Ray Boulger's BlogRay Boulger's BlogRay Boulger is widely renowned as the guru of the mortgage industry and expert on the housing market. Ray is constantly called upon by the media to provide informed comment on all areas of the market, and is a regular on the BBC, Sky and ITV.
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Halifax cuts some rates!
2008-05-20 15:00:00 From tomorrow Halifax are reducing their 3 and 5 year Product Transfer fixed rates by 0.1 or 0.2% and their 3 year tracker rate by 0.2%. In addition they are increasing the maximum loan size on the tracker up to 75% LTV from £500,000 to £2m. These Product Transfer rates are only available to existing customers coming to the end of a deal but I think Halifax will have a very large number of borrowers coming to the end of a deal on 31/7/08 because they were offering some extremely competitive fixed rates 2 years ago - 4.69% for purchases and 4.79% for remortgages, both with a fee of only £499, and a market leading 2 year tracker at Bank Rate - 0.11%. This suggests that, unlike some lenders, they are keen to retain as many borrowers as possible. More About: Interest Rates , Mortgages , Rates , Cuts
Earl Shilton Building Society breaks a record!
2008-04-23 16:55:00 Earl Shilton Building Society has announced today it is cutting its standard variable rate by a parsimonious 0.05% to 7.35%. Although several lenders have still not announced any cut at all in their SVR following this month?s 0.25% reduction in bank rate one has to wonder whether it is really worth the admin effort to cut by just 0.05%. Even Northern Rock has managed a 0.1% cut! A cut of 0.05% must be a record for the smallest SVR cut of any lender for a very long time, and possibly ever, and at 7.35% Earl Shilton?s SVR is now one of the highest of any lender, let alone any building society! More About: Interest Rates , Mortgages , Record
Irresponsible investing is the main problem
2008-04-21 18:51:00 In yesterday's "Sunday Programme" on GMTV Vince Cable repeated his claim that the current problems in the UK mortgage market have been caused by "irresponsible lending." He is wrong about this and it is disappointing that a senior politician who is also an economist doesn't understand that the real cause of the problem is very different. Although "iresponsible lending" by UK lenders might be a tiny part of the problem, the amount of "irresponsible lending" in the UK is small and indeed if that was the extent of the problem it would have been easily containable. The latest statistics produced by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) demonstrate this clearly. They show that at the end of last year just 1.2% of UK mortgages were in arrears by at least 3 months and although I expect some increase in this figure during 2008 it is hard to equate such a low level of arrears with any significant degree of "irresponsible lending." The real problem is irresponsible investing, not irrespon... More About: Main , Investing , Problem , Mortgages , Bank of England
Alistair Darling's new mortgage Review - the good news and the bad news
2008-04-09 21:19:00 Alistair Darling was interviewed on the Today programme this morning and announced that he was appointing Sir James Crosby, ex HBOS chief executive, to chair a Review examining how to boost confidence in the rapidly shrinking mortgage market. He said "Mr Crosby will talk with the Bank of England and the FSA to see if we can get more money into the system." The good news: The Chancellor said ?we want to move quite quickly. I do think it is important that we take measures to help people get through what is undoubtedly a difficult period." The bad news: "I have asked him to report back this summer." So although Mr Darling recognises the urgency of the problem he thinks a report in the summer, which no doubt means the end of summer, i.e. September, is good enough. Having been Chief Executive of Britain?s biggest mortgage lender Mr Crosby could probably write a very detailed report in 24 hours in his sleep but getting input from others is clearly important. Many of the people Mr Crosby... More About: News , Good News , Bad News , Mortgage
Goodbye to 100% Mortgages for most borrowers
2008-04-07 16:22:00 Abbey, the last lender to remain in the 100% market for any creditworthy customer without a parental guarantor or on a special scheme, is pulling out from 22.00. tomorrow. The only lenders still offering 100% mortgages in all or part of the UK from Wednesday 9 April, subject to none of them pulling out before then, will be Bank of Ireland on their 1start scheme, Bristol & West (England, Wales & Scotland only) on 1start, Ipswich B S on a shared equity mortgage (England & Wales only), Tipton & Coseley B S (Birmingham, Dudley, Walsall and Wolverhampton only) on a guarantor shared equity scheme, Northern Bank (N Ireland only), Ulster Bank (N Ireland only) and First Trust Bank (N Ireland only). Thus the message seems to be if you want a 100% mortgage buy a property in N Ireland and commute to elsewhere in the UK! More About: Interest Rates , Mortgages , Goodbye
HBOS comment on PPI and bank charges and the translation
2008-02-27 20:40:00 Extract from today?s HBOS report to the Stock Exchange with their 2007 figures: "Regulatory... More About: Regulation , Personal Finance , Mortgages , Comment , Bank
The RBS computer says Yes, but RBS says No.
