Apparently, according to some sources, remortgaging is now back in vogue and enjoying somewhat of a renaissance as it is officially now the case that remortgage products are cheaper than most lenders Standard Variable Rates.
Some of us have already been talking about this since the start of the year, and it is nice to be backed up by some weighty reports. Moneysupermarket.com, for example, have stated that even when taking the new mortgage product arrangement fees into account the “best” fixed rate and the “best” tracker product over 2 years will beat the majority of lenders SVR’s.
Today’s inflation figures, rising dramatically to 2.9%, could well bring to an end the ‘rate complacency’ we have seen among borrowers over the past year or so.
Whilst there are suggestions that this spike in inflation has been expected and is merely temporary, it is unlikely to drop off sharply if recovery does continue to grow and will undoubtedly put pressure on the Bank of England to seriously consider finally raising interest rates.
This is a real shot across the bows for borrowers, many of whom are quietly banking on a low interest rate environment in the short term. But this is a risky game to play.
The problem with email is the bland way that it conveys your messages without actually conveying the smirk on your face as you write it, the cheeky little twinkle in your eye or the sarcasm you would have said it with. As a result, alot can be misread and some can take offence when nothing could have been further from the truth.
I guess that is why in much online writing and message boards many use the kind of annotation symbols I used to find rather annoying but have now embraced with glee, you know the ones; lol, 
:-0)* (no idea on the last one, but you get the idea).
As I trudged cautiously through the deep snow in freezing Hertfordshire it warmed the cockles of my heart to think of the New Year ahead and wonder what opportunities will present themselves.
A return of competition to the mortgage market, a rise in interest rates, further property price increases, the return of first-time buyers, a new Government, a world cup win? There are many questions to ponder.
At the moment I am sitting in Houston Texas where they have just experienced something extremely unusual, a snowstorm. There were alot of very excited people yesterday taking pictures and the TV dubbed it “Blizzard 2009″ with almost blanket coverage. Today, though things have calmed down and I have been trying to make sense of what the rest of the news is all about.
Talk on the economy has really been dwarfed this week by, of all things, and as our waitress this morning so eloquently put it, by Tiger bloody Woods. Seriously, it is wall to wall coverage now the blizzard is done.
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.
