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.
24/09/2019
Hodge has become the first lender to launch a RIO (retirement interest-only) mortgage with a rate fixed for life, whereas in the mainstream market the maximum term one can fix for is 15 years
30/08/2019
The interest rate yield curves are currently very narrow, but the swap rate curve is exceptionally flat.
05/08/2019
Ray gives an update on the market today with gilt yields continuing to fall.
04/07/2018
Ray Boulger’s predictions and recommendations for the fixed rate mortgage market.
04/06/2018
Two months after the FCA announced a relaxation in its previously unduly zealous rules on interest only mortgages for older borrowers, two lenders are now offering the new style Retirement Interest Only Mortgages and a third lender has announced it will launch on 11 June.
01/05/2018
Figures issued by the DWP on the continued take up of Support for Mortgage Interest Benefit (SMI) following the payments being changed from a free benefit to a loan from 6 April were released on 24 April.
21/12/2017
Despite a partial recovery from the 859,000 housing transactions recorded in 2009, current transaction levels remain a long way adrift of the 1.6m plus seen in 2006 and 2007 and have been broadly flat since 2014. 2018 starts with prices fairly flat and housing market activity muted. There is nothing on the horizon to suggest those trends will change in 2018...
29/09/2016
Following its consultation exercise the PRA has today announced its final rules for BTL mortgages, with few changes from the draft proposals announced 6 months ago.
28/09/2016
In the post Brexit world (or at least post the decision to Brexit, as the actual deed is still well over 2 years away) little has changed in the housing market 3 months after the referendum except that mortgages have got cheaper, although there are still plenty of uncertainties ahead.
22/06/2016
Whatever the result of the referendum it will have huge political implications for the rest of the European Union as well as the United Kingdom. Clearly these will be greater if we vote Leave but the debate in the UK has been devoid of consideration of the wider implications for the EU, although it has provoked considerable debate in some of these countries.
The blog postings on this site solely reflect the personal views of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views, positions, strategies or opinions of John Charcol. All comments are made in good faith, and neither Charcol Limited nor Ray Boulger will accept liability for them.