Covid-19’s impact on mortgages

The covid-19 pandemic has had a massive impact on all areas of the financial world, including banks, loans, and mortgages. Mortgage arrears, or payments failed to be made by their original specified due date, had been consistently falling every year since 2013. However, Fitch predicts that arrears of at least 90 days will constitute about 14-16% of Irish home loans this year, their highest rate since the financial crisis.

Additionally, the pandemic has led to widespread payment breaks for mortgages in Ireland. Payment breaks involve the deferring of repayment of a loan to a later date; they do not change, however, reduce the total amount to be paid. In March of last year, the major banks in Ireland agreed to industry-wide payment breaks for those facing financial hardship as a result of the pandemic. This was done out of consideration for borrowers’ situations and lenders’ own desire to avoid high default rates. Ultimately, by May 2020, one in nine owner-occupier mortgage payments was on such a break.

Though this measure was taken of the industry’s own volition, soon after, the …

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Types of mortgages and lending rules

Irish law has specialized sets of lending rules depending on the type of mortgage application. Types of applications are split into three different categories: first-time buyers, remortgaging or switching, and buy-to-let buyers. Depending on which of these categories an application falls under, different loan-to-value (LTV) and loan-to-income (LTI) limits will be used. The former refers to the minimum deposit a borrower must have on a home before getting a mortgage loan. The latter refers to the maximum amount of money borrowers can receive in relation to their yearly gross income; while this is normally capped at 3.5 times one’s income, lenders can provide additional allowances of varying amount depending on the type of application.

Firstly, there are first-time buyers. These applicants are those buying a house for the first time, so the deposit required by LTV limits is understandably less steep. They will need to have a minimum deposit of 10% of the home’s total value. For example, if the price of a home is listed as €250,000, a 10% deposit would amount to €25,000. Lenders are allowed to have …

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How our brains destroy our finances and how to avoid it

Typically, we want to focus on the good habits we do and improve further on them. Of course, these are good things to know about like managing your money, budgeting, and so much more. Although we try our best to stay on track, the reality is it will not always finish the pathway. Our brains have developed to have a certain way of perceiving and understanding things. Our brains have default habits and modes it follows which can get in the way of even the most knowledge and objective people’s finance. It tends to steer away from logic and make us choose worse options even though we hold the information to do better. With the right precautions, we can teach you how to outsmart your brain. 

Hyperbolic discounting.

To start, hyperbolic discounting is when there is a temporary discount for our preferred immediate over future rewards. We value something more that happens now rather than waiting for it in the future. Credit cards are one of the prime suspects of this action. We purchase an item we might not be …

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Paying Off Mortgage During the Pandemic

Many people have found themselves struggling financially as the COVID pandemic drags on for longer than expected. In this, having to pay your mortgage may be one of the largest stressors for most. With that, there are some actions you can take to help deal with this.  

Always ensure effective communication with your lender. Speak with them if you are struggling to manage your finances and come up with a plan or budget system to repay your mortgage. If you are unable to repay, do not cancel or stop your direct debit without speaking and communicating with your lender first. On top of that, if you are unable to repay your mortgage in full every period, if you can repay it in a smaller amount than usual, then you should do that.

But even with everyone’s financial struggles during this period, the lender is not exempt from helping their clients. The lender may find that many of their clients are having issues with paying the mortgage in full and should be accommodating. But with that, the lender must also keep …

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Tips to Switching Your Mortgage

Changing your mortgage plan may very well be the best or worst decision you can ever make. If done well, it could relieve you of a lot of financial stress and help save you a large amount of money. This seems like such a big task, so we have broken it down and listed a few tips on how to get started!

First, understand your current situation. What are your scheduled payment amounts and how does that affect your budget? What type of mortgage do you have right now? Do you have an interest-only mortgage, a pension mortgage, an annuity mortgage, or a different type of mortgage? Most importantly would be the current interest rate you are paying. And all these factors can make a difference when changing mortgages and if that transition is for you. For example, with a standard variable rate (the rate you will be charged at the end of your fixed interest rate), switching can save a lot of money.

Second, make sure to do your own research and speak to multiple banks and mortgage brokers. …

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House Moving Made Easy

House moving can be overwhelming. Here are different types of mortgage options for you to try out.

