"The trend of eco-friendly mortgages looks set to continue with more and more lenders announcing ‘green’ products that reward a high EPC rating."
Another area of interest for brokers and lenders is energy efficiency. There’s a growing trend of ‘green’ mortgages that reward energy efficient properties with improved rates.
At Knowledge Bank, we have been busy updating our criteria search system with new categories and features to support brokers. As former brokers ourselves, the team understands the importance of being able to place a client quickly and efficiently. To ensure brokers can do this, our new visa and residency categories will help brokers to find a lender able to offer a suitable mortgage product.
WC 31st May
As we entered the last month of full-stamp duty holiday, Paragon Bank re-entered the holiday let market. With staycations looking set to stay for at least a few more months, the lender relaunched four products for single self-contained properties for both portfolio and non-portfolio investors.
Mansfield Building Society also enhanced its holiday let mortgages, increasing its maximum LTV to 70%.
The return of 95% LTV products continued with Nottingham Building Society announcing purchase and remortgage products available for houses at 95% LTV.
Newcastle Building Society increased its LTV for self-build and custom build mortgages from 80% to 85%, exclusively available via BuildLoan. While the new Help to Build scheme is not yet open for applications – it is due to open in ‘late summer’ – Build Loan anticipates it will “bring new opportunities for brokers to widen their client base and for lenders to expand their mortgage range”.
Hope Capital launched a new bridging range, The Capital Collection, for all property types and revamped a number of other bridging finance products to enhance its offering.
WC 7th June
The summer holidays were clearly on lenders’ minds in June, as Darlington Intermediaries entered the holiday let market. The lender is offering a new 75% LTV product, which will be considered on capital repayment, interest only and part and part basis.
It wasn’t just holiday lets that lenders were focused on however. In the residential-rental market Vida Homeloans increased its maximum loan on its buy-to-let limited range to £1m, and Landbay launched two brand new products for landlords with three properties or less. Against the backdrop of a booming rental market, a significant number of new landlords are investing in properties and Landbay’s new range caters for this trend of non-portfolio investors.
Following the recent changes to IR35, Clydesdale Bank made updates to its contractor lending criteria. The lender says it accepts contracts that fall within IR35 rules, and also contract income received via a payroll service company.
WC 14th June
This week the Knowledge Bank team unveiled a raft of new features to enhance brokers’ experience. The first of which monitors lender service levels to show brokers the approximate number of working days a lender takes to process a case from application to offer. This should be extremely helpful for brokers with clients who need a lender that can move quickly, or to help manage their clients’ expectations of the time a mortgage may take.
The second new feature was a reference table of standard variable rates for residential and buy-to-let products, which is invaluable for brokers to provide best advice and avoid their clients paying higher rates than they need to.
In what is becoming a growing trend, Dudley Building Society announced two remortgage products and a further advance product for properties with improved energy efficiency. With more and more interest in the environmental impact of housing, more lenders are offering these ‘green’ products that are designed to reward eco-efficient properties.
WC 21st June
This week Knowledge Bank added a number of new categories that cover residency and visa issues. These new categories are particularly pertinent for EU-nationals, with the deadline to apply for settled status falling at the end of June. The visa search covers working visas, spousal / family visas, EU-pre-settled and EU-settled status and ensures brokers can search for lenders who will lend in each category.
Although we are firmly into summer, Spring Finance, a specialist provider of residential second charge mortgages, became the latest lender to add its entire criteria to the Knowledge Bank system. The lender specialises in lending to customers who are unable to obtain finance from traditional high street lenders.
Following the trend for rewarding eco-friendly houses, Landbay launched new buy-to-let products offering incentives for more energy-efficient properties. The lender announced all of its green products carry a 0.1% or 0.05% reduction against its comparable loans.
WC 28th June
In the final week of June, green was again the colour in vogue. Specialist bridging and auction finance lender, MT Finance launched a £250 credit scheme for borrowers whose properties hit a green standard, with an energy performance certificate rating of A or B.
Merging the two key trends of the month, Keystone Property Finance announced it now offers lending on holiday lets in England and Wales, including a range of green products at 65% and 75% LTV.
If your client was looking for an energy-efficient holiday home in Cornwall, then June was an excellent month for you. The trend of eco-friendly mortgages looks set to continue with more and more lenders announcing ‘green’ products that reward a high EPC rating. The month was also a good one if you are working with clients requiring visas, as our latest updates made finding the ideal lender easier than ever.
