We were really pleased about being chosen to discuss mortgages on Newstalk’s ‘Lunchtime’ show with Andrea Gilligan, it was part of a series called ‘project house’ which is helping people figure out how to buy a home. They needed mortgage advice and went to the experts!
Avant Money is part of the Bankinter group and they have been in the market for just one year and in that time they have been transformational in terms of what they have achieved in the current landscape.
To begin with they came in and offered the lowest rates we have ever had since the days of tracker mortgages, their fixed rates were also available for longer durations at these low rates than the other leading rates of the day. After that they brought out a suite of fixed rates which were also at the forefront of the market.
As a lender who distributes exclusively through brokers this is wonderful in our view as it drives people towards independent financial advice and greater selection. We can’t wait to see what Avant Money has coming down the line in year two!
The Sunday Indepnedent ran a piece quoting Karl Deeter on the danger of high house prices, he said that ‘trees don’t grow to the sky’ which is a common expression in economic analysis that warns of the dangers of extrapolation upwards.
It’s common to hear ‘never again’ until something does happen again and that’s a real risk in housing because the headwinds are there to encourage an industry to go into hyper-supply which does resolve shortages but which usually also overshoots.
When you talk about being in favour of ‘more property tax’ you quickly lose the room, but what if we had less income tax and more tax on immovable assets? This is a targeted wealth tax given the way that property and wealth are intertwined, it also means those with the most valuable homes would contribute more and could encourage down-sizing too which would help free up chronically under-occupied housing stock.
This can be an emotive topic, we understand that, but so is the plight of young people facing a market that isn’t affordable and a housing shortage that is driving prices to dangerous levels.
We spoke to Newstalk about the idea of whether the state needs to intervene to stop ‘cuckoo’ funds from buying up homes. This is because the sale of a housing estate became a national press story due to a fund coming in to buy it up.
It is understandable that people are upset, there are buyers who had set their hopes on living in those properties, but that emotion can’t eradicate the fact that renters are people too and they also need homes, family homes. Or that there are people who may not want to buy or can’t afford to who need family homes.
These things all need to be considered and it isn’t as simple as saying it’s universally good or bad, the clip will help to make this clear.
Newstalk Breakfast had Karl Deeter on to discuss the costs of building apartments in Ireland and what some of the issues are with the construction industry in general.
https://www.newstalk.com/podcasts/highlights-from-newstalk-breakfast/the-costs-of-apartments-report
The news that Ulsterbank is going to be winding up in a phased manner does have people concerned but it ought to be an orderly wind-down of operations and they issued the release below today as well.
Ulsterbank recently upped the ante in the mortgage rate-war by reducing a suite of their rates, the story was covered in the Independent which also quoted Irish Mortgage Brokers.
Karl Deeter said the cuts represent the latest shot to be fired in the mortgage rate war.
“In response to Avant Money’s European-style rates, Ulster Bank has had to respond and now it means that other lenders are under even greater pressure to follow or beat these rates.”
He said this means customers will win. But they have to switch lender is they are paying high rates.
It’s bizarre but true. A recent study by the Central Bank showed that the majority of borrowers stood to really gain in payment savings and interest payments by switching their mortgage and yet only a tiny fraction actaully do it.
Who do you know that would walk by a free €10,000? Nobody right? Yet you do, it may even be you, because if you pay a bank thousands more than you ought to because you aren’t willing to take the time to do some paperwork and switch your loan that’s precisely what happens!
Here are the main findings (verbatim) from the Central Bank:
Three in every five eligible mortgages stand to save over €1,000 within the first year if they switch mortgage provider, and more than €10,000 over the remaining term. Just 2.9% of mortgages switched provider in the second half of 2019. A diverse range of factors may inhibit switching, including psychological factors, lack of knowledge on the costs and benefits, and the perceived complexity.
Get in touch at info@mortgagebrokers.ie apply online or call us and we can help …
Here is a simple video that we found was good at giving you a quick explainer on what APR or ‘Annual percentage rate’ is.
