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Trinity Financial mortgage brokers have been using private banks for many years and, with the high street mortgage lenders going through difficulties, the likes of Handlesbanken and Coutts are in a position to offer some very good deals.

Aaron Strutt, a broker at Trinity Financial Group, says: “One of our clients has just been offered a particularly good deal with Handlesbanken, who are a private bank. He was originally unsure if he wanted to take out a fixed or tracker rate, so we arranged a split deal. The mortgage was for £800,000. Half of the mortgage is secured on a three-year fixed rate of just 4.52% and the remainder is on an offset tracker – without penalties -at a rate of just 3%. Not only does this offer great value for money, but the right balance of funding for our client.”

“One new entrant in to the mortgage market is the Bank of China. They are offering tracker rate mortgages starting at 3% for loans up to 75% loan-to-value and, they will lend up to £1 million. The bank will take in to consideration 50% of any bonus, any overtime or commission you may receive. Something not all mortgage lenders will currently do.

“Bank of China are also keen to lend to buy-to-let investors up to 65% of the property value. One additional benefit is that borrowers are only tied in for the first year and that the penalties for leaving in that year are just 1%, considerable lower than the majority of deals.”

This week the Nottingham Building Society have launched a range of extremely competitive fixes starting at just 3.99% (6% APR). While the Chelsea Building Society launched a four-year fixed rate at 4.99% (5.7% APR) for those with a 25% deposit. The arrangement fee is £995 and the maximum loan is £500,000.

The Mansfield Building Society also still offer their two-year fixed rate at 3.99%. This mortgage has an arrangement fee of £999 and it is available to those with a 25% deposit.

The most competitive deal for those with a 15% deposit is through Abbey. They offer a four-year fixed rate at 5.84% (4.8% APR) with a fee of £495. This has a free property valuation.

31st July 2009

House prices in the UK increased in value for the third consecutive month in July, according to the Nationwide’s latest survey. House prices rose by 1.3%, taking the average value of a property to £158,871.

The rise marks three consecutive months of positive movement in the UK housing market. The three month on three month rate of change, which is widely considered as a reliable indicator of short term trends, has risen from 1% in June to 2.6% – the highest level since February 2007. While property prices are still 6.2% lower than they were 12 months ago, the annual rate of decline is falling steadily, having dropped by over 3% from June’s figure of 9.3%.

Prices have now risen by 1.3% during this year, raising hopes that house prices have finally stabilised. Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide’s chief economist, said: “There is now a reasonable chance that prices could end the year slightly higher than when they started. Only a few months ago, such an outcome would have appeared unthinkable.”

31st July 2009

Mortgage industry figures have revealed that intermediaries continue to lead the way in home loan lending. Data released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders, which drew on figures from the Financial Services Authority, showed that intermediaries accounted for 64% of the total value of lending in the first three months of 2009. Furthermore, in the same period, 70% of first time-buyer loans, by volume, came through intermediaries, up from 68% in the previous quarter.

17 July 2009

Three-month LIBOR - the rate at which many banks get a substantial amount of their funding from – has reached at record low of just 0.99%. Ten months ago three-month LIBOR was as high as 6.28% and many mortgage lenders were forced to withdraw their deals and/or even stop lending. The fall below 1% is the first time since the inception of the three-month LIBOR index on January 1 1986.

16 July 2009