It seems to me that we are entering a crucial phase in our personal and economical development after the seemingly cataclysmic events of the past couple of years. It is time for us all to mature and move on, to accept the harsh lessons learnt, to let bygones be bygones if you like.
The blame game that has been going on for a while has now seen everyone from the government, the bankers, credit agencies, regulators, mortgage brokers, estate agents, the press, the general public, the Americans, the French!, or just men in general bearing the brunt for the credit crunch and ensuing recession.
So yet again our dear Chancellor is set to meet with the major lenders and give them a smacked bottom and ten minutes on the naughty step for not lending enough to consumers and businesses. Where they are lending, they are getting shouted at for charging much too much.
The Chancellor is looking really mean and determined this time, and I reckon Ali D will be giving it to them both barrels like a streetwise, no nonsense gangster rapper.
Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders, (CML) today show that gross mortgage lending in June was an estimated £12.3 billion, a 17% increase from £10.5 billion in April and a 48% decline from £24.8 billion in June 2008. The last two quarters have held steady, albeit at low levels.
Whilst there has been some tentative positive news emerging from the housing market in recent days, these latest figures reflect more of a seasonal jump than a long-term improvement. There is still no doubt that lenders are not lending enough to meet consumer demand and where lending is taking place, this is often at seemingly expensive levels. A sustained increase in lenders willingness to lend is vital to help provide the boost to the economy that is sorely needed.
Like many people I was glued to the telly watching Monty’s glorious stubborn stand against the Aussies together with an inspired Anderson. Talk about a lesson in standing firm in the midst of tough times, this was classic Ashes and left me bounding into work the next day determined to see off whatever is bowled at me.
What it does go to show is that being adaptable and having the guts and determination to stand firm goes along way. Like many of us out there, I have had my fill of being bullied and put into situations not of my own making, having to stick up for people or things I don’t believe in. Don’t get me wrong, I have always been outspoken, but tried to do it behind closed doors, well at least until some things went a bit too far!
It was refreshing to see a few days ago that there is to be another enquiry into the mortgage industry and why lenders are not lending more – refreshing in a dry glass of hot sawdust type of way!
They are going to investigate in-particular, “the sharp rise in repossessions and the chronic shortage of affordable home loans for first-time buyers”.
Brilliant. Is that really the best that the Government can come up with? A cross-party committee of MP’s wagging fingers at bankers and telling everyone what they are doing wrong whilst they try to keep their latest expenses form under wraps!
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.
