Where’s All the Good News For Surrey

Them national media boys are at it again, beating us all up with lots of bad news about the economy. But will be as bad in Surrey or Hampshire.

Of course statistics don’t lie, although they can be manipulated to suit the cause especially in the politics game.

Look at unemployment, up to over 2 million and it could get worse with some economists saying 3 million is likely, even a spokesman for the TUC acknowledged  that 3 mill. could be possible.

Most of the jobs lost are not local and its far worse up north, especially in the former industrial areas. But let’s not get complacent down south. I know quite a few people who have lots their jobs and others who are also very concerned about theirs.

Lord Turner, he’s the guy who has been given the job of reviewing the role of the FSA (the Financial Services Authority), has said that mortgages may become harder to get, with the loan to value of the mortgages having a minimum of 10-15% deposit required.

I don’t see that as a bad thing, its good that a buyer shows some commitment to buying a property by working harder to save for a deposit. But mortgage companies, banks and building societies should not make it tremendously hard and difficult to get a mortgage. There has to be a balance.

So I hope the government and the FSA do not go over the top, after all this is the same government that was talking about allowing mortgages with 7 times your salary.

International Monetary Fund report.

Yikes more bad news… according to the IMF the Uk is in a worse financial position than most of it G20 partners in fact it has said “Britain will take longer to recover from the recession than any other major economy”

Hold on to your hats, but don’t panic.

Need to Remortgage

There is no doubt mortgages are cheaper at the moment, but still people are not taking advantage of this.

I recently agreed a 250k remortgage for a couple who were on a 6.5% loan down to 3.9%…can you imagine the savings they made monthly, but more about that in another blog post.

If I can be of service please call me 01276 670777

Bye for now

Michael Usher

0.5% Bank Rate is good, but…..

0.5% Bank Rate is good, but…..

Home owners in Surrey and Hampshire have seen their mortgage payments slashed in the last 5 months, well those that have a tracker mortgage or those we have helped recently to secure low mortgage rates.

Now the Bank of England have decided to print more money as well, (what a good idea, I wish I could do that) what we need now….is more lending please and all we can hope is that the banks do start to make funds available for desperate house buyers.

But of course we will all have to pay for it in the end. You can’t just print more money like its going out of fashion and not worry that this kind of action will not come back and bite you on the bum, because it surely well.

But, like the government, let’s not worry about that now, lets get the economy going again and worry about those other things in the future.

The local housing market.

I have been talking to quite a number of estate agents in Camberley, Frimley and Farnborough and they have all been saying that they are busier now than in the last 12 months and in some areas and with certain types of properties, prices are stablising.

But the banks and buiding societies are making things tougher all round. They are still insisting 0n 15, 20, or even 25% deposits, in fact its said that the government are contemplating on making it a law that there should be a deposit of at least 15%. Not sure about that…

10% deposit would seem fair and indeed workable. My first mortgage in the 80’s required 10% and yes it was hard to find that money, but I worked harder, did a job on the side and finally saved enough money to get my first house.

Prices of houses are higher now, but we all earn a lot more now. Houses are also more affordable than they were this time last year and I know I keep saying it, but you can still get an even better bargain if you negotiate!!!!

So now its a case of saying hooray to 0.5% interest rates if you have a certain mortgage, but boo!!! if you are a saver. Swings and roundabouts comes to mind. After all some savers had it good for so long.

As Forrest Gump said “Life’s like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”

If I can help you in any way with you mortgage, please email me through the website or just pick up the phone, I wont bite.

Michael 01276 670777

website

Mortgages £14Bn Available

Here is the news that home owners in Surrey and Hampshire have been looking forward to reading about. This will also be great news for 1st time buyers locally too.

Northern Rock is leading the way, but now all the building societies and banks will have to follow (if they want to retain their market share), as the Government backed Northern Rock is going to make £14Billion available for the mortgage market.

Finally some “Balls” is the market, this just what’s needed to get the housing market going again.

Here’s the full story from the Financial Times

N Rock to lend £14bn to revive housing market

By Martin Arnold and George Parker

Published: February 22 2009 22:05 | Last updated: February 23 2009

Northern Rock is to embark on a £14bn mortgage sales drive to resuscitate Britain’s sluggish housing market, fuelled by a hefty injection of fresh government funding for the state-owned lender to be announced on Monday.

The Newcastle-based lender will split into a “good bank/bad bank” structure, allowing it to lend about £5bn of new mortgages in 2009 and £9bn from 2010, depending on market demand and funding, the government said on Sunday night.

EDITOR’S CHOICE

Buy-to-let mortgage advances hit five-year low – Feb-21

Alistair Darling, the chancellor, will present the move as an effort by the government to help responsible, hard-working families get mortgages, arguing that even those with a 20 per cent deposit are struggling to get finance.

