Industry news and views from Panacea and our partners.
Mortgages_
Brilliant Solutions: NEW 90% Kensington Exclusives
What a positive week. New products launched, LTVs up and rates down. This is more or less consistent across the market. From Semi-Commercial, Holiday Let, BTL and HMO through to Residential.
Brilliant Solutions: New On Demand Webinar
Hosted by Michael Craig, this webinar with Fleet Mortgages is entitled: Complex BTL made Simple.
Brilliant Solutions: Back to Your Future with Precise Mortgages
Its an understatement to describe 2020 as challenging. From payment holidays to furlough, rapidly changing criteria and everything in between, intermediaries maintained exceptional support for their customers and helped them through incredibly tough times to help protect their futures.
Brilliant Solutions: Industry Charity Online Poker Invite (No gambling or gambling account neeeded)
We are organising a fun fund raising event for NHS Charities together. For a donation of your choice you can get involved in a fun online poker event and connect with industry colleagues.
Brilliant Solutions will be providing Panacea Partners with their weekly overview, showing the latest changes made by lenders.
Since 18th December we have seen a number of lenders bring their higher LTV products back to market over the last couple of weeks. The new year has brought product refreshes and repricing for many. Brexit has lead to some lenders to announce criteria changes. With the concern of meeting the stamp duty deadline we continue to see some product withdrawals and acceptance of new applications.
Royal London: AMI viewpoint 2020 virtual launch event
Last month we partnered with The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries to carry out extensive research on consumer and adviser views of the protection market.
New overseas mortgage guide released this week
Simon Conn, one of the UKs leading overseas property professionals, has written a free guide for people considering buying a property abroad.
Brexit and currency fluctuations behind higher foreign property purchase costs
Uncertainty over Brexit and currency fluctuations have been blamed for the increased cost of buying a property in Europe and the USA. Overseas property and finance specialist Simon Conn has seen an influx of enquiries from clients who were previously paying cash, or required a smaller mortgage, now having to either borrow more or take out a loan where one was not previously required.
Zurich: Buy-to-let tax traps: What clients need to know
The government is making life increasingly complicated for private landlords, and advisers need to be wary of a number of potential tax traps when working with clients with second homes, writes Zurichs Andy Woollon...
Legal & General: Are your clients looking to fund a first time buyer? They are not alone
The average house deposit is now £33,000 and for many young people, a cash gift from family can be a real boost towards buying a home.
Legal & General: Who is a lifetime mortgage for?
Theres no single type of lifetime mortgage customer. Weve seen customers in a range of different circumstances benefit from unlocking the cash in their home. Its not just the client that benefits from a lifetime mortgage either; a lifetime mortgage can help their families, too.
Simon Conn: Brexit comment
Overseas property and finance expert Simon Conn says people are continuing to buy homes abroad, despite the ongoing issues with Brexit.
L&G: Are lifetime mortgages a solution for silver separators?
Divorce is becoming increasingly common in later life, and parting ways is often more complex than simply splitting assets in half. Its paramount that advisers are aware of the negative effect it can have on a couple's finances.
Legal & General: What do lifetime mortgages mean for families?
We know that you don't only work with clients you also help their families.
Legal and General: Helping intermediaries pass with flying colours
Legal & General Home Finance are helping mortgage intermediaries through their Chartered Insurance Institute Equity Release qualification with free one-day revision workshops across the UK.
Legal & General Home Finance Breakfast Roundtables - Using Property Equity for Income
Join our product specialist, Amy Mulvey and our Head of Adviser Sales, Rob Miles at one of six locations, to discuss how you can help shape your clients portfolios by utilising their property equity for income.
Key Partnership: 2018 Equity Release Market Monitor
This week Key has released its Market Monitor report for the whole of 2018 and it highlights that the equity release market continues its record-breaking growth. The number of new plans in 2018 is up 21% and overall lending has increased by 19% year on year.
L&G: Is equity release good for the UK economy?
Our Silver Spenders research highlights the potential for money released from housing wealth to support economic growth in the UK. The research found that every £1 of housing wealth released generates £2.34 for the UK economy1.
Where to buy an overseas property in 2019
With Brexit decisions and implications clearly on the horizon, trying to predict which road the overseas property market is going to go down this year is not easy.
UnderwriteMe: Challenging customer perceptions
I had an interesting lunch with a couple of mortgage industry experts this week. Im going to allow them to remain nameless here, but Ill happily break this self imposed anonymity clause if anyone wants to ask me privately.
Simon Conns top 20 tips for buying abroad
With the overseas property market becoming more complicated and competitive, prospective buyers are being urged to undertake thorough research before committing to a sale abroad. Overseas property expert Simon Conn has seen an increase in the number of buyers not carrying out proper checks before signing on the dotted line and has put together a list of the 20 top issues to look out for.
Mortgage Brain shares vision and strategy with UK Lenders
Leading Mortgage technology expert, Mortgage Brain, revealed its vision and technology strategy for the next generation at three exclusive events held last week.
