Financial Update 22nd June 2021

Financial Update

Stamp Duty Holiday Deadline of 30th June 2021 is fast approaching. If you purchase a residential property between 1 July 2021 to 30 September 2021, you only start to pay SDLT on the amount that you pay for the property above £250,000. Click here for the latest information.

The Government has announced that it will extend the existing ban on commercial evictions until March 2022, two years after it was first introduced. This is to ensure that the sectors who are unable to open have enough time to come to an agreement with their landlord without the threat of eviction. Community secretary Robert Jenrick has announced that legislation will be introduced to ringfence outstanding business rent that has had to build up when a business had to remain closed. The legislation will help tenants and landlords come to an agreement on how to handle the money owed. This could be done by waiving some of the total amount or agreeing to a long-term repayment plan. If an agreement can’t be reached, then the law will ensure a binding arbitration process will be put in place for both parties to make a formal agreement that they both need to honour.

Based on Colliers Q2 Residential report found here:

▶️ The number of house building completions hit a record high of almost 47,000 in Q4 2020
▶️ Housing starts rose to a two-year high of 42,000 in Q4, from 36,000 in Q3 2020
▶️ 82,735 mortgages were approved, 30 per cent above the five-year monthly average of 67,100
▶️ The average mortgage taken out stands at £216,591 in Q1 2021, up from £204,621 in Q1 2020 and the highest figure on record
▶️ London investment continues to increase, with Birmingham & Manchester close behind

An Online mortgage broker, analysed various factors affecting home affordability in June 2021 including house prices, mortgage repayments, average annual salary and monthly take-home pay to work out where in England was most and least affordable. The ten least & most affordable areas in England based on mortgage as a percentage of income were as follows:

The ten least affordable:

  • Oxford (49.37%)
  • Bath (47.65%)
  • London (47.12%)
  • Reading (38.98%)
  • Poole (38.72%)
  • Cambridge (38.49%)
  • Brighton (37.19%)
  • Slough (36.68%)
  • Cheltenham (36.38%)
  • Exeter (35.03%)

The Ten most affordable:

  • Bradford (14.30%)
  • Blackpool (15.94%)
  • Stoke-on-Trent (17.35%)
  • Sunderland (17.56%)
  • Middlesbrough (17.70%)
  • Hull (17.72%)
  • Carlisle (17.82%)
  • Durham (18.10%)
  • Liverpool (18.56%)
  • Bolton (19.19%)

Residential Update

  • TSB has launched a range of green additional borrowing mortgage products aimed at encouraging people to make their homes environmentally friendly. Customers will benefit from rate reductions of 0.50% with no product fee where it is used to fund improvements that will reduce the emissions from their homes
  • Coventry for intermediaries has reduced rates on selected purchase and remortgage mortgages by up to 0.70%. Highlights include a two-year fixed-rate at 85% LTV, which has been reduced from 2.85% to 2.15% with a £999 fee, available for purchase only. A five-year fixed-rate at 85% LTV has been lowered from 3.25% to 2.65% with a £999 fee and is available for purchase, remortgage, product transfer and further advance.
  • Newcastle Intermediaries has expanded its portfolio of joint mortgage sole proprietor (JMSP) products and increased the maximum LTV on the range from 80% to 95%. The JMSP range includes a two-year fixed rate at 3.90% and a five-year fix at 3.99%
  • Clydesdale Bank has launched a new range of £1m+ fixed-rate mortgage products. Products include a two-year fixed rate at 1.79% and a five-year fix at 2.09%, both available up to 65% LTV with a £1,999 fee.
  • Virgin Money has launched a new 95% LTV three-year fixed rate, available at the same price as it’s two-year fixed-rate, alongside new purchase products with £1,000 cashback and reduced rates across its residential and buy-to-let ranges.
  • HSBC UK has refreshed its mortgage rates with up to 0.20% cut from over 20 mortgages across all LTVs, including the bank’s Mortgage Guarantee Scheme rates at 95% LTV. The rate cuts mean the bank will be offering a sub-1.00% mortgage for the first time in almost five years in addition to re-introducing a three-year fixed rate option.
  • Nationwide has reduced selected two and five-year fixed rates across its residential range by up to 0.16%. The Mortgage Works, Nationwide’s buy-to-let arm, is reducing selected five-year fixed rate buy-to-let remortgage rates by up to 0.30%.
  • Accord Mortgages is enhancing its residential range with rate cuts across a variety of LTVs, as well as new products available at 95% LTV for remortgage clients or larger loans.
  • Metro Bank has reduced pricing by 50bps across its 75% LTV residential range for new lending and for existing customers looking to rate switch, top-up, or take a further advance.75% LTV two and three-year fixed rates now start at 2.09%, with five-year fixes available from 2.24%.
  • NatWest is launching a range of tracker products alongside rate reductions of up to 31bps and the reintroduction of its green mortgage range. NatWest’s new green mortgage range includes two-year fixed rates from 1.01% at 60% LTV, 1.20% at 75% LTV and 2.21% up to 85% LTV.

Buy-2-Let Updates

  • Specialist buy-to-let lender, Landbay, has launched its first green mortgage range. All green products offer a 0.10% or 0.05% reduction against their non-green counterparts, depending on the property’s energy rating
  • Buy-to-let lender, Landbay has trimmed its large HMO and MUFB range by up to 0.20%. Two-year fixed rate large HMO products now start at 3.69% up to 70% LTV and 3.79% at 75% LTV, while five-year fixes have been reduced to 3.89% and 3.99% respectively.

Commercial Update

  • Mint Property Finance has launched a new range of bridging ‘Power Products’, with its new standard bridging loan offering rates from 0.40% per month up to 85% LTV.

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