to £162.2k. Average remortgage value YTD stood at £176.9k exceeding purchasers by over £20k. The BTL market seems to be confounding the critics and the brickbats being aimed at it, certainly our figures at Paradigm would suggest this. There appears never to be a better time to be talking to your landlord clients, and there certainly seems to be a vast amount of topics to discuss with them. Notwithstanding the usual green areas and renters reform bill. We have also looked at a diversification of portfolios into the semi commercial space with the potential in relaxed planning laws, incorporation, and limited companies purchasing limited companies in this area. We have all the information you require if you wanted to understand some of these ideas so please make contact with your Business Development Director. It seems many lenders are reporting the market is currently stable, lenders are choosing to take margin this quarter whilst they can, and perhaps look to go for volume in quarter 2 (TFY Q1) given their challenging targets for volume overall in 2025. Only Barclays and Santander broke cover in the first two months of the year offering rates below the “magical” 4% level selling “tenner’s for a fiver!”, and then only for a limited time. What was interesting was the other major lenders did not follow, and nor did those smaller lenders who might be expected to secure volume and value early in the calendar year as they would normally. The Bank of England's base rate cut to 4.5% did not provide a rush or stimulus to the market which many commentators thought it would, given it had taken so long for it to happen. Commentators are also saying they are not expecting a further cut until May at the earliest. Interestingly it does seem to have concentrated the first-time buyer (FTB) market, which has become a significant force in the market, accounting for a record 29.6% of all mortgage loans in late 2024, and 36.4% so far in 2025. This trend is driven by more favourable affordability compared to renting, with average monthly mortgage payments for first-time buyers at £1,038, 20% lower than the average rent of £1,248. 05 MORTGAGE NEWSLETTER Continued on next page...
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