There has been a lot of heated discussion about the mortgage market in the trade and indeed national papers with the prospect of further rate rises casting a significant shadow.
Perhaps starting off the latest bout of trouble and strife – bond and futures markets are pricing in base rates at 6% leaving the UK something of an outlier among major developed economies as inflation remains stubbornly high. ING does some analysis here.
The Bank of England is certainly more in focus.
Former FSA boss and chairman of NatWest Sir Howard Davies has called upon the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee not to raise interest rates.
The Lib Dems may remain merely the third largest party yet sometimes calls from this quarter can be picked up by the government or main opposition.
Leader Ed Davey has called for an emergency mortgage protection fund to help out, much like furlough during the pandemic.
Elsewhere and also in the left-leaning Guardian, it is suggested that the mortgage ‘crisis’ gives the ruling Conservative party no hope of winning the next election. It is, however, quoting Conservative MPs.
Perhaps giving some context Mortgage Strategy reports that the average age of a first-time buyer is now 37.
Mortgage Solutions provides a rate rise round up including from major lender Nationwide, here.
Home repossessions rose by 50% in the first quarter of 2023, with over 1,000 homes seized due to homeowners struggling to keep up with mortgage repayments, according to the latest UK Finance data, as Mortgage Introducer reports.
I would say that while the mortgage specialist websites are clearly alive to such matters, to get a real feel of the pressure, concern about hasitility withdrawn mortgages, the scale of worries for those coming to the end of their fixed rates and even the wellbeing of both brokers and lenders' staff, mortgage broking twitter is giving more insight than the trades. It may be worth a look
The implications of other stories from the past few weeks continue to rumble in the trade websites.
FTAdviser considers the lessons advisers should learn from the Odey affair.
Among other things, it writes that “Odey’s lifestyle seemed to represent a different era, with aristocratic clients and senior staff sometimes departing early on Thursday for a shooting weekend.”
Probably not quite typical for advisers though there are a few grouse shooters in adviser ranks, of course.
More interesting is the creation of a subsidiary Brook Asset Management (since previous legal trouble) which Morningstar estimates holds £3bn of assets.
Platform tech provider FNZ has issued a clarification after a widely-reported email threatening to sack staff who work from home for more than two days per week caused uproar.
FNZ told Money Marketing that it has issued a series of communications to staff about its hybrid working policy, stressing that it values the “benefits this brings to its employees and customers” and that one email had been taken out of context.
This is a forthright view regarding Brexit.
Politicians don’t want to admit it, but the fact is it iss Brexit that caused the undervaluation of the UK stockmarket, says Fidelity Special Values (FSV) fund manager Alex Wright speaking at a Citywire event.
Financial professionals have incredible influence and can use that power to affect real change across the world, but they must “push further” to achieve results, delegates at the Sustainable Investment Festival heard from TV presenter, campaigner, environmentalist and traveller Simon Reeve.
