Mortgages are getting less affordable, according to figures released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders, meaning that more people will struggle to keep up their repayments in the coming months.
Interest payments now account for the largest proportion of mortgage holders’ incomes than at any time over the last 15 years, with first time buyers struggling most. Of their net monthly October income 20.6 per cent went on paying mortgage interest, a rise of 0.2 per cent in only a month. That is the highest it has been since 1991, the CML revealed.
Home-movers also spent more on their interest payments, with the CML recording an average 17.6 per cent of net monthly income used to maintain home loan interest in October. That shows a slight increase on the previous month’s total of 17.5 per cent, and is now at the highest level since 1992.
But the Council of Mortgage Lenders welcomed the quarter per cent base rate cut in early December saying it would provide some much needed relief to those holding UK mortgages. Because another rate cut is widely predicted in the New Year many homebuyers who are on Standard Variable Rate (SVR) mortgages will benefit further.
Indeed, the prospect of reducing interest rates are prompting more people to opt for SVR mortgages ahead of fixed rate products, with the latter accounting for 68 per cent of all loans in October, reduced from 72 per cent in September. CML Director Michael Coogan said:
“For those customers whose fixed rate
mortgage is coming to an end in 2008, the potential impact of higher monthly payments will be reduced by the cut in the bank rate this month, and hopefully other rate reductions to come early next year.”
Although lending volumes remained healthy in October, showing a nine per cent rise on September’s figures to total £33.5billion, the CML believes that the effects of the global credit crunch are still to be felt, as most of those loans would have been approved prior to its impact. To prove the point pipeline figures for mortgage approvals are already showing a slowdown and the organisation said it expected that over the coming months lending levels would be ‘subdued’.
So, although the December interest rate cut has provided some relief for borrowers, with hopefully more on the way in the New Year, homeowners are still struggling as they now have to devote more of their income to paying mortgage interest.
