It may be April already (can time please slow down?!) but the impact of last September’s mini-Budget is still reverberating in the mortgage industry.
Of course, everyone is aware of the detrimental effects of that Budget, but the full consequences of that fateful day last autumn didn’t fully resonate with me until some recent conversations with business owners.
The general mood is that there has been a considerable uptick in business volumes in recent months
There have been jobs lost, whole departments axed and firms on the verge of closure due to the loss of business in the months that followed the ominous announcements by Truss and Kwarteng.
FCA figures released in March showed the three months following the mini-Budget were the toughest on the mortgage market since Q1 2015 — with the exception of the pandemic. The value of new mortgages was down 33.5% from the previous quarter.
I guess when you’re in the eye of a storm all you can focus on is survival, but when the skies begin to clear there is a chance to process what you’ve been through and acknowledge how hard the struggle really was.
The impact of last September’s mini-Budget is still reverberating in the mortgage industry
It’s still not easy out there (is it ever?!), but the general mood is that there has been a considerable uptick in business volumes in recent months, of course helped by lenders’ rates falling. And, according to a Zoopla report out today, demand for homes in the past few weeks has been the highest since last October. But, then again, that’s an upturn from near-record lows; everything is relative.
No more storms for a while, please, government.
Calm is what the market needs.
On a perkier note, this edition of Mortgage Strategy features the shortlist of finalists for our forthcoming awards. If you or your firm made the list, huge kudos to you for not just surviving last year but making a positive impact, for both your business and the market as a whole.
There will be a lot to discuss as judging takes place this month to determine the winners, but making the shortlist should be cause enough to celebrate. Cheers to you all!
This article featured in the April 2023 edition of MS.
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