Northern Rock’s new mort­gage lending will be a far cry from the aggressive policy it pursued before its crash, a business model decried on Sunday by Gordon Brown, the prime minister, who said he wanted to see an end to 100 per cent mortgages.

The Treasury has been informally discussing the Northern Rock plan with the European Commission, which last year insisted the bank quickly repay its £27bn taxpayer loan to minimise distortion to competition.

But Mr Darling argues that much has changed since February 2008, when Northern Rock’s nationalisation was a rare event in European banking and when Brussels took a much tougher line on state aid.

The government hopes that by giving Northern Rock – once the UK’s biggest mortgage lender – the firepower to increase significantly its lending to homeowners it will halt the slide in new mortgages, which hit a 34-year low last year.

By the end of December it had repaid £18bn of its £27bn government loan, allowing it to end its policy of encouraging mortgage redemptions in order to shrink its loan book.

Mr Darling has been surprised at how quickly the bank has fulfilled its commitments to Brussels and now wants to reverse that process to fill the gap in mortgage funding.

The old mortgage book will be split from its other businesses, allowing it to focus on using fresh capital from the government to finance new lending, rather than covering losses on older loans. The “good bank/bad bank” split will leave the worst parts of Northern Rock’s mortgage book in a separate vehicle, expected to managed alongside the book of the nationalised Bradford & Bingley, which is being run down.

Both are expected to come under the auspices of UK Financial Investments, the arm’s length body handling the government’s banking interests. The aim is to position the “good” Northern Rock for an eventual sale to the private sector.

The new mortgage lending will be financed by a fresh government loan of up to £10bn, as well as a longer repayment schedule for state loans still outstanding and income from the bank’s deposits and repayments.

Last year gross mortgage lending was £258bn, down from £364bn in 2007, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. There were 516,000 mortgages last year, down 49 per cent from 2007 and the lowest since 1974.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

Good news in all the newspapers

Sales Of Mortgages Down

There is no doubt that Michael Usher Mortgage Services are not as busy as we were this time last year, then again no-one is … or so we’re told by the media, no this is not another media bash.

Here is a quick press release for the Council of Mortgage Lenders, ( a very grand title don’t you think), they represent banks, building societies etc.

Gross mortgage lending declined to an estimated £12.4 billion in January, an 8% fall from £13.5 billion in December and a 52% fall from January 2008, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

A slight decline is typically experienced between December and January. However, this is the lowest monthly total since April 2001.

Bob Pannell, CML head of research, commented:

“Mortgage lending activity continues to be very weak and while people are searching eagerly for some signs of recovery, it would be unrealistic to expect a meaningful revival in lending in coming months. Even when conditions do improve, gross lending will be one of the later measures to recover.”

I have a friend who sell brand new houses locally for a large company, (sorry can’t say which company, she might get in trouble) and she told me that they have had their best month for over 7 months..

Now the truth is, they have reduced their prices (as everybody has to who really wants to sell), but at least they are selling.

Too many people are sitting in properties that they want to sell, but believe they should get the same price as they were quoted by the estate agent last year…hey it aint gonna happen.

People have to be realistic about there pricing.

But, its not all doom and gloom as the papers would like you to believe. Some areas in the Uk are doing well and prices have stabalised. There are a lot of property investors out there right now looking at buying up properties at 10% below today’s asking prices.

Why? because mortgages are cheap, there’s a shortage of housing and rents are high duh!

I’ve said it hear before on this blog, overall there is a shortage of houses for the growing Uk population, so in a supply and demand situation ie. lack of houses… price goes up eventually.

In any economy the value of “things” including houses go up and down and what I am saying are my personal thoughts.

But at then end of the day, you have to make the choice, but I would say get out there now get a bargain and buy a house.

Michael
01276 670777

www.mumsltd.co.uk

Nationwide Has Cut Its Interest Rates

Great news for some house owners in Surrey and Hampshire.

Nationwide has announced interest rate cuts on a number of its fixed-rate mortgages, and has launched a new range of tracker mortgages.

As of 17th February, new fixed-rate mortgage customers at the building society will be able to sign up for deals 0.2% lower than current rates.

The lower rates will also be available on remortgages and to current Nationwide customers renewing their mortgage contract. Nationwide’s re-launched range of new tracker mortgages include two and three year deals.

Two year tracker products start at 3.98%. Andy McQueen, mortgage director, said: “We are increasing our mortgage product range with the re-launch of a two year tracker and a new three year tracker for those customers who are looking for a longer term tracker deal.”

Nationwide subsidiaries Cheshire and Derbyshire Building Societies recently launched a new range of fixed-rate bonds.

The housing and mortgage market is changing and there definitely more interest from buyers at the moment. I’m not saying that the housing market has bottomed, but the scares from the media saying house prices would fall another 20% this year seem to be totally at odds with whats going on in the market, I believe this is truly a good time to buy a property…for the long term, but also as an investment.