Mortgage lenders axe cheap deals leaving homebuyers 'crippled'

[hyperD]

Displacement, outsourcing and the increase of low-skilled jobs.

[Buffoon]

Yes but the number in work has also gone up.

Because of inward migration.

[sasguru]

The "disguised" version of unemployment has been going up consistantly for the last 2 years now. And another interest rate rise is predicted in a few days. Slowly but surely the ignorant and greedy will fall...

Yes but the number in work has also gone up.

[hyperD]

...Not until unemployment or interest rates (or more likely both together) go up substantially will there be a change.

The "disguised" version of unemployment has been going up consistantly for the last 2 years now. And another interest rate rise is predicted in a few days. Slowly but surely the ignorant and greedy will fall...

[Swamp Thing]

I can't afford to buy a house and I'm in a very lucky position. I get to bill over £55,000 a year which for someone 23 is not comon at all.

I refuse to pay so much in interst its fecking stupid. The government should find another way to raise interest rates to slow the market as all they are doing is collecting money for the banks.

Maybe 2 charges. The normal interest % and also a further % which is the amount over normal you must pay the loan back at.

I.e. if you have an interest rate of 5% and payback rate of 10% you pay a normal payback of £500 with an extra £50 on top which is paid directly off the loan. Makes it more expensive so it will slow down the market and doesnt just generate money for the banks who are laughing all the way to the super bank at the moment.

Personally I'm just going to wait until the bubble bursts and all the feckers in debt can't afford to pay there mortgages and I'll clean up and get a great house for nothing.

Charitable old soul, aren't you?

[Shimano105]

their

[DimPrawn]

Doomed etc

[sasguru]

Sorry guys. House prices will slow but not fall as a result of the interest rate rise. Not until unemployment or interest rates (or more likely both together) go up substantially will there be a change. As long as people are in jobs and can afford to pay their mortgages things will stay as they are.

[Sockpuppet]

I can't afford to buy a house and I'm in a very lucky position. I get to bill over £55,000 a year which for someone 23 is not comon at all.

I refuse to pay so much in interst its fecking stupid. The government should find another way to raise interest rates to slow the market as all they are doing is collecting money for the banks.

Maybe 2 charges. The normal interest % and also a further % which is the amount over normal you must pay the loan back at.

I.e. if you have an interest rate of 5% and payback rate of 10% you pay a normal payback of £500 with an extra £50 on top which is paid directly off the loan. Makes it more expensive so it will slow down the market and doesnt just generate money for the banks who are laughing all the way to the super bank at the moment.

Personally I'm just going to wait until the bubble bursts and all the feckers in debt can't afford to pay there mortgages and I'll clean up and get a great house for nothing.

[AtW]

Mortgage lenders axe cheap deals leaving homebuyers 'crippled'
By BECKY BARROW

Homebuyers face being crippled by their mortgage repayments as Britain's biggest lenders are axeing their cheapest deals, experts warned.

Over the last few days, home loan giants such as Halifax and Alliance & Leicester have scrapped their best fixed rate mortgages.

Fixed rates mortgages are popular because they provide certainty by guaranteeing a fixed interest rate for a certain period of time.

But the good deals are disappearing because the Bank of England is tipped to raise interest rates next month and possibly again early in the New Year.

The move is a major blow for first-time buyers who have been dealt the 'double whammy' of soaring house prices and rising interest rates.

Homeowners who are about to remortgage or take out a bigger mortgage to buy a larger home will also be hit by the move.

Yesterday experts urged people on the verge of taking out a mortgage to rush to secure the dwindling number of good deals which are still on offer. (AtW: fking experts my arse - they should have told people not to buy house as clearly the bubble is on its last blow, ffs)

David Hollingworth, mortgage specialist from advisers London & Country Mortgages, said: "For anyone who wants the stability of a fixed rate deal, there is no point hanging around becauase it looks like rates are going up."

Deals which have been scrapped are mortgages fixed for two-years at competitive prices, such as Alliance & Leicester's deal at 4.64 per cent.

Halifax, Britain's biggest mortgage lender, has closed its 4.39 per cent deal and Cheltenham & Gloucester has scrapped its 4.65 per cent deal.

Northern Rock has warned that it has put all its fixed rate deals are on 'withdraw watch' which means they could be scrapped at any time.

Some deals are still available, such as Nationwide's deal at 4.47pc but the fee charged to take out the deal is an eyewatering £1,499.

Nick Gardner, a director of Chase de Vere Mortgage Management, said: "A rise in interest rates is a kick in the teeth for first-time buyers. (AtW's comment: yes Nick, maybe you should have advised people to NOT buy houses and stop ALL deals for a month just to show the force of buyers, ffs)

"They've got the double whammy of rising house prices and rising interest rates."

More expensive fixed rate mortgages are the last thing that Britain's hard-pressed homebuyers need.

They are already struggling with average house prices at a record high of about £180,000 which are forecast to keep on rising.

More than a decade after prices starting going up, the estate agents Knight Frank predicts prices will go up an inflation-busting six per cent next year.

People are being forced to borrow record amounts of money to buy a home. The average mortgage is an all-time record of £130,000, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

The combination of soaring mortgages and rising interest rates is a terrible one for homeowners whose finances are stretched to breaking point.

In 2003, the average mortgage was just £80,000 and it was possible to get a fixed deal at 3.25 per cent. This would mean monthly repayments of £390.

Today, the avearge mortgage is £130,000 and fixed rates are set to rise to 5.3 per cent by the spring. This would mean monthly repayment of nearly £800.

One expert said the market had been 'spooked' by the strong hint by the Bank of England that rates are on their way up.

The Bank's monetary policy committee voted to keep rates on hold this month (oct) at 4.75 per cent, but the decision was close. Two of the nine members wanted rates to go up to five per cent.

According to the minutes released after the meeting, it warned: "But for most members, the decision was finely balanced."

If rates do go up to 5.25 per cent by the spring, as expected, they would be at their highest level for more than five years.

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The end is now surely nigh.