Ray Boulger's Blog
Ray Boulger is widely renowned as the guru of the mortgage industry and expert on the housing market. Ray is constantly called upon by the media to provide informed comment on all areas of the market, and is a regular on the BBC, Sky and ITV.
Last year, Ray was voted guru of the year at the Headlinemoney awards by all of the nation’s money and property journalists. As such, we thought it was high time that you had direct access to him. Ray’s blog will be updated most days so the knowledge just keeps on coming.
12/09/2011 by
There is naturally a major focus in the media today on the Vickers Report but it is important to recognise that the proposals, which the Chancellor has already accepted, don’t have to be fully implemented until 2019, the same...
Categories: Mortgages, Personal finance, Regulation
12/08/2010 by
Gross mortgage lending has fallen 61% from a peak of £362.6bn in 2007 to £142.6bn in 2009 and the 2010 figure is likely to be similar. Net lending has collapsed from £108bn in 2007 to £11.5bn last year, but net lending last year...
Categories: Property market, Bank of England, Mortgages, Personal finance, Regulation, House and home
07/06/2010 by
In his speech today Prime Minister David Cameron warned of "difficult decisions" on pay, pensions and benefits, set out the reasons for the "painful" cuts ahead and said that dealing with the deficit would be "unavoidably tough"...
Categories: Personal finance, House and home, Miscellaneous
15/04/2010 by
On its mainstream introducer range last weekend Halifax extended to fixed rates the policy it introduced a month ago on trackers of charging borrowers an extra 0.2% if they choose an interest only mortgage rather than repayment....
Categories: Property market, Mortgages, Personal finance, Regulation
11/01/2010 by
Santander Group this morning sent an email to brokers confirming the re-brand of Abbey and Bradford & Bingley branches to Santander, and indeed the branch in Holborn near my office has already been rebranded. ...
Categories: Mortgages, Personal finance, Miscellaneous
10/12/2009 by
The main impact of the Pre Budget Report on the housing market will be at the top end, primarily in London & the South East. The 50% bank payroll tax on discretionary bonuses over £25,000 will surely have some impact either on...
Categories: Property market, Personal finance, Regulation, House and home
21/10/2009 by
Following on from my blog post on Monday on the MMR I note that less than 24 hours after post the FSA have amended the figure I queried for the increase in property prices over the 10 years to the onset of the credit crunch from...
Categories: Buy to let, Mortgages, Personal finance, Regulation, Interest rates, HIPs
06/10/2009 by
On the Mortgage Strategy web site a spokeswoman for Northern Rock is quoted as saying: "Northern Rock regularly review its products and services to make sure they are meeting customer needs. ...
Categories: Mortgages, Personal finance, House and home
06/10/2009 by
In the latest blow to the Equity Release market Northern Rock has announced its withdrawal from that market, following on closely from the recent withdrawals of Coventry and Saffron. Northern Rock was one of the first lenders to...
Categories: Bank of England, Mortgages, Personal finance, Regulation, House and home, Interest rates
08/08/2009 by
The Treasury Select Committee’s report on “Mortgage Arrears and Access to Mortgage Finance,” published today, pulls no punches. Furthermore the FSA is just as much in the firing line as lenders. I will comment in this post on the...
Categories: Mortgages, Personal finance, Regulation, House and home
The blog postings on this site solely reflect the personal views of the authors and do not neccessarily represent the views, positions, strategies or opinions of Charcol Limited. All comments are made in good faith, and neither Charcol Limited nor Ray Boulger will accept liability for them.