As Lenders maxed their margin and managed their pipelines, prices have swung back upwards in recent months, leading many to feel the market is in a plateau state. Mortgage approvals for house purchases increased by 20% year-on-year in March 2024, reaching the highest levels in 17 months according to Savills & Knight Frank. Data from CACI which shows certain Lenders’ transactions week on week for the week ending 31st May, showed £6.9bn in total lending which is considered down for the time of year. But their overall data also shows the market is 15.4% up and £19.4bn up YTD, which gives one confidence going into H2. From a market and economic perspective, the latest data from the Bank of England in their Money and Credit report showed that net mortgage approvals for house purchases were 61,100 in April, roughly similar from the 61,300 in March. Net approvals for remortgaging decreased to 29,900 from 33,500 over the same period. The net flow of sterling money (known as M4ex) was £10.3bn in April. This was mainly driven by households’ holdings of money, which increased by £8.4bn in April, the highest flow since September 2022 (£8.8bn). Within the increase in households’ holdings of money, households deposited an additional £11.7bn into ISAs, the highest since records began in April 1999. Net consumer credit borrowing decreased from £1.4bn in March to £0.7bn in April. This was driven by lower net borrowing through credit cards, which fell from £0.7bn to £0.2bn in April, and lower net borrowing through other forms of consumer credit (such as car dealership finance and personal loans), which fell from £0.8bn to £0.5bn over the same period. Looking ahead, the market is expected to see continued modest growth, with some forecasts predicting house price increases of around 2.5% for 2024. Obviously, the market's performance remains sensitive to mortgage rates and economic indicators, plus potentially a new Government or the existing one with different ideas. 05 SUMMER MORTGAGE NEWSLETTER Marks wise for H1 maybe we would give it a 6 out of 10, what would you score it? If there is a slight hiatus in terms of activity in the short term, could you take advantage of it and use the time to look at your business? For example, reviewing processes, making changes and/or improvements for customers, looking at potential new revenue streams etc., that mean in H2 you are in the best possible place to take advantage of any “flying” that could be done! Over the six week school holidays, our marketing team will again be running our successful Summer School of Marketing once again, which is designed to look at all areas of marketing which affect your business and to help you improve engagement with your customers. In addition, maybe this is the time to give your business an MOT in areas that are crucial to the smooth running of your business, we can test your proposition in general, your technology, your client offering, your compliance, your income streams, your recruitment of staff and clients to name but a few areas with a series of constructive tests designed to analyse and change where necessary. In terms of this edition of our newsletter we have some great contributions from two of our lender partners as well as some thoughts from IMLA and insight from our own Riona Mulherin on mental health which I hope you will enjoy. Many will have read in previous editions of my belief in the area of cashflow planning principles for mortgages as part of the advice process. I think it has real merit and as an added service it can help with client relationships, communication, income and understanding. In this edition we have the first of a series of articles on this subject from FE Cash Cacl which I hope you find informative and of value. If you would like to discuss the principles in this area further please get in touch. Please contact either your Relationship Manager or myself if you would like to learn more about any of the above, we would be delighted to discuss the pertinent areas with you.
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