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Autumn statement and mortgages -what would you like to see?

Journalist: Anna Sagar, Mortgage Solutions / Specialist Lending Solutions

ended 17. November 2022

Looking to speak to mortgage brokers about what they would like to see/what would be on their wishlist from the Autumn statement tomorrow.

  1. What would like to hear from Jeremy Hunt on the mortgage market? 
  2. Would further intervention (stamp duty cut/more government schemes) be welcome?
  3. What is your outlook for the mortgage market currently? 

12 responses from the Newspage community

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Kylie-Ann GatecliffeVerified
Director at KAG Financial
I think anyone working in the property industry right now is desperate to see help for beleaguered first-time buyers. With help to buy now a thing of the past, we need to make it easier for people to get on the property ladder. Tenants are now being hit not only by the cost of living crisis, but also soaring rents due to landlords facing extra costs. It's becoming harder for people to save and I really hope the government will step in and support those that want to buy. Whilst we are now starting to see fixed rates decrease, which is a welcome change, the stumbling block for many first-time buyers is finding a deposit while battling high living costs. I feel that, without political intervention of some kind, we will see purchases dip.
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Graham CoxVerified
Director at Bridging Hub
I hope to hear nothing from Jeremy Hunt about the housing market. There's been more than enough 'interventions' to prop up prices over the years, which is a big part of the reason we've got a housing crisis in the first place. The best thing Hunt can do if he's really concerned about helping first-time buyers is let house prices fall, so they become more affordable. We cannot continue sucking ever greater amounts of money out of people's pockets on mortgages and rent. Time to end this madness.
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Samuel Mather-HolgateVerified
Independent Financial Adviser at Mather and Murray Financial
Hunt needs to focus on how to get houses built. Get this right and everything else falls into place: jobs, growth and socio-economic policies. Successive governments have failed to get Britain building, but perhaps it's now more necessary than ever if we really are entering our longest ever recession.
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Riz MalikVerified
Independent Financial Adviser at R3 Wealth
The fiscal statement is going to set the scene for the next 12 months. If it is balanced, does not have any nasty surprises and the markets do not react negatively, it could be the catalyst for a price war. Lenders are liquid and want to lend responsibly as they also have targets to hit. We all have our fingers crossed.
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Justin MoyVerified
Managing Director at EHF Mortgages
Personally, I would like to see little change that affects the mortgage market as a whole. A balanced statement that the money market accepts is probably the best we can hope for. However, any raid on landlords and their buy to lets will be a disaster. Already struggling with increased taxation, stamp duty, and legislation, any further intervention will see significant numbers of landlords putting their properties put up for sale, flooding some parts of the market. This will probably feed the first-time buyer catchment quite nicely, but with the number of tenants looking for rental properties at an all-time high, the government will end up spending even more money on social home provision. That's not fixing the issue, just booting it down the road a bit further. I think any changes within the mortgage market need to come from within, rather than government policy change, once we have some stability. For example, help with affordability, stress testing constraints, and some innovation with mortgage products. I think the outlook is slowly improving from where we were looking just a few weeks ago. Optimistic for the long term, but in the short term this is having a difficult effect on mortgage lenders, brokers, solicitors, and surveyors, as we all wait for some form of normality where consumers feel happy to commit, either to buy or to refinance. Until then, activity is likely to remain exceptionally low.
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Craig FishVerified
Director at Lodestone Mortgages
The only thing I, and most other brokers want Jeremy Hunt to do with the mortgage market, is leave it well alone. Things are looking like they are set for a good start to the year, so we don't need him meddling. After all, a quiet December would be nice, and there is also some football tournament on I believe. Lenders are awash with money and are ready to lend. But as next year does promise to be a bit slower for property purchases, and with lenders' targets back at zero, I hope they will be firing on all cylinders and ready for a flying start. I'm expecting a rate war, and to see 5-year rates around 4%. If anything, making a pledge to build more homes would be nice, but highly unlikely.
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Imran HussainVerified
Director at Harmony Financial Services
