Great Bargains To Be Had As UK Home Mortgage Market Tightens
Recent figures announced by the Nationwide Building Society say UK house prices rise by 1.3% last month and 8.2% year-on-year. So Brits would need more mortgages? Not so according to figures released by the British Banking Association, which saw home mortgage approvals in August (71,300) fall from their all time high of 86,100 in June.
Moreover, year-on-year, home mortgage approvals in the UK have only risen 3%. All of this means there has been an overall contraction in the UK home mortgage market and as a result some UK home loan lenders are offering some great deals to entice borrowers to do business with them.
One of the best offers around at the moment for new UK home loan borrower is the latest from Britannia Building Society, who are waiving the arrangement fee they charge on re-mortgaging your UK home with immediate effect. Ordinarily, arrangement fees for re-mortgaging your home will run as high as £800 or more. Given that most UK homeowners are re-mortgaging their homes to pay off higher interest denominated debt, this is a very welcome bonus indeed.
Another fantastic offer around at the moment is with Leeds Building Society, who are currently offering 5-year fixed rate mortgages for as little as 4.99%! Keeping in mind the Bank of England’s recent rate rise, and the likelihood that there will be another round of interest rate hike either later this year or in yearly 2007, this offer seems too good to be true.
What’s more, although a number of UK home mortgage lenders get around offering low interest mortgages with high arrangement fees, the Leeds offer comes with an additional guarantee that it comes with “no higher lending fee and the flexibility of 10% capital repayments each year without penalty”, says Stuart Fearn, Leeds product development manager.
For Brits facing a long winter of increased interest rates and higher fuel charges, both the Leeds and Britannia offers must look extremely attractive right now. Keep in mind though that with interest rates likely to increase again, the UK home mortgage loan is likely to become even more competitive in the coming weeks and months. These offers may only be the tip of the ice-burg. Already a number of leading UK home mortgage loan lenders are offering to give free valuations, themselves costing over £300 on average, with any UK home mortgage loan approved.
Richard Smith
5th October 2006
