Mortgage Switching is More Common than Central Bank States

Competition between mortgage providers has increased dramatically over the past couple of years. People are switching more frequently than every before trying to find the best mortgage rate for themselves. Over the last three years, the percentage of mortgage holders prepared to switch providers has doubled according to a banking sector report. Additionally, these figures are higher than what the official figures from the Central Bank are. Also, the Irish Banking & Payments Federation (IBPF) marks the rate of switching at over 15% which compares to the slightly more than 1% rate that the Central Bank has pit forward.

The federation suggests that the much lower calculations from the Central Bank could have a negative effect on how willing consumers are to search around for value. The IBPF notes the difference in numbers is caused by the Central Bank using the number of mortgages being switched as a percentage of total outstanding private dwelling house credit. IBPF stated, “This gives rise to a figure of less than 1 per cent for the current level of mortgage-switching activity” and “Crucially, this …

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Inflation Rates Return to Normal

 

The current housing prices in Dublin have been talked about extensively recently. The newest trend shows that housing prices have reached peak affordability and now some of the wealthy classes of people are having trouble affording homes. Current house prices in Dublin are more than nine times the average salary making them unattainable for the majority of people because mortgages can only be 3.5 times your salary. Additionally, these numbers have not been seen since the Celtic Tiger Era, however, the central bank has been more careful this time and increased borrowing rules unlike during the Celtic Tiger Era. Prices are now beginning to slow down because simply nobody is able to afford them.

Inflation has also cooled off recently with a decrease from 12.4% last May to 2.8% a year later. Dublin has seen a significantly smaller inflation rate with an increase of prices from the current year to May of .6%.

The region of Dublin had the highest median price of 366,000 Euros which is just over 9 times more than its average salary of 40,000 Euros. …

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Online mortgage broker

We have been working for quite some time on creating an online mortgage process. The first time we did this was about 12 years ago but that was too far ahead of its time and the banks basically laughed at us. That has changed and now in 2019 we hope to make the proposition of an online mortgage process a reality, we’ll make it possible for people to do most of the process over their phone in an easy to use mobile environment. Stay tuned and we’ll let you know when this choice becomes available!

 

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Possibilities of House Prices to Fall

Disregarding the findings of all recent numbers and reports that have been recorded, Central Bank Governor Philip Lane is reported by the Oireachtas Finance Committee as saying that he is expecting house prices to fall over the upcoming 3 years.

This statement being a bold one as the figured recently released by the Central Statistics Office reports house prices to have rose in the previous month by nearly 13%.

Such a statement that if true, would be a drastic change in the housing market and would cause chaos among buyers and sellers as the stark difference between the two different scenarios.

Though Philip Lane cannot say for sure what the housing market will do in the coming years, he made his predictions based off of a few “headwinds” that are expected to be taking a hit to the market.

Specific events that many are expecting to cause a large backlash in the economy and the housing market are Brexit and the funding costs for banks.

If a negative outcome is to be the result of either of these, they should …

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U.S Housing Market since ’08

It’s been ten years since the U.S. housing market crashed and caused many banks to close their doors and many people to lose their homes.

The question today is, has the market recovered? It depends on where you look….it is predicted that the market will have fully recovered by 2025, says Ralph McLaughlin, chief economist.

When predicting the recovery of the housing market, it is vital that you keep in mind the key factor of location.

Housing development varies greatly from state to state and it is places like California where we see a complete recovery in some areas and little to no recovery in others.

Such a large range between close by spaces is due to factors such as the city’s overall well-being. By this, I mean population growth and job outlook.

When a community is expanding and working within its own limits it is inevitable that different areas in the community will also look up, such as the housing market.

When developing the statistics in assessing the recovery of the housing market we compare current data to pre-recession …

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Today FM: Varadkar comments on housing deposits discussed

We were on Today FM to talk about comments made by the Taoiseach regarding how people come up with money for a deposit to buy a home. While many were finding it a source of outrage, we were making the point that it’s incredibly common and that it actually is a normal occurrence albeit not ‘the norm’ for everybody (because nothing is universal).

This is a good discussion because in our view it shows the way that housing shortages can turn into all manner of talking point arguments, we don’t think it’s realistic to tell parents you can’t help your kids or to say that it’s wrong in any way, but we do agree with Sinead from TheJournal that we have a housing shortage and that this is really where the problem lies.

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The Times: Maybe I’ll buy a home after the apocalypse

We were mentioned in the Times of Ireland recently in an article on housing crashes “It seems we’re due another property crash, that’s if the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and financial adviser Karl Deeter are anything to go by. Both said in the summer that Ireland was at risk of another housing bubble and subsequent bust, with the latter going so far as to pin the date to sometime in the early 2020s”.

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Non-credit fuelled booms

There has been an ongoing narrative that the last housing boom (and many others) was only possible due to excessive credit. We have argued for a long time that this is a mistaken interpretation. While credit can make a bad situation worse, just like adding fuel to a flame, it is not the genesis of the problem.

We were pleased to see this view articulated by the Central Bank Governor Philip Lane recently. He stated that “cash buyers of property are limiting the ability of the Central Bank to control house prices through mortgage lending rules” he “singled out cash buyers as one of the key drivers of inflation in the Irish property market. Cash buyers used to account for about 25 per cent of house purchases in Ireland, but since the crash and ensuing credit crunch this figure has risen to 60 per cent“.

This is a point we have been making for years, firstly was that first time buyers are not, and have not been the problem. That was part of why we were specifically …

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TodayFM ‘The Last Word’ features Irish Mortgage Brokers

We were asked to take part in a segment called ‘Home Truths’ on TodayFM during the Last Word with Matt Cooper. The segment featured Karl Deeter and David Silke from the housing agency.

We were discussing the rental market and certain issues that go along with it, our main point is that there shouldn’t be a housing crisis, but that we managed to manufacture one.

The audio clip has the full segment on it.

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An opportunity for home owners amidst rising house prices

The average house price in Ireland has risen 11.2% over the past year, and prices in at least 8 counties are currently rising faster than that immediately preceding the market crash. Rapidly rising prices, low interest rates, and insufficient supply are together representative of the current situation in Ireland’s property market. Although this situation has many market watchers worried about possible inflation, and is definitely a hindrance to buyers still seeking for a home at an affordable price, there is a perk that could result for homeowners with an existing mortgage.

 

This blog post will illustrate this hidden opportunity and give homeowners the necessary knowledge if they intend to pursue it.

 

For homeowners with a high standard variable or fixed rate mortgage, your interest rate is most often based directly on your Loan-to-Value  ratio (LTV). The loan to value ratio is ratio of your loan to the value of your property. Each lending institution may have a different way of calculating and determining your interest rate but in general, the higher your LTV, the higher your interest rate. …

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