Forgive me people for I have sinned! It has been far too long since my last confession, sorry, I mean blog post! In the meantime I have been through quite a bit, what with turning 40 yesterday (I know I don’t look it), and experiencing the general ups and downs of life and the mortgage industry, (more in a separate posting).
I have been paying alot of attention to the mortgage and financial press as you would expect, reading with both amusement, hearty agreement and utter despair some of the comments with regards to FSA regulation, self-certification, the behaviour of lenders and brokers, the proposed breakup up of some of our much maligned banking institutions, whilst also watching the pleasing plethora of new rates flooding the market.
Last week was particularly interesting as HSBC released the latest in their line of headline grabbing products at an extraordinary rate of 1.99%, and I was asked to provide a comment. Comment I did, but I did not quite expect the furore that followed and the attempted rap on the knuckles HSBC themselves gave me.
Just when you thought Big Brother had been cancelled, along came HSBC and within minutes managed to get one of my quotes pulled from a website.
We have Bloomberg news on in our office, as obviously we like to keep up to date with the latest financial news, (or is it because it is one of only 3 channels we can access? - you decide), but it is very informative. The other day an excited American boomed, “this is not just green shoots we are seeing here, but real flower buds now!”.
It was said with such an air of confidence that you could not help yourself but be carried away on a euphoric wave of good feeling - hell, I almost pledged my allegiance to the American flag, (though I didn’t).
Is it co-incidence or a little bit more that no sooner have England finally put Australia to the sword, or rather the bat, that there are reports in the press that the recession may finally be over?
Good sporting events often have a tendency to induce either mild hysteria or a return of “the feel good factor”, and a few great days cricket, some gold medals in the Athletics, and a bit of sunshine may have helped to do the trick again.
I was up at the crack of dawn today for a quick comment on Wake Up To Money on BBC 5 Live, where the topic was the fact that LIBOR rates have now fallen substantially. 3 month LIBOR, which was so far out of kilter a few months ago and used as the main excuse behind lack of funds is now down at 0.75%, basically back to a “normal” level.
If this is the case, then why have rates not decreased?
For me Lenders at the moment are pricing based on three areas; cost, profit and fear.
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.
