Era Of Cheap Mortgages Is Almost Over

Mortgage rates have hit rock bottom and can only go up, the Council of Mortgage Lenders has warned. Households are currently benefiting from the cheapest home loans on record after a fierce mortgage price war between lenders. This has caused a surge in remortgaging as families across the country rushed to snap up cheaper deals. It has also helped more first-time buyers get on the property market. These two groups have driven the housing market as a slowdown in house price rises, and falls in parts of the country, have made existing homeowners reluctant to sell. But the CML suggested the era of record low mortgages may be coming to an end. Read more on the Daily Mail website.

Could This Be The End Of Super Cheap Home Loans?

Britain’s biggest bank has signalled the death of the sub-1 per cent deal. In a symbolic move, HSBC ditched its record breaking 0.99 per cent two year fixed-rate offer as it hiked mortgage rates across the board. Over the summer, it became the first lender to drop its fixed-rate home loans below the 1 per cent threshold, launching the cheapest two year fixed-rate deal ever. But the bank has now increased the rates on dozens of fixed-rate deals by up to 0.5 percentage points – adding hundreds of pounds to the cost of repayments over a year. Campaigners warned this would come as a shock to borrowers who may not have budgeted for increases after years of falling rates. Read more on the Daily Mail website.