Held up remarkably well... - Comment on the UK Finance household review - from Adam Oldfield at Phoebus Software

06 December 2023

Adam Oldfield, chief revenue officer at Phoebus Software, says "Despite the turmoil over the last quarter across rising interest rates and inflation the market has held up remarkably well. Although arrears have increased and may continue to do so into 2024 the number in percentage terms remains low. This is the area of the market that will need the greatest management in the coming months as more people come off historically low interest rates onto much higher SVRs. Even if borrowers decide to fix, the fact is that the rate they will be fixing at will increase their monthly payments to a level they didn’t plan for when first taking out their mortgages.

“When we look at the contraction in retail sales, and even this week we heard that the Christmas rush has been more subdued, which shows a level of caution as borrowers assess the impact of further borrowing. Nevertheless, a huge number of properties have come onto the market in the last few weeks, so perhaps the start of 2024 will be more buoyant than the end of 2023.”