West Midlands based building society The West Brom have announced that they are launching 10 year fixed mortgage products, something that could be a massive game changer for buyers and remortgagers.

Has your fixed rate come to an end? Are you like one of the thousands of homeowners who has put off restructuring their mortgage over the past year and are now stuck on the lender’s ridiculously high standard variable rate?

In the financial services sector, there is one burning question on everybody’s lips, will the Bank of England raise interest rates? Its not entirely unbelievable that they wouldn’t but it seems that now with inflation rising to the highest levels in 10 years, the BOE need to do something calm the waters before things get out of hand.

Since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020, a lot of mortgage lenders changed their stances on various parts of their criteria to both protect themselves from any potential negative effects of the lockdowns but also to help loyal existing mortgage customers who may find themselves struggling. Santander was one of these lenders.

TSB have just sent a message out to all brokers to say that they have increased their maximum Loan to Value (LTV) from 90% to 95% for self-employed and day rate contractor applicants meaning that potential new TSB clients could put down as little as 5% deposit on a new purchase.

The mortgage arm of Richard Branson’s Virgin Group conglomerate Virgin Money, have announced that they are taking the initiative to help the ever-growing number of buyers looking at purchasing under the shared ownership scheme.

According to financial information company Monefacts, 5% deposit mortgages are currently cheaper than they have ever been in the history of their recording. In rates terms, the average interest rate for a 95% mortgage on both a 2 year fixed period and a 5 year fixed period are at an all-time low.

Rental growth has increased exponentially in the past year, and we believe that now is a better time than any to consider purchasing or remortgaging a buy to let. MetroBank have today announced that they will be changing their BTL loan to values to 80%, up from their previous limit of 75%.

Starting from the 2nd of December, Nationwide building society have re-evaluated and revitalised their criteria for bonuses, commission, and overtime income on pay slips. The new changes to these things mean that more income will be considered when assessing a borrower’s affordability.

Is your Rightmove search page looking a bit slim? No, you haven’t accidentally put too many bedrooms in the search bar or chose the wrong property type, that is genuinely the number of homes on the market right now.

Niche lenders such as The Mortgage Lender and Foundation Home Loans are trying new affordability boundaries and products designed to help professionals, self-employed people and people with more complex income sources get a mortgage.

The lender Even has been set up as a new business venture by the founders of the online estate agency Nested with an aim to specifically help out first-time buyers by helping them raising a deposit and also by being more generous with income affordability. The new initiative will act in a similar way to the existing help to buy scheme which has been running since 2013 through the government’s homes England division.