Market watch 18/01/10
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It’s great to see some upward pressure on LTVs with societies such as Newcastle leading the charge. Meanwhile, Halifax’s latest terrible TV advert has me reaching for the remote every time
Swaps fell last week, reversing some of the gains seen over the festive period. 1-year money is unchanged at 0.93% 2-year money is down 0.11% at 1.82% 3-year money is down 0.13% at 2.46% 5-year money is down 0.11% at 3.24%
Three-month LIBOR is unchanged at 0.61%
It was good to see Virgin Money buy a small bank as it now has a banking licence and can offer savings and mortgages. Let’s hope it deals with brokers.
Is it me or does Halifax make the worst advertisements in the entire world? The current one is truly awful. I did not believe it could get any worse than the singing and dancing efforts but those idiots at the radio station make me rush to change channel every time I see them.
This is strange as other banks seem able to make decent adverts. For example, the HSBC ones are tasteful and even the Santander one
featuring Lewis Hamilton is infinitely better than Halifax’s latest effort.
BM Solutions has repriced a number of its buy-to-let rates. There is a two-year tracker at 4.6% with a 2.75% fee available up to 75% LTV, a one-year fixed deal at 4.55% with a 3% fee up to 75% LTV and a one-year fixed rate at 5.05% with a 2.5% fee at 75% LTV,
There’s also a one-year tracker at 4.35% with a 3% fee at 75% LTV and a two-year fixed rate at 5.4% with a 2.5% fee at 75% LTV. I just wish the launch email had included the deals’ LTVs.
Well done to Nationwide for reducing a number of its 80% LTV rates. There is now a two-year fixed deal at 5.54% for loans up to 80% LTV with free legals and no reservation fee, a three-year fixed rate at 4.79% for loans up to 75% LTV with free legals and a £745 fee and a two-year tracker at 2.94% for loans up to 70% LTV with free legals and no reservation fee. There’s also a two-year tracker available at 4.44% for loans up to 80% LTV with a £995 fee and another two-year tracker at 4.84% for loans up to 80% LTV with free legal fees and no reservation fee.
Meanwhile, PMS has launched an exclusive rate through In The Loop Mortgages. This is a two-year discount deal with no early repayment charge.
The rate is ITL’s SVR - currently 5.99% - minus 2.2%, giving a pay rate of 3.79%. The deal is available to a maximum LTV of 80%, there is a £99 reservation fee and a £999 product fee which can be added to the loan.
There’s even free valuation for properties up to £600,000 but don’t forget that SVRs may go up at any time and could rise by more than any future Bank of England base rate increases.
And Sesame Bankhall Group has launched an exclusive deal through ITL. This is a three-year tracker at 3.79% for loans up to 80% LTV. There is a £99 reservation fee and a £900 product fee. The minimum loan for purchases is a reasonable £16,000 and the minimum for remortgages is £26,000.
The Mortgage Works has launched a number of products including a one-year tracker with an easy remortgage option at 4.54%.
There are one-year fixed and tracker rates from 2.99% and a range of trackers at 70% LTV, while all one-year and 18-month light refurbishment
and let-to-buy products have been cut by up to 0.2%. All 30-month fixed rate products have been withdrawn.
Sadly, the Royal Bank of Scotland has repriced its 90% LTV tracker from 4.79% to 5.49%. The email announcing the change arrived at 4.11pm
on Wednesday with applications needing to be submitted by midnight.
The good news is that a number of its rates have gone down. There’s now a two-year fixed rate at 3.69% up to 70% LTV with a £999 fee.
Scottish Widows Bank has launched some trackers with offsetting available. There is a rate at 4.39% for loans up to 75% LTV with a £999 fee and one at 4.99% up to 85% LTV with a £999 fee.
HERO OF THE WEEK is Newcastle Building Society for launching some exceptional rates on deals available up to 80% LTV. It’s terrific to see a lender going to such a high LTV with its best products. Upward pressure on LTVs will hopefully encourage more first-time buyers back into the market. It’s also good to see building societies becoming more competitive with regard to the products they are offering.
VILLAINS OF THE WEEK are surveyors who put daft values on remortgages. Last week I noticed a remortgage valuation where the surveyor valued a property in a prime London location at 23% less than the customer paid for it last September. Ridiculous.
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