Westexe Mortgages Blog

First Time Buyer Specials

15% deposit – rates from 3.29%

10% deposit – rates from 4.29%

5% deposit – rates from 4.99%

0% deposit (100% mortgage) – rate 5.98%

Remember guarantor mortgages, including limited and full liability guarantor mortgages available.

Gifted deposit mortgages available.

Some First time buyer mortgages have free valuation and free legal fees.

Westexe mortgage Solutions are whole of market independent mortgage brokers offering free advice with no obligation 24/7 – call 01392 216344 any time or request a call back.

The number of 95% loan-to-value mortgage deals available to first-time buyers is at the highest level since before the financial crisis, according to Westexe Mortgage Solutions.

The number of 95% LTV deals currently open to first-time buyers is at a four-year high, with 59 deals currently available from 21 different lenders. This is up from just 25 in February 2011, nine back in 2010, and only three at the same time in 2009.

Even using the most conservative estimates, Westexe Mortgage Solutions suggests there could be over £210million worth of mortgage finance available to first-time buyers with a 5% deposit right now. Based on the average house price bought by first-time buyers, this is sufficient for over 2,000 first-time buyers to buy their first home right now.

As an indication of what this would mean for the housing market, during the 1980s and 1990s there were typically well over 500,000 first-time buyers every year – well over 1,350 a day, whereas currently there are only around 520 a day.

First-time buyers are being held back from taking up these deals only because they are unaware that they are available again.

“Well over 85% of young renters aspire to become homeowners but the vast majority of these say the fact they cannot raise a deposit is the key reason for not buying.

“There is a widespread perception that a minimum 20% or 15% deposit is required and they just don’t realise that there are now a lot more competitive 90% and 95% LTV mortgages back on the market.

“The first port of call for prospective borrowers should be to a mortgage broker as they can best assess which is the best product for their needs, but the fact that lenders are open to first-time buyers again is a really positive sign.”

Mortgage approvals surge to highest levels since Dec 2009
Friday, February 10, 2012
Published by MILLIE DYSONMortgages | 0 Comments
Loans for house purchase surged to 58,610 in January, according to the latest Mortgage Monitor from e.surv chartered surveyors.

This is the highest level since December 2009, and came thanks to an increase in lending to borrowers with small deposits. The figure represents an 11% increase on the 52,939 purchase approvals in December, and a 29% year-on-year increase from January 2011.

The sharp increase has been driven by more loans to borrowers with small deposits, with more first-time buyers being given access to high-loan-to-value (LTV) mortgages by lenders.

Since January 2011, high-loan-to-value lending has almost doubled. Loans to borrowers with a deposit of under 15% accounted for only 7% of all loans for house purchase back in January last year, but have risen to account for almost 13%.

This has helped more low income and first time buyers get onto the property ladder, with the number of loans to these borrowers increasing at a faster pace than loans to wealthier borrowers. There were 15,329 loans for purchase of homes costing below £125,000 – typical first time buyers property.

This was the highest number since March 2008, and a 31% increase from January last year.

Additionally, there were fewer loans on expensive property in January than in December, as the number of loans for purchase of expensive property fell in all price brackets over £376,000, suggesting wealthier buyers are beginning to represent a less disproportionately large share of the market.

Despite the improvement, deposit requirements are still high by historic standards, which mean first-time buyer numbers remain suppressed compared to their pre-2008 levels. In January 2007, the average deposit for house purchase loans was 31%, compared to 38% in January 2012.

Richard Sexton, director of e.surv, said:

“The mortgage market has so far done a reasonable job in repelling the onslaught from the eurozone. LTVs have trended steadily upwards over the past six months, and approvals volumes are holding up well.

“Lenders pushed out a spate of high loan-to-value mortgages in the summer to cater for the backlogged first time buyer market, and, although they have taken time to feed through, we now are we beginning to see borrowers take them up in notable numbers.

