It’s been a crazy few weeks hasn’t it? From the sheer panic of what are we going to do if we run out of toilet paper, to a 99 year-old war hero raising, what is by now £29m+, by walking in his garden - from stupid to stupendous.
A few weeks ago, you might have thought the lending market had collapsed virtually overnight. We were told lenders had stopped lending, LTVs slashed to 60%, email after email saying “business as usual” except it clearly wasn’t, staff laid off or, the new word we’ve all become accustomed to, furloughed. Never before has that famous Dad’s Army phrase been more relevant, “DON’T PANIC!”
So here we are. Mortgage rates are falling, the average two-year rate fell again this week from 2.15 to 2.11%, some two-year fixes fell, except 95% LTV deals went up, the average around 3.37%, oh yeah, 95% loans are still out there, and 50% rates have seen the largest fall.
For three-year rates, not much change except again in the lower LTVs and the same for five-, and ten-year fixes.
Barclays are lending to 80%, Halifax and Nationwide back to 85% via intermediaries only, and other High Street Banks are offering 80% remortgage, 75% purchase using various desktop valuation models.
A major house builder will be re-opening its sites from this month with sub-contractors already returning. This will be a phased process and a strict Covid-19 code of conduct will be applied. I would expect this will apply to all firms for some time to come as we all adapt to a new, different world to the one we lived in just a few months ago.
I think we are beginning to see the end in sight, the number of people searching for property online is starting to increase again, tenants are looking for homes with gardens or by the sea, perhaps the city life is not as attractive as it was in the past, and agents say they have landlords lined up to view properties as soon as the lockdown eases.
Life goes on but not as we knew it before, meetings will take place and we’ll get used to “great to meet you, I won’t shake hands if you don’t mind”.
