Latest industry news
Three credit reference agencies – Experian, Equifax and TransUnion – have confirmed that consumer credit scores will be protected if people take payment holidays as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Earlier this month the government announced that residential or buy-to-let borrowers impacted by the crisis can ask their mortgage lender for a payment holiday of up to three months.
LegalTech firm, ME Group, has urged mortgage lenders not to overcharge customers on standard variable rates to boost profits during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Group has called for the government to ensure that lenders do not use the recent cuts to Bank Rate to profit financially at the expense of borrowers on SVR mortgages.
Mortgage approvals for house purchase rose to 73,500 in February, the highest figure seen since January 2014, according to the latest Money and Credit statistics from the Bank of England.
Approvals for remortgage also rose on the month to 53,400.
Net mortgage borrowing by households was £4.0 billion in February, close to the £4.1 billion average seen over the past six months. The annual growth rate for mortgage borrowing picked up to 3.5%.
Conveyancing market stakeholders have produced new guidance to conveyancing firms who are advising clients on house moves during the coronavirus crisis.
The guidance has been prepared by a group which includes the Law Society, the Society of Licensed Conveyancers, the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, Bold Legal Group and the Conveyancing Association, and has the support of Government departments including HM Land Registry.
The Government has urged people not to move home in new guidance for the housing market during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Government says home buyers and renters should, where possible, delay moving to a new house while measures are in place to fight coronavirus.
Covid-19 has led to a 40% drop in demand for housing over the past week and completed housing transaction volumes are set for a decline of 60% over Q2, according to research from Zoopla.
Its figures show that the housing market got off to its strongest start for four years in January and February. Average annual house price growth was at 1.6% across UK Cities in February as market momentum gathered pace in the wake of the General Election.
Lloyds Banking Group has withdrawn all residential purchase and remortgage products above 60% LTV across its intermediary brands – Halifax Intermediaries, Scottish Widows Bank and BM Solutions – in response to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Product transfers and further advance products remain unchanged and customers can still apply for a mortgage directly online with Halifax and Lloyds Bank.
House prices fell by 1.1% between December and January, according to the latest UK House Price Index from the ONS and the Land Registry.
The data shows that average house prices increased by 1.3% over the year to January, down from 1.7% in December 2019.
Yorkshire and The Humber was the English region with the highest annual house price growth, with prices increasing by 3.1% over the year. This was followed by the West Midlands, increasing by 2.6%.
Nationwide has re-introduced two-year tracker mortgages to its range, five days after withdrawing all tracker products in response to the second Bank Rate cut from 0.25% to 0.10%.
Nationwide says the new range will cover a variety of LTVs and with both £0 and £999 fee options. For house purchase and first-time buyer tracker products, rates will start from Bank Rate plus 1.39%, while remortgage tracker products will start from Bank Rate plus 1.19%.
The FCA has said it will extend the period of the three-month mortgage payment holiday if necessary, in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
In new guidance to mortgage lenders and administrators relating to Covid-19, the regulator highlighted the “skill and care we consider may reasonably be expected of lenders in the mortgages market in the current exceptional circumstances of coronavirus”.
The new guidance makes clear that firms should grant customers a payment holiday for an initial period of three months and ensure that there is no additional fee or charge (other than additional interest) as a result of the payment holiday.