“But it won’t last forever. Despite all the encouraging news surrounding the market at the moment, danger lurks just around the corner. The rate at which banks lend to each other – LIBOR – has been creeping upwards.

“The banks are yet to pass these extra costs onto the consumer, but this is sure to happen, and will come in the guise of higher mortgage rates. If the situation in the eurozone becomes more tumultuous, which looks possible, lenders will batten down the hatches and scale back the amount they lend to first time buyers.

“The early months of 2011 were so weak that the year-on-year growth in January is more an indictment on how suppressed lending was a year ago than it is a sign of a vibrant market. First time buyer numbers are still low by historic standards and buy-to-let lending is forming an increasing share of overall lending.”

Had a great and really informative meeting last night, courtesy of the Federation of Small Business’s. Talk given by banksy6 @ Optix Solutions about Social Media

Buy-to-let market blooms
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Published by MILLIE DYSONCommercial | 0 Comments
Moneyfacts research has shown that the availability of buy-to-let mortgages has risen over recent months.

There are currently 486 buy-to-let mortgage deals available, compared to 386 last February, report Moneyfacts.

Buy-to-let product availability

- February 2012: 486

- February 2011: 386

- February 2010: 243

As the availability of buy-to-let deals has increased, the average interest rate has reduced.

Buy-to-let average rate

- February 2012: 4.79%

- February 2011: 5.00%

- February 2010: 5.31%

Louise Holmes, spokesperson for Moneyfacts.co.uk, commented:

“During the peak of the credit crisis the number of buy-to-let deals shrank considerably as lenders saw it as a high risk area of the market.

“Many aspiring homeowners have had their property dreams dashed due to strict lending criteria and large deposits, meaning the only option left is to rent. This increase in demand for rental properties has resulted in a degree of competition returning to the buy-to-let sector, giving it a well-needed boost.

“These latest figures, particularly a reduction in the average rate, should make pleasing and encouraging reading for landlords and property investors.”

Buying is 16% cheaper than renting
Monday, January 30, 2012
Published by MILLIE DYSONEconomy | 0 Comments
Buying a home in the UK is over a £100 a month cheaper than renting, according to research by Halifax.

The typical monthly cost of buying a three bedroom house in the UK was £600 in December 2011: £116 (or 16%) lower than the average monthly rent of £716 paid on the same property type.

This represents a significant turnaround compared with three years ago when the average cost of buying was 29% higher than the average rent paid. The monthly costs associated with buying accounted for 29% of average UK disposable income in 2011, compared to 47% in 2008.

Home buying costs have fallen by more than a quarter (£328) since 2008, driven by a decline in the average monthly mortgage payment of nearly one-third (£242) due to the marked fall in mortgage rates and house prices.

The mortgage rate for a new borrower has been reduced to an average of 3.63% in 2011 from 5.75% in 2008, while the average house price has dropped by 11% over the same period.

Meanwhile, the average cost of renting has risen by 9% (£62) since 2009.

Higher demand for rental property, driven partly by the difficulties for potential buyers entering the housing market, has pushed up rents.

Over the past year, buying costs have dropped by 5% whilst the typical cost of renting has risen by 5%, continuing the trends seen in 2010.

The regional picture

Buying a home was more cost-effective than renting in eleven out of the twelve UK regions in December 2011.

In contrast, buying was more costly than renting in all regions in December 2008, demonstrating the considerable turnaround over the last three years.

Despite having higher absolute costs, buying is currently most affordable relative to renting in London with the average borrower in the capital paying 10.2% less per month than the typical private tenant.

At the other end of the spectrum, Wales is the only region where renting remains cheaper than buying.

Home Buyers: the inside track

The number of buyers entering the market has continued to decline despite the improvement in the affordability of buying compared with renting since 2008.

Halifax estimates that there were around 510,000 home purchases with a mortgage in 2011: the lowest annual total since 1974 and 6% lower than in 2010. Much of this decline can be attributed to the increase in the size of the deposit required, with the size of the average deposit put down more than doubling over the past decade.

