🎄 Thank you all for your support this year - Here's to a better 2021 🏠

We'd like to thank all our clients for trusting us throughout 2020 with their mortgage and protection needs and wish them a very Merry Christmas, and an incredible New Year. We're also here to share the news that mortgages are to get easier and better in 2021 and beyond - so be sure to keep in touch, and if you need advice - feel free to contact our team at any time.

 

The past year has been a strange one and this has also impacted on people financially. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, it has been tough for some people to get the mortgage they would like as lenders may not be offering what they want. Some may be looking for a small deposit, some may be looking for an affordable monthly payment and the industry states that some may have not been able to find the right mortgage for them.

 

The team at here at Love Mortgages have been working non-stop to help our clients find the mortgage that best suits their needs even when there haven’t been as many deals on offer but it looks like there is some hope on the horizon as we head into 2021. Many lenders are providing more mortgage offers than they have in recent months meaning there is much more choice as we head into the new year. But what has happened to make this change possible?

The Bank of England is currently exploring options to make it easier to get a mortgage which will be music to the ears of many buyers, especially those buying for the first time. There have been concerns that, despite the stamp duty relief, first-time buyers have been locked out of the property market during the pandemic with the deals offered favouring those who already have an existing property or those who invest in multiple properties.

 

Rules currently impose limits on the amount of riskier mortgages lenders can sell and can force lenders to ask borrowers whether they can still pay their mortgage if interest rates were to rise by three percentage points. With a jump in interest rates being incredibly unlikely, this has led to the Bank of England undertaking a review.

 

During recent months, buyers have come to find that the only mortgages on offer were ones with a large deposit needed or they would have to fulfil other criteria which were incredibly difficult for them to achieve. Alongside the current review from the Bank of England, high street banks are finally bringing back home loans that need a deposit of just 10%.

The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, promised to turn ‘generation rent into generation buy’ back in the Autumn and asked ministers to explore plans to allow more mortgages to be offered with a deposit of only 5% to help would-be homeowners. This may be one of the reasons why the review has been launched.

 

Numbers of 10% deposit mortgages available on the market dropped from 779 products on the 1st of March to just 183 on the 1st of June and a low of 51 on the 1st of October. Since then, these products have been steadily on the rise and they are making quite the comeback. Lenders originally pulled these mortgages when the coronavirus crisis hit and uncertainty in both the economy and the housing market led them to reduce lending but it is great to see them making a return now.

Deals became available in the middle of December from NatWest and also the Royal Bank of Scotland which is also owned by the same business group. They are available for first-time buyers and existing homeowners who are moving house and the rates can be fixed for two or five years.

 

Lloyds also brought theirs back in mid-December and these are available through Lloyds Bank and Halifax although these will have slightly stricter criteria than the other banks. As well as their contemporaries, Barclays have also resumed lending to borrowers with smaller deposits for the first time since March with a five year fixed deal available at 90 per cent loan-to-value. With so many first time buyers having struggled over the past few months to find an affordable mortgage that suited them, the arrival of these mortgages back on the market couldn’t have come any sooner.

It is important to stress that while you can always push forward with your findings yourself, the whole team here at Love Mortgages is here to give you independent mortgage advice which is far more inclusive as we independently access lending opportunities with a leading amount of lenders across the whole of the UK - meaning Love Mortgages has the potential to find you the best deal saving you time, work and money in getting the best mortgage for you.

It has been a tough time for both buyers and lenders alike. The team at Love Mortgages understand this, and we have been working tirelessly to help our clients find their dream mortgage deal but it had become increasingly difficult in an ever decreasing field with more and more lenders shying away from certain deals that they’d usually be happy to make. Thanks to everyone here at Love Mortgages, we're proud to have helped many customers to find the best mortgage for them, even during this time, and we are looking forward to 2021 where we hope to be able to have more mortgages available to choose from than ever before.

 

With so many deals already back on the mortgage market and with many more hopefully coming in the first few weeks of 2021, the housing market will hopefully see a large increase in people buying property. It already saw a rise during 2020, even with fewer mortgage opportunities available, due to people taking advantage of the stamp duty holiday. With more mortgages becoming readily available, we should expect to see many more deals being made in the next few months.

Don’t forget to consider Love Mortgages for all your mortgage needs as we head into the new year. We are here to help you with all of your mortgage needs and with our extensive knowledge and experience, we know we can get you the best mortgage deal. With a mortgage likely to be the biggest single financial commitment someone will make in their life, it is vital that customers get the best possible deal they can and the best advice they can. We will help you find the mortgage for you, talk you through everything and help you secure it. Your circumstances will always be considered to find the right lender and the right deal for you.




Disclaimer: Any mortgage offer forms a contract between you and the lender. It is important that you always take time to check that the offer they provide you with is exactly what you required, before agreeing to proceed. A good mortgage advisor will always assist you with this. Finally, property values may fluctuate according to the conditions of the market. This may affect your savings and investment. This can be addressed and explained in more detail by your mortgage advisor during the application process.