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Abbey for Intermediaries has launched into the buy-to-let market with a range of products for non-professional landlords.

A minimum deposit of 25% is required and applicants must already have a residential or buy-to-let property. If two applicant names are on the mortgage, at least one of them must be employed, as Abbey is not keen to lend to self-employed investors.

The lowest rate Abbey is offering is a two-year fix rate at 4.29% up to 60% loan to value and it has a £1,495 arrangement fee. Both purchase and remortgage customers get a free property valuation and £250 cash back on completion.

Aaron Strutt, a broker at Trinity Financial, says: “NatWest changed their buy-to-let rental calculation and cash rich investors in a position to cover any rental void can now borrow more money.

“There is mixed news in the buy-to-let market at the moment. Some mortgage rates have been withdrawn because of the rising cost of funds and other banks have improved their qualification criteria to increase lending volumes.”

19 December 2011

The proportion of unassisted first-time buyers has declined dramatically from 2005 to 2011 in every part of the UK, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

In 90% of all local authority areas, the proportion of those buying with assistance – typically from family members or friends – fell by between one quarter and one half from 2005 to 2011.

Since 2005 the CML says that the average age of all first-time buyers has remained steady at 29. But, by contrast, those buying without assistance rose sharply, from 30 in early 2008 to 33 just one year later.

19 December 2011

Dragonfly Property Financial, the specialist short and medium term finance company, has completed a quarter of a million pounds loan in 48 hours.

The deal was a second charge and it was secured on the applicant’s main residence in London. The purpose of the loan was to raise funds to purchase an investment property in Italy.

Trinity Financial work with a number of bridging companies and we can arrange specialist financial quickly.  We were recently quoted in the Financial Times explaining what to look out for when taking a bridging loan: http://tiny.cc/wpckr

19 December 2011

Lloyds Banking Group has said that the preferred option for their 630 retail branches, is to sell them to The Co-operative Group.

The bank says it will now progress more detailed and exclusive discussions with the aim of agreeing terms by the end of quarter 1 2012.

19 December 2011

The official number of unemployed people in the UK hit 2.64 million in the three months to October, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics. This is up 128,000 on the previous quarter and is the highest level since 1994.

19 December 2011

The number of mortgage products on the market has increased by 87% during the past year, according to Mortgage Brain’s monthly product analysis. The total number of mortgages available has increased from 7,519 to 14,052, as on December 15 2011.

December 19 2011

Abbey for Intermediaries has confirmed that it is entering the buy-to-let market in the next few weeks.

The lender was originally thought to be making a return back in November 2010 after pulling out in early 2008.

A spokeswoman for Abbey told Mortgage Strategy: “We are pleased to confirm we will be entering the non-professional sector of the buy-to-let market shortly. We expect this to be in the next few weeks.”

There has been an increase in the number of lenders offering buy-to-let mortgages and Abbey’s return will increase competition between the banks. Woolwich recently withdrew from the investment mortgage market because they were receiving more applications than they could handle.

Trinity Financial has access to one of the lowest two-year fixes at 3.65% and it is has a £2,249 fee. You will need a 35% deposit to access the mortgage and the lender provides a free property valuation.

9 December 2011

The persistence of low interest rates has helped make monthly mortgage payments for first-time buyers the most affordable for nearly eight years, according to figures released from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

The CML says that the average first-time buyer now has a typical deposit of 20% and mortgage affordability is improving.

Aaron Strutt, a broker at Trinity Financial, says: “If you qualify for an interest only mortgage the CML says that it will typically consume 12.3% of income, the lowest level since records began in 2002. For those taking a capital repayment mortgage, the CML previously estimated that this would represent about 29% of your income, considerably more than interest only.

“If you have a 25% deposit and a good credit history you can qualify for an interest only mortgage and the rates are particularity low. That said, more lenders have been increasing the cost of their mortgages this week and Accord, Halifax and Leeds Building Society have all raised rates, typically by 0.15%.”

