Andrew Montlake

1 week ago | mortgagestrategy.co.uk | Andrew Montlake

If you thought the mortgage market would be perhaps a little quieter in the wake of the stamp duty change and Easter holidays, think again. Over the past few weeks it’s been busier than an Anfield pub after a Liverpool football match (champions!) and a lot of that hustle is thanks to (or despite) Donald Trump’s latest tariff tantrums. The markets, as always, reacted with all the calmness of a cat in a thunderstorm.

1 month ago | mortgagestrategy.co.uk | Roger Baird |Andrew Montlake

The Cabinet Office has written to government departments asking them to “justify every quango” under their wings “otherwise they’ll be closed, merged, or have powers brought back into the department”. The government says the move is part of the government’s plan “to re-wire Whitehall and produce a more productive and agile state”. Last month, the health department announced that NHS England would be brought back under its administration “to put an end to duplication”.

1 month ago | mortgagestrategy.co.uk | Andrew Montlake

“I must give the British people a very simple instruction: you must stay at home.”It’s been five years, yet those words still land like an unexpected letter from HMRC: sharp, sobering and enough to send a shiver up the spine. Who’d have thought that one grim address to the nation would be the starting gun for the most bizarre, challenging and unexpectedly transformative chapter in our collective lives?

1 month ago | coreco.co.uk | Andrew Montlake

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, (MPC) have today announced that there will be no change in the Bank of England Base Rate, which remains at 4.5%. The Committee voted by 8 to 1 to maintain the status quo. Andrew Montlake, CEO of Coreco mortgage brokers commented, “It was no surprise that the Bank opted to leave rates unchanged today amidst a swirl of differential data creating a cacophony of noise that is hard to see through.

1 month ago | mortgagestrategy.co.uk | Roger Baird |Rob Clifford |Andrew Montlake

The lowest mortgage rate on the market is a two-year fixed rate loan, with a 40% deposit at 3.86%, according to the Rightmove weekly mortgage tracker. This fix is down 9 basis points on a week ago and 60bps on the year. However, the property website adds that the average two-year fix with a 40% deposit is 4.25%, down a single basis point on last week and 45bps from a year ago. The average five-year fix with a 40% deposit is 4.18%, down 2bps on the week and 16bps from 12 months earlier.