Monty's Mortgage Blog

21.07.08 by Andrew Montlake

Mortgage Rate Revival

Further good news where mortgage rates are concerned have seen Birmingham Midshires clip their Buy-To-Let rates to help the slowly gathering pace of good cheer in the mortgage market.

Despite the fact that HBOS only attracted a mere 8.29% of the new shares offered in its £4bn rights issue, it's share price still remains on a stable footing, and the lender has cuts rates on mortgage products from all brands.

One of the biggest cheers was from the Buy-To-Let arena, as Birmingham Midshires now have rates available on a tracker basis from 5.99%, ending a period when rates in this area of the market place remained stagnant, with only The Mortgage Works stepping into the limelight up until now.

Hopefully some other lenders will begin to follow suit to assist Buy-To-Let landlords, especially when rents are strengthening.

Back to the mainstream market and Woolwich are launching an exclusive lifetime tracker product tomorrow at 0.69% above Bank Base. The current pay rate will therefore be 5.69% and the product comes with a reasonable £995 fee and penalties of just 1% within the first 3 years.

There is now some real choice in the tracker section of the market which will be a major relief to those looking to remortgage.


Comments

Comment by David Lawrenson | 2008-07-21

Once the mortgage market unfreezes and it hits the lack of new house building, I can only see house prices moving one way - and that's upwards. Just as long as the govt does not lose control of the economy resulting in high interest rates and high unemployment. (I know that is a big "if" but still buying property is not without risks and it is hard to call the bottom of the market). But with rents going up fast, I dont expect house prices to stay low for too long.
If I was a first time buyer I would not sit on my hands for too long as there is a danger of missing out if property prices turn and go up fast.

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