🇬🇧 Welcome to our Jubilee special edition of Spread the Word. We hope you are all having lots of fun celebrating the Queen’s amazing 70 years on the throne. We’re sure there will be street parties and gatherings across the country to mark the occasion.
TEAM news & updates
OUR TEAM IS EXPANDING!
Watch this space for news of two new Mortgage Brokers joining our extended team soon. These handpicked professionals share our same ambition to provide excellent customer service and tailored advice to suit YOU. Update to follow soon…
MORTGAGE NEWS & UPDATES
SPRING CLEAN TIME?
Is your mortgage deal coming to an end? Do you want to borrow additional funds, perhaps for home improvements, or simply check if you could be saving money?
We search from a comprehensive range of mortgage lenders, insurance products based on an analysis of a number of insurers, including exclusive products. As a result, you could potentially save over your mortgage term or protection product. Get in touch with us today to learn about Mortgage & Protection advice tailored to YOU
Govt sets June ban on ground rents
A ban on landlords charging ground rent to leaseholders will come into force on 30 June, the government announced today.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities says this annual rent – sometimes running to hundreds of pounds – will be abolished in England and Wales, because “these charges provide no clear service in return and can be set to escalate regularly, with a significant financial burden for leaseholders”.
It adds that the ban will lead to “more transparent homeownership for thousands of homebuyers”.
The department says: “Anyone preparing to sign a new lease on a home in the next two months should speak to their landlord to ensure their ground rent rate reflects the upcoming changes.”
Leasehold minister Lord Stephen Greenhalgh adds: “This is an important milestone in our work to fix the leasehold system and to level up homeownership.
“Abolishing these unreasonable costs will make the dream of homeownership a more affordable reality for the next generation of home buyers.
SOURCE - MORTGAGE STRATEGY
divorce & separation mortgage advice
Divorce or separation can be a traumatic experience, especially if there is a joint mortgage to consider. Our team has experience in helping couples in this situation. We have divorce and separation mortgage capacity appointments available now.
Whatever happens – keep up your repayments
Both you and your partner are responsible for the repayments. Moving out of the home does not remove your legal obligation to keep up repayments.
Be open and honest with your mortgage lender
Contact your mortgage lender as soon as possible to update them on your circumstances – especially if there are issues with repayments.
Joint Mortgage options following a divorce or separation
· Take over the mortgage yourself
· Be bought out of the mortgage by your ex-partner
· Sell up and go your separate ways
Each option will involve dealing with your existing or a new mortgage lender, an independent valuation of your home to determine its current worth, and the proportion of the house you are entitled to.
Benefits of speaking to a mortgage broker?
Mortgage brokers remove a lot of the paperwork and hassle of arranging a mortgage with access to exclusive products and rates often unavailable to the public. Whilst this might be a new experience for you and your ex-partner, Stratton Thorpe has years of dealing with divorce and separation mortgage clients. We're here to help.
Please note that advising on your borrowing capacity in relation to court proceedings is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Sunak expects interest rate to hit 2.5%
The Times reports that chancellor Rishi Sunak believes that interest rates will rise by 2.5% over the next 12 months.
It says he reported this to the cabinet on Tuesday, allegedly adding that homeowners who are not on a fixed rate deal could see their mortgage payments rise by £1,000.
According to Trussle, the Bank of England moving the interest rate in March from 0.5% to 0.75%, would have added over £300 on to the average mortgage, which came on top of increases in December 2021 and February, which together added £650 on to the average mortgage.
According to the firm, 800,000 households are currently on a standard variable rate.
And fixed rates themselves have been steadily rising since the end of 2021.
According to Moneyfacts, in January this year, the average two-year fix stood at 2.38% and the average five-year fix was at 2.65%.
As of last Friday, the average two-year fix came to 2.98%, while the average five-year fix was priced at 3.11%.
Bank of England members will next meet on 5 May to decide whether the base rate should move again or not. Many market watches believe another increase is on the cards.
Trussle head of mortgage operations Amanda Aumonier says: “Given the recent history of low interest rates, many have not needed to keep an eye on their mortgage deal, as there wasn’t much variability in tracker rates.
SOURCE - MORTGAGE STRATEGY
House prices rise for 10th month in a row: Halifax
Average house prices rose 10.8% on an annual basis in April to hit a record £286,079, says the latest Halifax house price index.
This rise is down from 11.1% posted in March, but is still the tenth consecutive monthly rise in prices, the longest run since 2016.
The report says: “The property market has continued to defy expectations in recent times, with the rate of house price growth accelerating since the end of the stamp duty holiday last year.”
Average house prices have risen by £47,568 over the last two years. It took the previous five and half years to make a similar jump of £47,689 between October 2014 and April 2020, the survey points out.
House prices have fallen in just four months since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. The index adds that the average monthly gain of 0.9% during the past year is more than double the typical monthly increase seen over the previous decade.
SOURCE - MORTGAGE STRATEGY
Mortgage rates more than double since record lows in October: L&C
Mortgage rates have more than doubled since the historic low recorded in October last year, according to analysis by L&C Mortgages.
The average of the keenest low loan-to-value (LTV) two- and five-year remortgage rates from the top ten lenders has continued to escalate this year, to 2.36% and 2.46% respectively.
This has increased from the historic lows of 0.89% and 1.05% respectively last October.
L&C’s remortgage tracker shows that the monthly payment on a typical £150,000 repayment mortgage is now more than £100 higher than at the low, pushing annual mortgage payments up by more than £1200 per annum.
However, recent the Bank of England’s recent base rate rises have been feeding through to lender standard variable rates (SVR) too.
SOURCE - MORTGAGE STRATEGY
Referral Scheme
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Find out more about how you can qualify and start referring today.
CLIENT REVIEWS
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free Life Insurance quote in 60 seconds
We have recently launched our brand-new Life Insurance free online quote service. Through our website, you can now get an instant life insurance quote that is quick, simple and free. Our life insurance calculator can help you work out how much cover you may need to protect your loved ones and keep your home safe should the unexpected happen. Simply enter a few details about your lifestyle and living circumstances to find out how much cover is right for you.
· Quick, simple and FREE
· Get an instant quote in less than 60 seconds
· Easy online quote process to provide you with an idea of costs
· Search and compare quotes for products based on an analysis of a number of insurers
· Find out about the free additional benefits available
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