2008-02-26 17:32:00 Royal Bank of Scotland advised early this afternoon that all their 100% LTV deals would close at... More About: Regulation , Computer , Mortgages
Repossessions in 2007 not as bad as expected
2008-02-13 15:12:00 Yesterday's repossession figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) for the second... More About: Personal Finance , Interest Rates , Mortgages , House and home
9 of the top 10 lenders announce a 0.25% cut in their SVR
2008-02-07 23:48:00 So far the following lenders have confirmed they are cutting their Standard Variable Rate by... More About: Interest Rates , Mortgages , Bank of England , Lenders
Emergency Rate Cut at the Fed
2008-01-22 23:50:00 The full statement issued today by the US Federal Reserve on the reasons for the emergency cut in... More About: Rate , Emergency
A landmark in the money markets today
2008-01-14 22:00:00 A landmark in the money markets was achieved today. For the first time since the start of the... More About: Money , Markets , Today , Landmark
Bank Rate will fall to 5% early in 2008
2007-12-19 23:13:00 The minutes of the December Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting were released today... More About: Interest Rates , Early , Bank , Bank of England , Fall
Valuation scam "contributed to US loans crisis"
2007-11-04 03:17:00 The Guardian has reported that New York?s attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, filed a lawsuit accusing... More About: Loans , Mortgages , Scam , Crisis , Cris
Who is Treating who Unfairly?
2007-11-03 23:56:00 Mortgage Introducer reported that speaking at the Mortgage Next Conference, Peter Charge, director... More About: Regulation , Mortgages
Mortgages on property in Dubai
2007-11-02 23:19:00 John Charcol has been helping clients with their UK mortgage needs since 1974 and we have now have... More About: Property , Dubai , Mortgages , Buy to let , Prop
Is this the Most Challenging PR Manager job in the UK?
2007-10-31 00:05:00 I note that AHIPP (the Association of Home Information Pack Providers), are looking for a PR and... More About: Manager , House and home , Ager , Halle
Key facts about the reduction in the number of deals
2007-10-19 22:02:00 During the last few days considerable media interest has focussed on a press release from... More About: Facts , Interest Rates , Mortgages , Reduction , Number
More on the Pre-Budget Report-Stamp Duty & Long Term Fixed Rates
2007-10-09 23:25:00 Gordon Brown?s final Budget report as Chancellor disappointingly held out no promise of any moves... More About: Personal Finance , Report , Stamp , Mortgages
Alistair Darling hires ex Enron accountant
2007-10-09 23:05:00 When announcing his proposals on IHT in today?s pre-budget report Alistair Darling said that he... More About: Personal Finance , Accountant , Alistair Darling , Enron
**SPECIAL REPORT** The Credit Crunch
2007-10-08 16:41:00 An in depth report on the credit crunch More About: Credit , Report , Special , Crunch , Special Report
Stamp duty proposals from Tories need refining
2007-10-01 22:44:00 George Osborne?s announcement at the Party Conference today that anyone who buys their first home... More About: Stamp , Tories , House and home , Duty , Prop
Nationwide Shows Real Annualised House Price Growth at only 1.6%
2007-09-29 00:05:00 The figures most widely reported for Nationwide?s September house price index were a monthly... More About: House , Interest Rates , Growth , Price , Real
Gordon Brown in the Dock
2007-09-25 04:19:00 In his Conference speech yesterday Alastair Darling referred to the Northern Rock situation and... More About: Regulation , Brown , Dock , Gordon Brown , Gordon
Gordon Brown spins on Northern Rock & the Housing Market
2007-09-25 00:53:00 A good part of Andrew Marr?s interview with the Gordon Brown on BBC1 yesterday morning was given... More About: Market , Interest Rates , Rock , Housing
Northern Rock and Reverberations around the world
2007-09-18 05:45:00 The problems in the banking market look like developing into a serious political problem for the... More About: Regulation , World , Rock , Around the world , The World
Northern Rock: Now the Government Panics
2007-09-18 00:30:00 Northern Rock 's Sales Director called me on Saturday afternoon with an update and confirmed: They... More About: Government , Regulation , Mortgages , Bank of England
Victoria Mortgages first UK lender to fold following the credit crunch
2007-09-12 21:08:00 Victoria Mortgages , or to quote its full name, Victoria Mortgage Funding No 1 Limited, went into... More About: Credit , Victoria , Crunch , Fold
Lenders start to increase tracker rates as high Libor rate bites
2007-09-11 21:16:00 We are now beginning to see some lenders increase their tracker rates for new customers, as the... More About: Interest Rates , Start , Mortgages , High , Bank of England
Market turmoil explained explained
2007-09-07 15:02:00 I have devoted my September moneyfacts article to an explanation of the market turmoil caused by... More About: Market , Interest Rates , Mortgages , Bank of England , Laine
15 Years Since we Escaped from the ERM
More articles from this author:2007-09-02 00:11:00 Halifax today issued an interesting press release entitled: "UK economy prospers since... More About: Regulation , Interest Rates , Years , Bank of England , Scape 1, 2 |
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