A week may be a long time in politics, but in the lending market at the moment a week can represent a complete transformation in product choice that would normally evolve over a long period of time.
In a short space of time we have seen the return of some welcome elements of competition which, together with a fall in the cost of funds, has pushed product rates down. Some lenders, such as a re-invigorated Woolwich, have cut their rates by up to 0.6%, whilst others such as a totally reformed Northern Rock, have made an aggressive play to dominate the Best Buy charts.
I have just spent this morning looking at the much anticipated new FSA proposals for the mortgage industry, which weighing in at 118 pages is a healthy size, (actually my scan reading powers were put to the test to be honest!)
Whilst the majority of the proposals in themselves are not unexpected, the key will be in their implementation to ensure they benefit not only the industry, but ultimately the consumer.
We all know that there has been a need for a while now to drive out the darker elements and re-professionalise the mortgage industry, especially at a time when more and more people need advice.
Whilst I have been away for a week in the deepest recesses of Longleat Forest, I have been keeping up to date with the various comments by the great and good around the future of Bank Base Rates and mortgage products generally.
There are some very interesting observations to be made around some of the comments made.
As widely expected, the Bank of England have left base rate unchanged at the historically low level of 0.5%. Despite some speculation regarding Quantative Easing, the Bank decided to continue with the current £175bn programme, although a further £25bn later this year cannot be ruled out. The full article is published here
As you can see Monty’s blog has not been updated for a while, this has nothing to do with Monty’s lack of effort but a well deserved break with Lisa and Rafi in the New Forest. In his absence we thought it would be a good opportunity to jump into Monty’s space and see what’s happening.
Coreco towers was empty yesterday as 15 of us decamped to Derby for the MAB Conference and even with a five am start we still nearly missed the train from St Pancras. The event itself was superbly produced and presented and provided some great insight into what we might expect in 2010 and beyond. We will debrief Monty next week and provide a detailed summary.
Andrew Montlake, Communications Director at Coreco and ‘Mortgage Personality of the Year 2008’, gives his views — honest and no holds barred — on the latest developments within the mortgage and property markets.
