News

One of the most welcome developments from this year’s Autumn Statement is the Chancellor’s decision to provide 400,000 new homes which will go a long way to address the UK’s urgent need for more affordable housing. The Chancellor has quite rightly made housing ‘a priority’ in this year’s Statement and by declaring his intention to provide a further £7bn for housebuilding, he has demonstrated a genuine commitment to addressing this issue at its core.

Following the Autumn Statement 2015, Simon Checkley, Managing Director of Private Finance comments on its implications:

Today, Private Finance announces its appointment of Mike Perrin as Associate Director and Head of Sales. Perrin’s role will be focussed on optimising performance on current business, supporting future business growth including that from the firm’s successful agency introducer relationships and through its digital marketing strategies.

As we wrote in our first blog on the subject, the Mortgage Credit Directive (MCD) is a piece of European legislation which is designed to create a single market for first and second charge mortgages and to protect consumers. In response, lenders have been making changes to their criteria and these changes are beginning to have an effect on borrowers in the areas of both foreign currency loans and some buy to let mortgages.

The MCD is a piece of European legislation which is designed to create a single market for first and second charge mortgages and to protect consumers by stress-testing their ability to repay a mortgage in changing economic circumstances. It will be implemented in the UK through rules drawn up by the Bank of England’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and will take formal effect from March 2016.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has just published its monthly Regulated Mortgage Survey data for August 2015. Whilst the survey shows a slight dip in lending on the previous month, we are still confident that lending overall will continue to remain at levels not seen since 2008, well into the New Year.

What do York & Westminster have in common? Sterling gain. Sustained investment. Are you a mortgage misfit? Country living. Planning 'la domination du monde'. A series of fascinating articles about the UK property market are contained in the latest Jackson-Stops Market Review.....

Are you thinking of buying a property or remortgaging to fix your rate, release capital or reduce your monthly repayments? Our advice is not to let the forthcoming General Election, already set for 7 May 2015, delay your decision. Interest rates can go only one way, upwards, and there is a real possibility that they are likely to do so well before next May.