Portable Mortgage – You can move your current mortgage to your new property using a portable mortgage. You probably have to fill out a request to switch and you may have to increase the size of your mortgage if the new home has a higher property value than the old home. Watch out for a higher interest rate in the new loan. Remortgage with current lender – This method can help the home mover find better rates, but there are other costs associated with this loan that make up for this. Depending on how deep you are into your current mortgage, the fee for remortgaging with the current lender is usually a cost between 1-5% of the previous mortgage. Exit, arrangement, and valuation fees may also apply. Remortgage with a new lender – This mortgage helps because it pays off your existing mortgage. You may also be able to sell off your old home. If the property value in your area has risen, …

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The 8 Types of Mortgages

Mortgages can be scary for first time buyers. It may help to understand the different types of mortgages when you apply for a mortgage. Here are the 8 most common types of mortgages:

Repayment Mortgage – This is the most typical mortgage. You pay back the principle you borrowed along with the interest applied in fixed (typically monthly) installments. Fixed Rate Mortgage – This means the interest rate that the bank gives you is fixed for a specified period of time. It is a safe mortgage because the monthly payments do not change over time. Standard Variable Rate (SVR) Mortgage – The rate is changed by the banks typically to reflect how the economy is doing. This rate typically follows the LIBOR or Federal Funds Rate set by the central banks. Interest-Only Mortgage – This mortgage pays off the interest before principle. After the interest is paid off, the borrower starts to pay off the principle amount he or she borrowed. Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Loan – These loans protect people who may not be able to pay back their …

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Mortgage rates take Irish lendee cash

Ireland has been known to have one of the highest interest rates on mortgages out of all of the countries in the European Union. High interest rates are not uncommon, due to differentiation of financial records of possible lendees, but a high average rate surely is. According to a survey done by Goodbody stockbrokers, a mortgage rate in Ireland is 1.7 times more than the Eurozone average. 

Although this is extremely high, when you take out many of the benefits and cash back opportunities that the Irish banks provide the rate ends up lowering to around 1.25 times more. This rate is still high, leaving some people who have taken out a loan with significant extra costs as the years of their loan repayment diminish. 

A recent study by the Central Bank has proven this point, showing that a family who has a loan of €300,000 could pay up to €60,000 extra in a scenario where the loan lasted for 25 years. This is a very large sum of money, all of which is owed to the bank simply for …

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Mortgage cuts are nearing

The anticipation of cuts in mortgage rates has been increased. Ulster Bank recently stunned the mortgage market with the first cut in its variable rate in more than a year. This recent decrease in its variable rates will increase savings for first time buyers. According to the Independent the typical first time buyer will be saving around €50 a month.

Tracker and fixed mortgage rates are also supposed to fall. There are increasing expectations that the European Central Bank (ECB) will also cut key rates. Cutting key rates will allow banks to reprice their mortgage books. Mortgage rates are being cut in response to weak growth within the Eurozone and inflation declining.

As of yesterday, the European Commission lowered its forecast for growth again. The lowering of growth forecasts contributes to greater pressure on the ECB to cut interest rates it charges banks.

Ulster bank is dropping one of its key variable rates by .4%. The new key variable rate is defined as 3.9% for those whose loan is less than 90% of the properties value. This has a huge impact …

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The Slowing Growth of Property Prices

The cost of property throughout Ireland has skyrocketed over the last 20 years. With the uncertainty in regard to Brexit, prices of homes are said to increase by less than recent years. Slower growth in price of homes may appear to be beneficial for the Irish housing market, but in reality costs of property are still trending to increase in price. Prices rose by 3.9 per cent compared to 4.3 per cent one month earlier. The increase is about four times less than the average percent growth increase of past years in Ireland.

So how will Brexit effect the housing market in Ireland? Some individuals believe that if the deal goes through, Ireland could play a more significant role in Europe. This trend is becoming prominent in Dublin. Massive companies like Facebook, Google, Paypal. eBay and Microsoft have moved their headquarters to Ireland. This change over the last few years means that there will be an increase in jobs and thus an influx of people. The more people means demand for housing will only further increase. If there is …

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