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Mortgage borrowing rates remained steady in August according to the Bank of England (BoE), with £3.1billion being borrowed in August, with similar figures reported for July. Additionally,

effective mortgage interest rates also remained broadly unchanged.

However, mortgage approvals for house purchases increased from 66,300 in July to 84,000 in august, the highest number since October 2007.

This is a dramatic increase but the BoE noted it only partially offset the weakness seen between March and June.

In total, there have been 418,000 approvals in 2020, compared with 524,000 for the same period in 2019.

New mortgage rates were also 1.72 percent in August, a decrease of one basis point on the month, while the interest rate on the stock of mortgage loans fell one basis point to 2.14 percent

in August.

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Andrew Montlake, the Managing Director at mortgage broker Coreco, dove into the changing dynamics that have impacted these figures: “The market remains exceptionally busy although it is no

longer first-time buyers driving things but second and subsequent home movers.

“First-time buyers have been decimated by changes in mortgage lenders’ appetites, with few products available at 90 percent LTV and income multiples becoming ever more conservative.

“People who have decent equity in their property, secure jobs and are looking to move away from cities to gain bigger homes and more space given the new WFH culture, are the ones best able

to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday.

“People who are looking to purchase a second or holiday home are also exceptionally busy.”

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Despite the seemingly promising figures, Andrew went on to warn that customers may still face difficulties moving forward: “Right now, the market is characterised by high demand for

mortgages and people wanting to buy, but a lack of suitable products.

“Lenders continue to struggle with capacity and are also wary of moving up the risk curve given the precipice we are approaching in the form of the end of the furlough scheme and a

potentially messy Brexit scenario.

"Mortgage approvals may have risen sharply but the market, given the uncertainty of the Covid economy and Brexit, remains on a knife edge.”

Additionally, coronavirus is still having an operational impact on mortgage deals as Matthew Fleming-Duffy, a director of independent mortgage broker Cherry Mortgage & Finance, explained:

“Following pent-up demand from people wishing to move home after the national lockdown and the Government’s market stimulus in the form of a Stamp Duty holiday, the property market has seen

activity levels absolutely skyrocket over the past two to three months.

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“Sadly, this does not necessarily translate to fast property transactions.

“Mortgage industry stakeholders, from banks and building societies to solicitors and surveyors – still have furloughed staff and are operating under safe working conditions. In other words,

while caseloads are higher, lenders’ capacity to function is currently subdued.”

Matthew also shared Andrew’s worries for appropriate supply and demand levels: “Product choice is still limited, particularly at higher LTVs. There are only a handful of mortgage lenders

offering products at 90 percent LTV, with some singling out First Time Buyers for exclusive eligibility and others only providing guarantor loans.

“It’s very difficult predicting what the market will look like next year, as the furlough scheme and Stamp Duty holiday come to an end, and we will be living in a post-Brexit Britain.

“Many economists predict a slight drop in property prices, which in turn could knock confidence and risk appetite in the lending markets again.

“Let’s hope that the ever-cheerful, creative-economist Rishi Sunak has something up his sleeve.”

Rishi Sunak recently unveiled his “Winter Economy Plan” which confirmed there will be continued support for UK workers but he made no mention of any additional mortgage proposals.

Currently, it seems mortgage holders will not get further support as 2021 approaches as the FCA also recently confirmed that mortgage holidays will not be extended beyond October.

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