9 December 2011

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has voted to keep base rate on hold at 0.5% and maintain the Asset Purchase Programme at £275 billion.

The previous change to the base rate was a 0.5% reduction to 0.5% on 5 March 2009 – some 34 months ago.

9 December 2011

The European Central Bank has cut interest rates back to their historic low of 1% originally seen at the start of 2011.  New ECB president Mario Drafhi has reversed the two rate rises, his predecessor, Jean-Claude Trichet, introduced this year.

The Eurozone has a population of 332 million, compared to the UK’s 62 million. The jobless rate in the Eurozone is 10.3% compared to 8.3% in the UK.

9 December 2011

Attempted mortgage fraud increased by 77% in the three months to September, compared to the same period last year, according to a report by Experian.

49 in every 10,000 mortgage applications were found to be fraudulent in quarter 3, up 53% on the previous quarter.

Nick Mothershaw, director of identity at Experian UK & Ireland, is quoted as saying: “More than 90% of mortgage fraud tends to originate from genuine individuals misrepresenting their financial situation attempting to buy property that would ordinarily be out of reach.”

9 December 2011

A couple in Bristol have completed the first mortgage using the government-backed FirstBuy scheme. Mr and Mrs Steyn placed a 5% deposit and got a 75% loan to value mortgage using a 20% equity loan from the government and Bovis Homes.

9 December 2011

Woolwich has withdrawn its buy-to-let mortgage rates for investors with a 25% deposit, in order to try and manage service levels.

The lender says that it has been inundated with mortgage applications from brokers and the move is a short-term measure.

Woolwich offer one mortgage for property investors with a 40% deposit. It is fixed at 3.98% for two-years and it has a £1,999 arrangement fee.

Trinity Financial has access to one of the cheapest buy-to-let mortgages if you have a 25% deposit. It’s a two-year tracker at 3.89% and there is a £1,499 arrangement fee.

2 December 2011

The government has decided against extending the Stamp Duty holiday for first-time buyers as it claims the policy has failed to increase the number of first-time buyers entering the market.

The Autumn Statement says: “The government is publishing analysis showing that the Stamp Duty land tax relief for first-time buyers has been ineffective in increasing the number of first-time buyers entering the market.

“This relief will therefore end on March 24 2012 as planned. The government is instead prioritising more effective measures which provide better value for money as set out in its housing strategy.”

2 December 2011

Wealthy British and foreign buyers are avoiding the 5% Stamp Duty tax on as many as one in three houses sold for more than £1 million, according to an investigation by The Times.

The total amount of money lost in tax revenue is estimated to be £500 million, but some tax specialists think it could be closer to £1 billion.

Much of the Stamp Duty avoidance is completed with the use of offshore companies in property purchases. Transactions are classed as corporate and are not technically a property sale; this means that there is no Stamp Duty obligation.

2 December 2011

Borrowers paid a record £9.1 billion off their mortgages during the second quarter of the year, according to the latest figures from the Bank of England.

More homeowners have been paying down their mortgages, rather than drawing out money against the value of their property.

The £9.1 billion figure for the three months between April and June 2011 is the highest amount paid down by borrowers since records began in 1970.

During the second quarter of this year, borrowers spent 3.5% of their take-home salary on paying off mortgage debt, compared with 3.1% a year earlier.

2 December 2011

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has downgraded the long-term credit ratings of several banks following changes to its ratings criteria.

The BBC reports: Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup have all been downgraded to A- from A by the rating agency.

Morgan Stanley, Barclays, HSBC, Commerzbank and UBS were also downgraded one notch.

Last month Standard & Poor’s mistakenly sent a message to some of its subscribers saying that it had downgraded French debt from its top AAA rating. Both the French market regulator and S&P launched an investigation to see how this could of happened.

2 December 2011

Islamic Bank of Britain launch new buy-to-let purchase plan.

As a Sharia compliant product, it is based on joint ownership and rent. Monthly payment’s increase the customers share in the property and include rent on the share that the bank owns. At the end of the term the customer will own the property outright.

24 November 2011