#coronavirus

On 31^st March 2020, we read an article from the BBC titled ‘UK mortgage market goes into lockdown’, which stated that “Nationwide, one of the UK’s biggest lenders…has effectively pulled out of new lending, only offering mortgages to those who have 25% deposit/equity or more….which rules out First Time Buyers”.

We felt this article creates the very panic everyone in my industry is trying to avoid and leaves people wondering if this is due to Nationwide predicting a huge slump in house prices.

While we cannot guess what will happen with UK property market, we can explain the reasons why mortgage lending is becoming more restrictive directly as a result of the lockdown.

Read more

On 11^th March, the Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney announced that interest rates would be reduced to 0.25% in order to support businesses and consumer confidence during a time of crisis.

Less than a week later, Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled £330bn of extra support to help businesses and individuals deal with the financial difficulties that are being caused by the Covid-19 outbreak.

These two decisions highlight the Chancellor’s comments during a news conference, that a “collective national effort” would be required to get us through this.

Read more