New cuts to mortgage rates were just announced, and they couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. Are you making the most of your options in your search for a new home?
Mortgage interest rates are coming down. Earlier this week, Halifax have cut rates on a range of products – some by nearly 1%. Followed their lead, HSBC, NatWest and TSB have now cut rates. Two-year and five-year fixed rate mortgages are at their lowest average in almost seven months (source: Moneyfacts) while mortgage approval rates are the highest they’ve been in seven months (source: Bank of England).
At the same time, sellers with new motivation to list their property are flocking to the New Year market. So, as a buyer, you have more opportunities to find the right home and a better chance of affording the home you want if you start right now. So, it’s worthwhile to ask:
1. With significantly cheaper rates than last year, is it time to make my move?
2. If I have better borrowing power, do I want to aim higher?
You’re a conscientious buyer, you’ve bided your time and your clued into the market…you’re even reading an article about it on an estate agency website. So while you’re at it, take a look at what you want and need out of a new home, and whether you can get that today.
Living in a property that doesn’t suit your lifestyle is draining – you want the children to have space to play outside or a commute to work that doesn’t leave you exhausted. When an opportunity to move into a home you love arises, you want to grab it. Yet, moving is expensive. It’s not something you want to do frequently, so if you can aim a little higher and buy a home you’ll love for longer, it’s worth looking into.
Talk to a mortgage advisor, like our partner mortgage broker Alexander Hall, about your borrowing power – what you can apply to borrow that will be approved by lenders – off the back of the falling rates. We bet you’ll be pleased by what you can afford to do now.
