Tuesday, November 11, 2008

UK Mortgage rates stay high

The Council of Mortgage Lenders publish data on average monthly mortgage interest rates. If the most recent numbers are any guide, it would appear that mortgage lenders haven't paid too much attention to the Bank of England's rate cuts. If anything, rates actually crept higher over the summer months.

The data ends on September, so it won't reflect the MPC's recent desperate 150 basis point cut. However, with mortgage approvals down around 60 percent, even if the banks do pass on the rate reductions, it won't help increase demand for over priced housing.

8 comments:

  1. I liked the Google ad at the bottom of your post:

    *
    Remortgage Now 4.9% Fixed
    £200,000 remortgage from £816/mo. Bad Credit, CCJs, IVAs welcome!
    www.lendgo.co.uk

    Who said sub-prime lending was over?

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  2. Funny how the once contentious (as recently as February) "housing bubble has burst" thesis is now so much received wisdom that it hardly bears talking about.

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  3. Here, too. Mortgage rates have, if anything, risen since the Fed and the U.S. Treasury have taken the following steps:
    (1) put F/F under conservatorship
    (2) cut the ff rate to 1%
    (3) dumped over a trillion of liquidity into the banking system
    (4) bought $250-$350 worth of bank capital...at least
    (5)....I guess that I could go on forever.

    In the end, though, mortgage rates remain at all-time lows. In some sense, it is good that mortgage rates have not surged given that default rates are so high.

    What is a good "free" site for British data? Here in the States, we have the St. Louis Fred database - do you all have anything like that?

    Thanks, Alice. Rebecca

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  4. The bail-out deal with banks supposedly had a condition that they should make funds available to mortgage customers and small businesses. Taxpayers are entitled to wonder when the banks are going to fulfil their part of the bargain.
    ------------------------
    Angelinjones
    Interactive Marketing

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  5. The bank are not playing ball. How will the housing market recover if the banks don't lower the rates as well. The banks are not making it easier to get a mortgage, so house sales go down and house prices with it.

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  6. The housing market "recovers" when the median house costs 2.5 times the median salary. Anything above 3x is seriously artificial

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  7. The mortgage market always seems to be up and down-of course. it's so important to stay informed and to know how the market can impact your life.

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  8. k

    Would that link happen to be spam? Certainly the comment could be posted on any forum anywhere. It's a pure Barnum statement

    ReplyDelete