The Mortgage Store Weekly Updates🏠

Lots of news this week, with mortgage rates continuing to edge
downwards, but there is plenty of other activity happening too! Please see The
Mortgage Store Weekly Update below 👇

🟦 Halifax increase
Loan-to-Income (LTI) limit for First Time Buyers. The UK’s biggest lender gave a big boost to
the UK’s First-Time Buyers this week when announcing they will now lend up to
5.5 x income on new applications. If the Household Income (all borrowers) is
greater than £50,000pa, and the LTV is 90% or lower, then buyers will get the
new improved multiple. Based on an employed household income of £50,000, this
will increase the maximum loan available from approximately £224,500 to around
£275,000.
 

🏦 “Bank of Family”
Deposit Contributions to Reach a Record High of £9.2bn. Financial gifts from family members, to
support home purchases, are set to reach £9.2bn this year, funding 42% of all
home purchases by buyers under 55, according to recent research by Legal &
General. The average contribution is £27,400 – the highest amount since Legal
& General began this research in 2016, with the overall figure expected to
increase to £11.3bn by 2026. This further underlines the challenges faced by
those would-be buyers who don’t have access to such family help.

📉 Mortgage Rates
Continue to fall across the board. Rates continue to be cut and while we wait to hear news about
whether we’ll see further reductions to the Base Rate, many lenders continue to
lead their ranges with sub-4% deals, as per the list below;
 

Barclays
HSBC
Coventry BS
Nat West
Halifax
Virgin Money

🏠 Mortgage
Approvals Hit Highest Level in 2 years. Data from the Bank of England
mortgage approvals hit 62,000 in July, the highest level since September 2022.
With rates dropping, new enquiries increasing and heading into a traditionally
busy time of year, we can expect this position to improve further between now
and Christmas (yes, I said the C-word).
 

🏠
Householder Equity in UK Homes Reaches £5.7trn. The
value of equity UK homeowners hold in their properties has reach a new high of
£5.7trn, topping the previous figure of £5.6trn recorded in the middle of 2022.
Pent up demand accounted for the previous record, but with more people coming
back to market looking to either buy-or-sell we could see this record go even
higher in the coming months.
 

🏦 Accord
Eases Criteria for Homeloans up to 5x Income. Accord have this week
reduced the minimum household income from £60,000 to £50,000 for those wanting
to borrow up to 5 x their annual income. This is another welcome move as
lenders continue to examine their own criteria and make improvements.
 

📈
Housebuilding Output Jumps to 2-year High. The fastest housebuilding
growth for almost 2 years underpinned a “sustained rebound” in UK Construction
orders, with residential work leading the way. With the new government making
housebuilding targets mandatory and reforms expected to be ratified soon, it is
not an unreasonable assumption that this pace will continue.
 

🏦 Growth
on Rent & Mortgage Spending Slows down. Spending on rent and mortgages
grew by just 1.1 per cent in August, the lowest rate recorded since March
2023.This follows the Bank of England’s decision to drop the base rate by 0.25
per cent earlier in the month. For now, consumers are saving on costs through
their bills, as warmer weather coupled with the energy price cap resulted in
the fourth consecutive month of falling utilities spending, dropping -11.4 per
cent year-on-year.
 

✍️ Mortgage
Administrators Say underwriter Access is vital to Case Progression. 22% of
Mortgage Administrators say access to an underwriter is vital, up from 16% last
year! Here at The Mortgage Store we know that fast progression is vital, to get
your all-important sales through, we work closely with the lenders to ensure
your clients get a fast, accurate, and above all efficient, process, helping
you exchange and complete more deals!