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A bit of blitz spirit

Thursday 17th December 2009

Us Brits do stiff upper lip well, no matter how tough the year has been.

I found myself belting out “Don’t look back in anger” on a table in Aussie pub the Walkabout in Covent Garden last Friday with some old industry friends in honour of, ahem, Christmas …and I won’t be the only one carried away by the seasonal magic.

But the constant predictions of better times just around the corner all year are starting to come right. So at first glance, the figures in Moneyfacts review of the 2009 mortgage market looked shocking.

The statistician reports the number of mortgages falling from 1,837 in January 2009 to 1,603 today. Again, the number of 90% LTV loans also fell from 204 in January to 113 now, according to Moneyfacts.

Darren Cook at Moneyfacts explained the “mayhem in the market” in the first quarter did the damage to the year’s figures.

“The beginning of the year was just chaos,” says Cook, adding that the three rapid base rate cuts in January, February and March, sent the market into a tailspin, with lenders ripping products from the shelves and slashing LTVs. Lenders were also pricing loans for “reverse competition” with the majority of lenders keen to just follow, instead of getting out in front on rates.

But the market turned a corner in March and since November/December lenders started competitively pricing again, said Cook.

Moneyfacts figures don’t include broker-only exclusives, which is why Mortgage Brain lists over twice the number of products of Moneyfacts. And sourcing systems Mortgage Brain and TrigoldCrystal both trumpeted the fourth rise in mortgage loans offered in November suggesting a ‘stabilising trend’ on the dual pricing front at least.

The tough times keep coming but, the signs are that next year will be better.

Happy Christmas from all at Introducer Today and best wishes for a very happy and successful New Year.

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