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Mad rate rush or relatively calm?

ended 10. January 2022

We asked brokers around the UK how the first week of January 2022 was for them. The views of a selection are below.

8 responses from the Newspage community

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Imran Hussain
Director at Harmony Financial Services
"So much for easing into January. The past week has been the busiest start to January ever, with clients looking to remortgage, first-time buyers ultra-keen to purchase their first property and investors adding to their portfolios. With rates still exceptionally low but rises ahead, people are choosing to strike early this year rather than bide their time. The biggest challenge is the lack of housing supply, so come on Boris, think of some incentives for sellers to inject more liquidity into the market."
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Wesley Davidson
Director at Fox Davidson
"The first week of January has seen a sharp increase in business volumes compared to the end of last year. We are now having a lot more conversations with clients around rate increases. Most clients are now firmly of the opinion that rates will increase throughout the year. On the whole, there is not panic yet but people are aware and are keen to lock into fixed rates as soon as possible. "
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Rob Peters
Principal at Simple Fast Mortgage
"There's been a phenomenal sense of urgency in the first week of January, with investors and owner occupiers alike looking to push ahead with purchases and beat the next interest rate rise. For us it's a 50/50 split between remortgages and new property purchases."
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Rhys Schofield
Brand Director at Peak Mortgages and Protection
"The first week of January can only be described as frenetic. The race for space continues to drive demand, while we are also seeing a very healthy amount of remortgage clients looking to secure long-term fixed rates while they remain low. It's crystal clear that people are expecting rates to increase over the coming months and years and they want to protect themselves against higher repayments as soon as they can."
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Scott Taylor-Barr
Principal Adviser at Barnsdale Financial Management
"Sadly, as is par for the course in January, the bulk of new enquiries we've had have related to relationship breakdowns; it's always a tough part of the job, especially when both parties are existing clients who you helped buy their dream home together. Other clients have tended to be evenly split between people looking to remortgage and raise additional funds for big home improvement jobs, and very early "toe in the water" type conversations with people thinking about moving in 2022. However, there is a lot of trepidation about rising interest rates and the confidence the property market displayed through 2021 seems to be ebbing away."
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Robert Payne
Director at Langley House Mortgages
"We've had an extremely busy start to the year as the threat of rate rises drives both purchases and remortgages. The lack of stock is keeping the market fiery as first-time buyers scrap it out to get on the ladder. Those looking to remortgage are reaching out to us far earlier than usual to lock into a new loan up to 6 months ahead of their current deal expiring, which is a very sensible thing to do."
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Jamie Thompson
Mortgage Broker at Jamie Thompson Mortgages
"The New Year started off just as 2021 ended, namely frantically. What's been particularly insightful is that, only one week in, and I've already had two clients pull out of purchases after having second thoughts over the festive period. Perhaps people are seeing the market as too toppy and are waiting for prices to come down?"
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Graham Cox
Director at Bridging Hub
"We've seen a sharp increase in remortgage activity already this month. The recent interest rate hike has focused people's minds and many want to lock into a deal now before rates go up further over the coming months."