BoE Money & Credit comment from Just Mortgages

01 March 2023

John Phillips, national operations director at Just Mortgages said: “There are many that think my continuing optimism in the housing market is unfounded but with house prices rising by 9.8% in the 12 months to December 2022 a slowdown in lending is not a disaster and a long way from being a crisis. After the blip caused by the mini-budget, mortgage rates have continued to fall and the ‘effective’ interest rate i.e. the actual interest rate paid on newly drawn mortgages was 3.88% in January which is positive for those coming off fixed rates this year although there is no doubt many will need to plan for higher monthly payments.

"I believe that re-mortgaging will take centre stage in 2023 and brokers need to start communicating with borrowers now in order to ensure they help them secure the best possible rates when their current deals end. Borrowers are going to face increasingly stringent affordability conditions in light of fuel and food costs but there are still plenty of deals available and resilient house prices should be a cause for some optimism.”