It has been a dismal World Cup for the average England supporter, but whilst the Scots rejoice in our misfortune, we can reflect on the fact that with every negative there is a positive and lessons to be learnt for all of us.
So what can a bunch of overpaid, oversexed and overinflated egotists teach us all? The answer is simple. In order to deal with adversity and to move forward it is the team that is more important than any one individual, no matter how talented they may feel they are.
Here at Coreco Towers we have been enjoying the exploits of our “semi-official” world cup team. Never mind dismal England, what about the pride of New Zealand? Chosen before the competition in part because of our unhealthy obsession with the brilliant Flight of the Conchords and part because our corporate colours match, yesterdays heroics just shows what smaller teams / companies can achieve against the so called “big boys”.
One of the biggest changes in the Mortgage Market occurred a few days ago when the massive Lloyds Banking Group announced that they will no longer provide loans on an interest only basis above £500,000.
Given that it is the very customer base who most want to use interest only this is quite a big deal.
They have also gone further with loans below £500,000 in that applicants can no longer just say they will pay the loan off via the sale of the property, their buy-to-let portfolio or general bonus payments, but must have either a pension or some kind of savings plan. Is the return of the Endowment nigh?
In January, mortgage borrowing and housing transactions generally fell off a cliff given the sub-zero weather conditions and the end of the stamp duty holiday in December, so February’s slight uptick isn’t too much of a surprise.
Looking forward, we’re not expecting borrowing levels to accelerate significantly in the run-up to the General Election, and they may even fall back slightly post-Election.
Come the second half of the year we’ll know far more about how the mortgage and residential property markets are likely to fare in the short term.
January has never been a particularly strong month for mortgage data and this year the drop has been exacerbated by the stamp duty holiday that ended in December and last month’s dire weather.
However, activity picked up towards the end of January and into February so we expect to see stronger figures from February on until they begin to tail off again in the second half of the year.
January’s figures shouldn’t dampen the spirits as the mortgage market has got off to a flyer compared to this time last year, with hundreds of new products hitting the market and enquiry levels rising dramatically.
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.A fee of up to 1% of the mortgage amount may be charged depending on individual circumstances. A typical fee is £495.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage or any debt secured upon it.
Coreco Group Limited is an appointed representative of the following companies which are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority for advising on and arranging the following: Mortgage Advice Bureau Limited for mortgages, Mortgage Advice Bureau (Derby) Limited for insurance.
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