I would like no meddling at all from the government; the help to buy equity loan going is possibly the best thing for first-time buyers as they are then not overleveraging themselves with a mortgage and additional loan which many now find themselves unable to pay back or raise the capital via remortgage to pay back all it did was prop up new build house prices what needs to be done is simply build more affordable homes actual affordable homes not a 3 bed at £400,000 first time buyers don't have the money for those with regards to the mortgage market the government simply needs to stay stum as rates are starting to come down and stock levels are starting to increase on the market as we all know what happened less than 8 weeks ago when the government tried an experiment with kamkazi kawasi.
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Mike StatonVerified
Director at Staton Mortgages
I would love to see the reintroduction of help to buy and something similar to that scheme for non new-builds, the property market is in dire need of resucitation and something like that may be the defibrilator we need to kickstart our economic heart attack that was caused by the last PM. What i think we will see is more austerity measures. It will be like Disneys Robin Hood, with the bad Sheriff of Notttingham raising the taxes to squeeze what he can out of the working class and look after the rich.
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Emma JonesVerified
Managing Director at Whenthebanksaysno.co.uk
We don’t need another stamp duty cut. We need stability for households and sensible decisions around how they can close the gap on the government debt we have seen created over the last few months. Whatever the decisions are the government need to think about how this directly impacts UK homeowners with the cost of living on the rise. Inflation is the highest since the 80’s let’s hope Rishi can help to get us back on track and make these mortgage rates more affordable for the average household!
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Rhys SchofieldVerified
Brand Director at Peak Mortgages and Protection
I don't want to see anything when it comes to residential mortgages. That's right, no meddling needed right now. Available stock levels are good, rates are coming down and the mortgage market isn't as much of a nuclear wasteland as the public fears. Talk to a good mortgage broker and you'll be in safe hands. One thing that does need looking at though is the buy-to-let sector as a whole. I know landlords are a convenient and popular group to kick but when rents have gone up 20% in the past year and 25% of landlords plan to sell properties due to the combination of higher rates, tougher taxation and a mounting pile of legislation to deal, you have to stop and think. Swathes of the public may not like landlords but if they pull out of the market, who else is going to rent out properties to those that need them, and if rents increase exponentially, how are first-time buyers without a wealthy parent who is happy to open the money taps expected to save for a deposit?
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Matthew JacksonVerified
Director at Mint FS
The one thing I would like to see from our chancellor is a competent or even semi-competent performance and fiscal strategy. If we get this then I believe the market will react favourably and any natural negativity generated by the mainstream media can be coped with. We have to be pragmatic about our hopes for intervention. The stamp duty cuts are a good start and let's hope these stay in place but being realistic any other interventions that cost money will be unlikely. For that reason maybe the most positive thing this government can do is scrap the end of the Help To Buy Scheme and extend it to homemovers and first-time buyers for the next 2-3 years. This would stimulate the bottom end of the housing market and is at no cost, as the government actually makes money on the equity loans provided. Beyond this, the only other area of concern is buy to lets and specifically remortgages where the ICR calculation does not support a product. Perhaps a scheme similar to that of the Mortgage Indemnity Scheme provided to high LTV purchases for landlords would address this and ensure we do not see a rush from landlords to dispose of rental properties, leading to a shortage of available property to rent. Personally, I am still positive for the short and medium term for the mortgage market. Lenders are not hesitant to lend, we just need to ride out the effect of "Kamikwasi Economics" and allow the market to settle and move forward once more.
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David RobinsonVerified
Co-Founder at Wildcat Law
What we really need is for Jeremy Hunt to perform a balancing act worthy of a Britain's Got Talent finalist. The best thing he can deliver for mortgages and the whole economy is a costed budget that restores faith in the Government's ability to run the economy resulting in a stronger Sterling. That will help us fight inflation and take the pressure off the Bank of England to raise interest rates. This in turn will mean mortgage rates will continue to stabilise, benefiting home owners but also people renting as landlords won't be forced to raise rents to meet increasing mortgage costs. Sounds simple doesn't it? But recent weeks have shown that to be anything but the case.