60 seconds with.....David Whittaker
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Your outlook on property price movements is more down-to-earth than most. Why is that?
There’s always conflicting data but we take a pragmatic view based on what our clients tell us. Rather than first-time buyers on the bottom rung of the property ladder, professional landlords represent rungs two, three and four. Landlords are buying four and five-bedroom houses again and stimulating an area of the market not attainable by most first-timers.
Why have landlords started to invest again?
When yields got as tight as they did it didn’t make sense to invest. But now we’re seeing average yields in the range of 5.5% to 7% - significantly better than what can be achieved with most other investments. And banks aren’t as safe as they used to be.
Is there much difference between this recession and the last?
At the start of the last recession interest rates went through the roof and consumers gave up the will to pay their mortgages. Now interest rates have gone the other way they are rolling up their sleeves and toughing it out. The repossession figures reflect this too.
What do you make of Base Commercial’s decision to start lending again?
This was a case of green roots for green shoots. Base Commercial is good news for the market. The team members have a five-star reputation in terms of what they did for their previous companies. Getting themselves into a little bank with the help of venture capital funding and then turning it on its head was a smart move.
Has Twitter changed the way you do business?
We started our Twitter account at the beginning of the year and although it took a while for it to get going, in May it became our fifth best website for referring traffic to us.
It is becoming increasingly important in sharing market developments and opinions via blogs and newsfeeds. We aim to keep our clients and those who follow us as up-to-date as possible with developments and help them whenever we can.
To sum it up in a tweet (140 characters): With Twitter we can inform customers of breaking mortgage market news, share our views and help others make decisions about their mortgages.
