Thursday, April 3, 2008
Mortgage deals drying up by the hour
23,000 mortgage products cut in last 6 months
23,000 mortgage products have disappeared from the intermediary market in the last six months, according to Trigold. It says that in August 2007 there were 45,590 products on the Trigold sourcing system and in February 2008 this had fallen to 21,988 equating to a drop of 52 per cent in just 6 months.
Posted by jack c @ 06:10 PM (1061 views)
11 thoughts on “Mortgage deals drying up by the hour”
Add a comment
- Your email address is required so we can verify that the comment is genuine. It will not be posted anywhere on the site, will be stored confidentially by us and never given out to any third party.
- Please note that any viewpoints published here as comments are user´s views and not the views of HousePriceCrash.co.uk.
- Please adhere to the Guidelines
alan says:
At this rate we won’t need any mortgage comparison sites!
uncle tom says:
The total number of the available ‘products’ is staggering – there must be many that never find a single customer!
tyrellcorporation says:
It’s all part of the standard behaviour of high-street banks and building societies which has always been to flood the market with products so any comparison is almost impossible. The same thing happens with savings accounts. Bamboozle the customer at every level.
robh says:
The large number of products is is the modern concept of ‘choice’. It keeps us busy trying to buy the best value rail fare, cheapest gas… it helps make sure dog eats dog… and along with the other idea of the blog where we can grumble with like minders, a lot of time is used up
That’s it. I’m going to switch off this magic window and do something constructive instead 🙂
uncle chris says:
I spoke to my ex-landlord this evening and he was recounting a social chat he had with the boss of a well known estate agent in Oswestry. Not only did the EA state that he hadn’t sold a house in 6 weeks, but he said these were the worst trading conditions he had seen during 35 years in the business. He is already planning to lay off half of his six staff – hence I’m reluctant to release the name of the agent. Hold on to your hats – ouch !
whiteknight says:
conventional ‘troops’ are failing to even dent this problem.
time to bite the bullet and make the call: bring in the “dirty tricks company”; rag-tag bunch of unacceptable, uncivilised, uncouth mavericks they may be.
s2rjul07 says:
@Uncle Chris
My grandmother lives just outside Oswestry and has suddenly had to go into nursing care, and now we’d like to sell her house. Obviously I think that we just need to price aggressively to sell rather than chancing our luck and chasing the market down slowly, and I think that everyone involved is agreed on that. Can you recommend an Estate Agent in Oswestry who is genuine, honest and won’t try to talk up the market to get a customer? I realise that this is probably asking too much (although the one who sold ours in Bath last year is mostly meeting these criteria, but he probably knows that I’ve rumbled the market since I didn’t buy another).
Sold And Renting says:
The reason that there were 40,000+ (now 20,000+) mortgages on trigold (which is a mortgage sourcing system) is that it counts every variable of mortgage available. For example you could have a halifax 2 year fixed on the system 50 times as it could be otained direct from the lender or via a large seletion of packagers. It will then have the same again for the remortgage version of the same rate with cashback, others offerng free valuations etc. Ultimately you have a lot of variation of the same product which is why the numbers are so high.
justwatching says:
s2rjyI07
Auction it?
uncle chris says:
@s2rjul07
You are certainly right to price agressively – I’ve a friend on the Wirral who could have sold his house 18 months ago if he hadn’t considered the EA valuation he received as money in the bank. Although he has now dropped £25,000 on the asking price, I fear he is probably still going to be chasing the market down as it’s too little too late. Personally I would price at 10% below the valuation and be prepared to accept up to 10% less again.
As @justwatching states, if your primary aim is to sell then an auction through EAs like ‘Jones Peckover’, ‘Norman Lloyd’ or ‘Morris, Marshall and Poole’ would find the true value in this climate. Added to that, you get a hefty deposit on the day and any buyer is likely to have their finance in place.
For a standard sale, then I would look at ‘Bowen Son and Watson’ or ‘Kate Woodhead’. I rent through the former and they have been very straight forward with me to date. Of the agents I’ve asked in Oswestry, both of those have been the most realistic about the market. Personally I would steer clear of Hall’s, JJ Dell, Balfours and Samuel Wood because in my opinion they seem to overvalue property, especially at the high end.
I’m not sure where or what your gran’s house is, but cheaper houses (<£120,000) are still selling (downsizers and FTBs I guess), whilst the more expensive (£250,000+) rural properties are just sitting on the market. If there is any land you'll be in a better position. Anyway, hope that helps, and that your gran enjoys here new nursing home. Mine had a new lease of life when she finally agreed that living on her own wasn't practical anymore.
s2rjul07 says:
@Uncle Chris
Many thanks for the advice. Not sure I can persuade the others to go for auction, and it hadn’t occurred to me but is certainly worth a thought. If not, I’ll pressurise for one of the recommended estate agents.
House is rural with best part of an acre but needs quite a bit of work. We’ll see what happens.