Mortgage Rate Rises

Think I'll be going 2 years seems to be about 3.8% available, I hate how do many require you to input loads of details before showing the numbers. Just show me the rates.
 
Think I'll be going 2 years seems to be about 3.8% available, I hate how do many require you to input loads of details before showing the numbers. Just show me the rates.
I'm not sure if it's the same for all, but with Halifax you can search "Halifax for intermediaries" and you'll find a website designed for brokers with this information available much more easily. Easily as in one PDF! It's part of Lloyds Banking Group so likely those that are part of it are going to be similar, and I imagine most other big lenders will have the same sort of broker platforms.
 
I'm not sure if it's the same for all, but with Halifax you can search "Halifax for intermediaries" and you'll find a website designed for brokers with this information available much more easily. Easily as in one PDF! It's part of Lloyds Banking Group so likely those that are part of it are going to be similar, and I imagine most other big lenders will have the same sort of broker platforms.
Excellent, that's perfect.
 
No improvement to the housing market that I had hoped for. It’s literally ground to a halt. Nothing is selling (mine is on the market and it may as well not be) and nothing is coming on either. It’s painful if you are looking to move.
 
No improvement to the housing market that I had hoped for. It’s literally ground to a halt. Nothing is selling (mine is on the market and it may as well not be) and nothing is coming on either. It’s painful if you are looking to move.

Yup noticed that myself. Rates are choking the housing market. It's going to be a couple of years before things start to improve
 
No improvement to the housing market that I had hoped for. It’s literally ground to a halt. Nothing is selling (mine is on the market and it may as well not be) and nothing is coming on either. It’s painful if you are looking to move.
We've sold ours and going into a rental for a bit.

Was on the market for 6 months and got a reasonable cash offer so taken it, we missed out on a couple of houses to renters so figured this as an option. Interest on our equity will cover 80% of our AirBnb so happy to sit and wait until the right house comes along.

I think Labour will have to do something next year to get the market moving again, one can live and dream.
 
It's good prices are stagnating.
I for one do not want house prices to keep flying. (unless I do manage to emigrate.. Then I want them up, up, up)!

I guess we are tipping the affordability limit of rates + wages + house prices
As well as FTBs waiting for rates to fall.
 
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The market in Greater Manchester is still very buoyant but (thankfully) houses do seem to be selling at slightly more realistic prices.

There was definitely an influx of more expensive properties over the past year that had only recently sold in 2019-22, and appear to have been sold again due to interest rate rises. We know of 2 couples nearby who 'downsized' after their low rate mortgages were up for renewal.
 
Damn Bank of England.

I took a gamble that they would lower the rate by waiting to alter my previously agreed rate until they made their decision. As we know they didn't lower it.

So I'll be going on to the SVR (6.99%) for the short time it takes the bank to switch me from my previously agreed rate of 4.78% to the new one of 4.19%, as they cancel the previously agreed rate while the "paperwork" goes through for the new one. Policy innit.

It's shouldn't cost me that much. I was going to work out the difference of say 5 days at 6.99% (or really 6.99 - 4.78, so 2.11% extra) versus 2 years at 4.78% compared to 2 years at 4.19%, just to see what waiting has cost me and if it's more than the saving from the lower rate. I'm sure it's fine.

Moral of this post - give your bank plenty of time to make the switch even if you are just changing the rate on a previously agreed rate.
 
Interest on our equity will cover 80% of our AirBnb so happy to sit and wait until the right house comes along.

You have to pay tax on that interest though right?

I think Labour will have to do something next year to get the market moving again, one can live and dream.

Why? The market should move under market conditions as it always has. If houses aren't moving then something needs to change. That is likely the price that they are being sold at. Most of things to get the market moving will just stimulating house price increases. Honestly though, the whole way we buy/sell houses in the UK should be completely binned and rethought.

We should:

  • Pay a deposit upon agreeing to buy once certain things have happened and you lose that if you pull out after
  • Everything should be done online and available online. Solicitors shouldn't really have to be involved
  • Stamp duty should be abolished to make the market move more easily - its a stupid cost that you have to pay for the pleasure of a stressful house move. If downsizing its just a double kick in the nuts. Our next house will cost around £40k in stamp duty. Why? It just means people don't move when they want to or should.
  • The survey should always be of a certain grade and should be paid by the selling party and is then attached to the property. Multiple buyers paying for multiple surveys is idiotic.
 
  • Pay a deposit upon agreeing to buy once certain things have happened and you lose that if you pull out after
  • Everything should be done online and available online. Solicitors shouldn't really have to be involved
  • Stamp duty should be abolished to make the market move more easily - its a stupid cost that you have to pay for the pleasure of a stressful house move. If downsizing its just a double kick in the nuts. Our next house will cost around £40k in stamp duty. Why? It just means people don't move when they want to or should.
  • The survey should always be of a certain grade and should be paid by the selling party and is then attached to the property. Multiple buyers paying for multiple surveys is idiotic.

Interesting list, some of what you put has been tried or at least proposed then pulled.

Its normal to pay a deposit in the UK. What often happens is that its kept at the same amount the first buyer in the chain has paid and is passed up the chain. The key point is when contracts are exchanged, and at that point you can sue anyway for breach of contract.
How would you know what was ok and what was an issue if you excluded solicitors. Would be rife for fraud. No planning on an extension, that sort of thing.
Stamp duty IMO should be a lifetime individual tax charged only on the difference, ie incrementally as you buy larger houses. If you downsize then assuming its tax payable is cheaper than what you have racked up so far then you have nothing to pay.
Vendor surveys were proposed as part of a sellers pack and just about everyone said they would not trust them. I mean honestly would you buy a house for £1M and rely that they survey had been true and honest?
 
Interesting list, some of what you put has been tried or at least proposed then pulled.

Its normal to pay a deposit in the UK. What often happens is that its kept at the same amount the first buyer in the chain has paid and is passed up the chain. The key point is when contracts are exchanged, and at that point you can sue anyway for breach of contract.

Really? We have never paid any sort of deposit. We have only bought twice but I haven't heard anyone else talk about it either.

How would you know what was ok and what was an issue if you excluded solicitors. Would be rife for fraud. No planning on an extension, that sort of thing.

My experience with solicitors has not been great. They have been slow, incapable of doing anything beyond asking questions you want them to and then forwarding the responses and charging a lot of money for the privilege. We had to constantly chase our last one, ask her what the hell half the stuff she forwarded actually meant and despite saying repeatedly "can we send you anything to speed this up" she would randomly send us emails about things she didn't have that were holding up further progress. Things we could have given on day 1.

I don't doubt they add value in some areas but a lot of stuff feels like its cookie cutter on every sale/purchase.

Stamp duty IMO should be a lifetime individual tax charged only on the difference, ie incrementally as you buy larger houses. If you downsize then assuming its tax payable is cheaper than what you have racked up so far then you have nothing to pay.

I could get behind that idea. Certainly more than the current scam.

Vendor surveys were proposed as part of a sellers pack and just about everyone said they would not trust them. I mean honestly would you buy a house for £1M and rely that they survey had been true and honest?

I would trust it if there were proper checks in place. Surveyors are a professional body and if they lie or misrepresent a house, they get in serious trouble. Why would they lie just because a seller was paying for it. If the seller doesn't provide a proper survey and grant access to the areas they should then the house shouldn't be allowed to be sold.
 
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