In addition, higher costs related to moving home such as stamp duty and estate agents fees have also added to the overall cost of home buying.

Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax, commented:

“The affordability gains for buyers relative to renters in the last three years have been significant. The average mortgage payment has fallen dramatically over recent years as a result of falling house prices and mortgage rates.

“At the same time, rents have risen due to strong demand for rented accommodation.

“Nonetheless, despite the improvement in the relative affordability of buying a home, the number of purchasers has continued to fall due to the ongoing challenges in raising a deposit and the considerable uncertainty over the prospects for the UK economy, which have severely constrained housing demand.”

Buy to let now rock solid at 80% LTV
Friday, January 27, 2012
Published by MILLIE DYSONMortgages | 0 Comments
There are now six mortgage lenders offering more than 20 BTL mortgages with LTVs up to 80%, according to data from Mortgage Flow, Mortgage for Business’s bespoke buy to let mortgage sourcing tool.

From December 2008 to May 2010 the highest achievable LTV for a buy to let mortgage was just 75%.

The first sign that the tide was about to turn came from The Mortgage Works on 9th May 2010 when it introduced a limited range of products to 80% LTV. Investors then had to wait another nine months for another lender to do the same.

On that occasion the entrant was Kensington who introduced a solitary product to a headline hitting 85% LTV. Kensington has since withdrawn from buy to let lending.

The six lenders that offer 80% LTV or above now are Kent Reliance Banking Services, Saffron Building Society, Leeds Building Society, Aldermore Mortgages and as of today Clydesdale Bank.

David Whittaker, managing director at Mortgages for Business, commented:

“This is great news for landlords and investors and demonstrates the growing confidence of lenders in this sector who see buy to let as more profitable than homeowner lending.

“Between them, there is a good range of products on offer from two year discounted trackers to five year fixed rates. Some even come with flat arrangement fees which really start to make sense for investors looking to borrow larger sums

2011: year of the first time buyer
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Published by MILLIE DYSONMortgages | 0 Comments
Latest figures from unbiased.co.uk, reveal first time buying was the most sought after area of mortgage advice throughout 2011 on its ‘find a mortgage adviser’ search.

Data from the professional advice website showed that from January last year consumer searches for first time buying advice overtook all other areas of advice straight through to October ending the year at 36% in December.

This reached a peak in August last year at 41% of all mortgage searches on unbiased.co.uk. On average across the year, 37% of all searches made by consumers on unbiased.co.uk were for a mortgage adviser specialising in first time buying.

Meanwhile the strength of the buy-to-let market saw enquiries jump from 17% in September to 25% in October last year, recording the highest ever number of buy-to-let searches on unbiased.co.uk.

The high level of buy-to-let enquiries continued throughout Q4 generating a quarter (25%) of the total number of searches on unbiased.co.uk’s ‘find a mortgage adviser’ search across October, November and December.

Searches for re-mortgage advice fluctuated, ranging between 29% and 36%, hitting its highest points in January, July and November last year.

These figures are in line with the CML’s latest lending figures for re-mortgaging which also reported an increase in November with 31,200 re-mortgage loans, a change of 6% from October.

Karen Barrett, Chief Executive of unbiased.co.uk, comments:

“2011 saw a busy year for first time buyers looking for help with their mortgages.

“While mortgage rates are continuing to be low as a result of the ongoing low base rate, lending criteria continue to be tight, leading to an increase in first time buyers looking for guidance and help.

“Mortgage advisers should be encouraged by these figures and look forward to a busy 2012, as we are entering the traditional home buying season.

“We are also seeing signs of the buy-to-let market picking up and we expect 2012 to show a continuation of that trend.”