Alexa, open UKMortgages
Everyone likes a bit of magic and now consumers who own an Amazon Echo smart speaker device can ask Alexa, Amazons friendly virtual assistant to open UKMortgages - and they can search for a mortgage or a local adviser.
Mortgage Brain: Survival of fittest: Meet your customers where they are
Around-the clock, omni-channel and in control are some of terms used to describe the modern consumer*. Increasingly informed, demanding and impatient, they want answers here and now and have little tolerance for lengthy admin procedures. This means businesses can no longer continue doing things the old fashioned way such as rely solely on phone and email for communications, stick to the 9-5 availability and so on. So whats a broker to do?
Mortgage brain: Digital customer journey important to mortgage advisers
Think about how many hours you have spent on your electronic devices in the last 24 hours. Chances are, its quite a few and more than you did just one or two years ago. Your customers are no different, and its essential you can keep in step with their expectations and lifestyle to remain competitive.
Aviva Investors house view 2018 outlook
The intelligence that guides our investment decisions. No-one can predict the future perfectly. But our House View represents the best collective judgement of Aviva Investors on the current and future investment environment.
Mortgage Brain: The most reliable and Accurate comparison of multiple first and second charge products ever!
Source and compare accurate first and second charge mortgage products side by side Compare as many products as you wish (certainly more than two!) Advised or non-advised functionality 99.9% product data accuracy Save and source different scenarios for your clients 200+ sourcing filters to find the best mortgage Online and offline systems to choose from, MortgageBrain Classic and MortgageBrain Anywhere
Shock horror! Base rates go up by 0.25% - we werent expecting that!
For the last couple of months the Bank of England has been preparing all of us for todays 0.25% increase so it shouldnt have come as a shock that the base rate has increased, but what does it actually mean to the general public and more importantly people with mortgages which are now more expensive to service per month?
Royal London: 65,000 pensioners face losing mortgage help unless they take out second mortgage with the government
Thousands of low income pensioners and working age benefit claimants have started to receive official letters warning that the help they receive with their mortgages will end in April 2018 unless they sign up to a second mortgage with the government. But the letters are not clear about the interest rate on the loan and recipients are getting little help with this decision according to mutual insurer, Royal London. If they fail to comply they will lose help with their mortgage and could face repossession if they get into arrears as a result.
France still top spot for Brit buyers
France is still the number one location for British buyers looking to purchase abroad, according to overseas property and finance specialist Simon Conn.
Tips on how to turn your foreign property dream into a happy reality
Weve all done it gone on holiday, stepped away from the daily grind, relaxed in the sun, cocktail in hand, wondering how we can make this feeling last. So when we return to the unpredictable British weather, we hatch a plan of how to buy a property abroad.
Aviva: Pensions v buy to let what do your clients need to know?
In our latest Financial Planning Bulletin, we look at pensions and buy to let investments and compare: tax treatment investment risks, and access rules
Comment from Simon Conn, overseas property and finance expert, in light of recent Brexit announcement
What UK ex-pats are doing in current popular areas of Europe as opposed to the UK. I am currently getting a number of enquiries from clients who live in Cyprus, France, Italy, Portugal or Spain and who either live there or own a property and are looking to refinance for a number of reasons.
Just: Introducing new lifetime mortgage product features
We know making decisions on equity release can be complex and later life can be unpredictable. So were making changes to our lifetime mortgages to allow partial repayments (up to a certain percentage) to be made without early repayment charges applying and the information we provide clearer.
M&G Bond Vigilantes: Mortgages and monetary policy in the US and UK
The cost of new mortgage borrowing and payments on outstanding household debt can have a large impact on the rate of growth of an economy. For this reason, central bankers are interested in the transmission mechanism of monetary policy. It has been shown that interest rates can have a stronger influence on an economy where there are a high proportion of variable rather than fixed-rate mortgages
Buying residential property overseas in 2017 post Trump and with Brexit influences
After the shocks of 2016, how will the overseas property market be affected in 2017 and will the most popular areas still be of interest? Although the Trump and Brexit decisions did have an initial effect on clients potentially purchasing an overseas property - where some people have deferred until the markets have settled down in the USA after the Presidential inauguration and Article 50 is finally implemented - others have seen this as a good time to look for opportunities and bargains available in the market.
Tips for buying ski property
The ski season is now upon us and many people will be jetting off to the Alps, Pyrenees, USA and Canada for some snow and après-ski. If you are a keen skier and are thinking of buying a property in a ski resort, these are the main points you need to consider, according to overseas property and finance expert Simon Conn.
New versus old which foreign property is right for you?
As the summer comes to a close, some people will still be thinking longingly about their holidays and wondering whether to buy a property abroad.
Overseas property sector should there be doom and gloom?
Since Brexit, there have many different comments in the press about how people feel the market and economy will develop during the next few months and most, unfortunately, have been rather dour.
General tips and warnings when purchasing in a rural area
Now that the global property market is picking up, more UK buyers are looking to purchase overseas for investment and retirement purposes.