BLOG

With New Year resolutions made, many in the UK will be looking ahead having firmly shut the door on 2020. Despite a particularly difficult year generally, and with our current lockdown status in force; on a social and an economic level, those serving the mortgage industry can still look to the future with optimism.

Extending the stamp duty holiday could be fiscally positive for the UK treasury, according to research commissioned by Kensington Mortgages. Retaining the threshold for paying Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) at its current level of £500,000 would provide new tax revenues – generated by higher transaction volumes, increased property prices, household consumption, and housing market activity – ranging between £2.3 and £4.1 billion. According to analysis by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), in the upper bound estimate this would lead to a fiscal surplus of £139 million.

The bridging market remains strong, despite the clear challenges presented by 2020. Savvy investors – and their brokers – should be confident about the outlook as we head towards the New Year. We saw an understandable drop off in activity in Q2, but as the property market has rebounded, so too has bridging.

Have you attended a webinar this year? Studies show that you probably have and that higher attendance rates will likely extend beyond this year. A webinar is a web-based seminar or lecture on a particular topic, often hosted live and with the ability for attendees to ask questions at the end. So why should brokers be hopping on the webinar train?

Jon Cooper, head of mortgage distribution at Aldermore, discusses our recent 90% LTV trial and how we plan to re-enter this important sector.

Imagine you’re approached by a young couple in their late twenties who’re looking for a mortgage so they can start their journey together, settle down and raise a family. They’ve been saving for years to get a large enough deposit together, they’ve seen the home of their dreams and they think they’ve found the right lender…only to be turned down because they missed a credit card payment or mobile phone bill so long ago that they’d almost forgotten about it.