buying to live in a property.
At the same time, mortgage interest rates seem to be falling, not only for HSBC clients but also for ING Direct customers.
In further mortgage news, intermediary lender Precise has launched a range of prime mortgages and Tesco Bank are extending their range of mortgage products, to name just a couple.
Meantime in the buy-to-let market, rental yields have increased almost across the board in the third quarter of this year, mostly due to high tenant demand and still falling property prices in some locations.
The high demand is certainly something we are seeing in Edinburgh this year. With students just back at university and the holiday season over, virtually none of our clients' properties are empty. On the contrary, we've been able to source properties to buy for investor clients which are now successfully let and we envisage this trend to continue.
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