Top ten mortgage advice drivers in 2011

1. First time buyer (% of total average in 2011): 37%

2. Re-mortgage: 33%

3. Residential: 21%

4. Buy-to-let: 19%

5. Self Employed: 8%

6. High loan to value: 7%

7. Equity Release: 6%

8. Sub-Prime: 4%

9. Flexible: 3%

10. Commercial: 2%

Home hunters return to market in record numbers
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Published by MILLIE DYSONSurveying & Conveyancing | 0 Comments
Website traffic on Rightmove is hitting new all-time highs as new year home-hunters turn their attention to the property market in record numbers.

The UK property website, with a market share of 84% of the top four property portals, served over 34 million pages of traffic on Monday 16th January .

This was the second time in the space of a fortnight that the record has been broken, after a high of 33.4million pages was set on Tuesday 3rd January.

Rightmove director Miles Shipside comments:

“It seems like a popular New Year’s resolution must be to move home in 2012. The obvious next step for the British public is to jump onto Rightmove to see if they can turn their resolutions into reality – or realty as the Americans would say!

“The record traffic on Rightmove is also an indicator of underlying demand, if and when the mortgage famine should ease.”

The record day included around 15% of traffic from Rightmove’s highly successful mobile platforms.

This early-year activity on Rightmove mirrors 2011 when a new record of 28 million pages was set on January 10th, representing an uplift of over 6 million pages in the past 12 months.

Rightmove director Miles Shipside comments:

“To see record levels of home-hunting activity is highly encouraging for the property market. However, local market conditions vary considerably given today’s uncertain and fragmented UK housing market.

“Our advice to buyers, sellers, renters and landlords for property-market success over the year ahead is to understand your local micro-market and seek expert advice from your local estate agent or lettings agent in order to price or budget accordingly.”

Rightmove recently started a new run of TV advertising with their ‘Britain Moves at Rightmove’ campaign, which captures the many ways in which Rightmove is used by the British home-moving public.

Buyer demand increases, say RICS
Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Published by MILLIE DYSONEconomy | 0 Comments

Buyer demand for property in the UK rose during November, but economic uncertainty continues to hold the market back from any meaningful recovery, report RICS.

Seven per cent more surveyors reported new buyer enquiries rose rather than fell during November. This was the third consecutive monthly increase for the series, which is a good indicator of buyer demand in the market.

Although the pick-up in interest signalled by the results is still modest, this is the first time since the spring of 2010 that the series has been in positive territory for three months in a row.

The improved tone to buyer demand was also reflected in an improvement in the level of sales transactions. Newly agreed sales rose, with 14 per cent more respondents reporting sales increased rather than decreased (from 9 per cent more in October).

Alongside this, the average number of sales per surveyor (per branch) climbed to 15.4 in the three months to November. Although still very subdued, this is the best level since September 2010.

During November, surveyors were again asked about the factors which they felt were holding back activity in the housing market.

Most cited was uncertainty in the economy and this reason was given by 89 per cent of respondents (compared to 79 per cent three months ago). Availability of mortgage finance came in at 70 per cent, while fear of house price falls remained steady at 42 per cent.

The house price balance continues to be negative, with 17 per cent more chartered surveyors reporting price declines rather increases in November – although this is an improvement from October’s reading of -24 per cent.

Significantly, close to three-fifths of surveyors indicated that prices had not changed over the month and of those reporting a fall; the vast majority indicated that it had been in the 0 to 2 per cent range.

Looking ahead, it remains a broadly similar story to that signalled for much of 2011. Price expectations remain barely changed at -21 per cent while the net balance for sales expectations is still in positive, albeit low, territory at + 5 per cent.

Commenting, RICS housing spokesperson, Alan Collett, said:

“It is encouraging that buyer interest has edged upwards in the face of the endless diet of negative news from Europe and the turmoil in financial markets. However, a meaningful recovery still seems some way off.

“While the proposed mortgage indemnity scheme is clearly likely to provide some assistance for the market and is to be welcomed, its focus on the new build sector will inevitably mean that it only offers support for a relatively small share of the market.”