Battle for Mortgage Business Begins - 23/04/2009

Author: Jeni Browne Posted on: 23 April 2009

At long last, we are finally starting to see lenders trying to match their competitors pricing to win business - something which brokers have been waiting for, for some time now.

The handbags are not yet flying but we have seen a couple of very large institutions chasing eachother on pricing, either slightly undercutting the lowest rate, or at least matching it.  Granted, this is for the 'desirable lending' - low loan to value, clean credit and full status, which is really the the cream of the crop, but its a start.  What this means is that lenders are wanting to lend and are starting to compete to do so.  It is only natural that they are going to start off with low risk business, but in time, this will spread across to the higher risk business.

Looking into this in a bit more depth, what it reallly means is that things are improving.  I remember a few months ago, lenders were fighting to not be the cheapest so this is a definite about turn!  The reason this is so important is that if you look at this, together with the levelling of house prices, it looks like (touch wood), the worst could be over.  And while it would be pretty bold (stupid) of me to sit here waxing lyrical about an imminent and speedy recovery, this is really encouraging.  And to coin a old phrase, to run a marathon, you need to start with a single step. 

Author: Jeni Browne