LONDON, June 15 (Reuters) – Bedlam in Britain’s 1.5 trillion-pound ($1.9 trillion) mortgage market, fuelled by ructions in money markets, threatens to trigger a renewed slump in housing activity and financial pain for homeowners on a par with the late 1980s.
Lenders have repeatedly re-priced and pulled home loan offerings in recent weeks in a scramble to keep up with soaring funding costs, spurred by expectations for more interest rate hikes from the Bank of England as it battles stubbornly high inflation.
It’s not just prospective home buyers and sellers who are worried, but also existing mortgage holders who face eye-watering increases in repayments when their fixed-term deals expire.
“Anxiety is at a high level,” one of Britain’s most senior bankers’ said, pointing to the instability in product rates and availability which have made it harder for both lenders and borrowers to do their sums.
“It’s the anxiety that this creates that causes longer damage,” the banker said.
Loading…
Source: www.reuters.com
ENB
Sandstone Group
