lozgti

Just been checking out mortgage deals.Seem to be lots of the big players doing low start for the fixed mge than back to 7% plus eg

Mortgage Rate at Alliance & Leicester

Bears no resemblance to the Banks Rate of interest.My Financial Advisor tells me all the generous lending criteria is disappearing very quickly as well.Back to three times income whether or not you need 7 times income.

Typical.Just as we are in the process of buying and selling.HIPS soon as well.Another £500 just for the governments benefit

FlightMan

That will kill the market dead. With an average house at 200k, how may FTB's earn 65k+ to afford that?

Cocker

iTrader: (3)

ING Direct - 5.39% no fees or early repayment charges!

KiwiGTI

Banks do seem to be battening down the hatches, at all levels.

john banks

About time too.

OllyK

Nationwide are doing pretty good deals if you already bank with them (i.e. have a savings account or such), IIRC we just got 5.14% fixed for 5 years, no fees etc.

Scooby Snacks 23

I took out a fixed rate mortgage with A&L in November 2005 at the rate of 4.39% until December '08 (and tied in for 3 years also). The rate will then track to 0.75% above the B of E base rate, which I guess puts it at 6%.

General consensus in my office (pensions, so used to forecasting) is that there'll be another 0.25% rise shortly, and then it will hold for a while.

///\oo/\\\

FTBs should be looking at cheaper flats, not £200k houses FFS....

stilover

Flats round here are between £180K - £277K

They advertise for FTB too

I went round one new development last year. Was advised by the sales agent to "Get in quick" as they'll go like hot cakes !!

Went round 2 weeks ago (just to be nosey) and found out that they've only sold 5 so far !!

Wonder why?

Coffin Dodger

£77k between me and my missus, so that's at least one FTB that can. People will just have to wait until they're a bit older before jumping on the ladder

FlightMan

Well whoopee for you.

speedking

Doesn't square with this story from yesterday's Telegraph

Suuba

What kind of fees are attatched to buying houses these days, havnt bought one for 15 years.

Stamp duty
Any thing else like lender fees?

Petem95

Would make it 6% now, but I expect it'll likely be a fair bit higher than that come 2008. Despite the recent increase interest rates are still historically low. Good chance of them rising a lot higher.

Good move by RBS - get the punters into their branch with the offer of a 6 x salary mortgage as the other banks are pulling their silly-multiple mortgages, but once in there I think most will find they'll need a rather good credit-rating and good future earnings potential to actually get that.

Cheap/easy credit is certainly starting to dry up - interest rates firmly on the upside worldwide, US housing market gone completely t1ts up etc, so the only thing thats surprisingly is that it went on for so long.

hades

Realistically, there are less good fixrd deals about now than there were a year ago - as the banks etc know that interest rates are (a) higher than a year ago, (b) unlikely to go down in the short-medium term, and (c) well below the long term average.

So, yes rates are likely to rise a bit. But at the moment, the £ is very strong, inflation still well below long term averages (and real world interest rates are the difference between base rate and inflation). Add that to the fact that B of E etc knows that large interest rate rises would result in a big spate of repossessions, bankruptcys etc - especially as there'll be a lot of people with large income multiplier mortgages who'll be coming out of their low rate fixed period fairly soon. So the chances of the base rate spiralling to 10% plus over the next year or so look somewhat slim to me.

Scaremongering in either direction about spiralling rates, crashing house prices or continued massive house price rises all seems fairly unlikely to me. With the present economic climate, I expect things to slowly get a little less comfortable for most people.

Mitchy260

How did you manage that when the bank of england base rate is 5.25%?

Some introductory offers offer below the base rate but only for the 1st/2nd year and then it evens out and then goes above with a typical 5 yr deal.

I have found to get a good interest rate, ie 6% and below, you either need to have a considerable deposit (<90% LTV) or pay a product fee of around £2k to secure.

1st time buyers are shafted at moment, average wage and average house price do not match up. 6-7x salary

Suresh

Probably to do with more accurate BIS II economic/regulatory capital requirements. first direct have reduced my credit card limit to 500 quid. Mind you I only ever use the thing for paypal, so that's already way too much!

pslewis

Well, I've been saying that a crash is about to happen for a few years now .... I simply cannot see what is driving the market except investment money on Buy-To-Lets.

The FTB were priced out of the market many years ago.

But, what we are seeing is 4 Bedroom Houses selling after a family split up ... thats 1 house swapped for 2 - driving the market.

Parents are also putting money into an offsprings house ... this drives up the price.

As long as people are buying the prices will stay high ... politically, it is difficult to see a crash happen - however much it is needed.

Coffin Dodger

Says who? I'd say you just have to wait until you're a bit older. A professional (i.e. graduate) in there early to mid thirties should be on at least £50k. Assuming a second income from a partner of £30k that gets you a mortgage of at least £200k. Assuming you've managed to put a bit of cash away in that time, say £25k each, gets you £250k to spend. Hardly priced out.

Just means property ownership becomes a privilege for those who have worked for it (as it once was), not a God given right for everyone. Just rent until you can afford to buy or stay in rented for the longer term as happens in quite a few European countries.

Fantom

Come on man! not many people earn £50k in their mid 30's!!!! I just read the average salary in the UK is £23K!!!!

Coffin Dodger

I do

Mitchy260

A graduate earning minimum £50k in early 30's What world are you living in I'd like too see figures as to how many graduates earn £50k per year throughout their life time never mind at aged 30.

In the city perhaps, doctors/lawyers/bankers etc will be earning 50k+ salaries but high wages are in line with the high living expenses they incur for being in the city.

The average UK wage is around £24k meaning 1st time buyers are heavily priced out of the market. Your speaking 8-10x salary for a decent 3 bed house in the south.

Sorry mate but do we really care how much you earn? £77k between you and your partner hardly makes you anything special Those who reveal their salaries and ***** wave, are generally the people that exaggerate their salaries Scoobynet is full of them
It makes it even harder when a young couple want to have a child, as the income of the mother goes out the window. How old are you and do you have kids? If your missus has 1, i take it your income will suffer significantly?

I work with a guy who always boasts about how much money he and his partner pull in. They are both about 50 and dont have any children and earn about £100k between them. Must be loaded i suppose, but what a sad life they have led without children involved.

Anyway the matter is, the MAJORITY of FTB dont stand a chance unless they inherit from parents or are lucky enough to be in £60k+ jobs especially down south where average home is about £250,000

unclebuck

Just another lewis wind up. Don't fall for it.