Brilliant Solutions Mortgage Club has added TAB to its lender panel. The club’s directly-authorised broker members will now have access to TAB’s bridging loans, including first and second charge residential and commercial products, as well as development and refurbishment finance. Brilliant Solutions managing director Michael Craig adds: “This partnership aligns perfectly with our mission to empower brokers with the resources and tools they need to excel. “By integrating TAB’s innovative platform and comprehensive product suite, we are confident our members will be even better equipped to meet ..read more

Sales of prime London properties for £5m and above were up by more than 15% in March compared to the same month last year, according to the LonRes index. High-value sales in March were also more than 8% above the pre-pandemic trend between 2017 and 2019. At the end of March there were around 27% more £5m+ London homes on sale compared to the same month last year, and more around 47% more than the average number on sale before the pandemic between 2017-2019. Annual rental growth across prime London rose slightly in March, to 3.8%, but rental values were 28% over their 2017-2019 average. The num ..read more

HLPartnership has appointed Jason Whiteley as regional sales manager for the North. Whiteley joins from Just Mortgages self-employed division where he was an area director for more than five years. He has over 30 years’ experience in financial services, including at estate agency chain Reeds Rains where he was one of the top-performing brokers before being promoted into a management role. At HLPartnership, Whiteley will report to sales and recruitment director Tom Barnett. He will be working closely with member firms, to help them to grow market share and improve their operations. Whiteley wil ..read more

Labour leader Keir Starmer has set out plans to build on “ugly grey belt land” to boost housebuilding, boost infrastructure and increase green spaces.   He says the party will release areas for development currently classed as green belt land, should it return to government after the next general election.   The move is part of the opposition party’s plans to build 1.5 million homes over the next parliament, which it calls “a key plank of Labour’s policy programme”.   By contrast, Prime Min ..read more

Rosemount Financial Solutions (IFA), the mortgage and protection network, has announced the appointment of Contractor Financial as an Appointed Representative (AR). Contractor Financial has been established by Billie Davoile and Jo Elwell to provide financial advice to contractors and self-employed individuals. Davoile was previously a mortgage adviser at Brookson Financial, before setting up her own advice business BD Financial in 2023. Elwell worked as director of financial services at Brookson Financial before partnering with Davoile to launch Contractor Financial. Commenting on the appoint ..read more

Together has reduced rates across its first charge, second charge and consumer buy-to-let range by up to 205 basis points. The lender has reduced its first charge rates by up to 130 bps so that these now start from 7.99% for a five-year fixed rate and 8.2% for a two-year fixed. First charge variable rates start from 10.05%. It has cut rates on its second charge range by up to 170 bps so that five-year fixes now start from 8.3%, two-year fixes from 8.5% and variable rates from 10.45%. Consumer buy-to-let deals have reduced by up to 205 bps and now start at 6.95% for a five-year fixed, 7.10% for ..read more

Coventry Building Society has agreed a potential takeover of the Co-operative Bank for £780million. The merger would see Co-operative regain its mutual status and create a group with a balance sheet of around £89billion. Co-op Bank currently has around 2.6m customers and Coventry around 2m. A stock market statement says the talks are at an advanced stage and due diligence has been carried out, however, it is still dependent on both sides agreeing to terms and on regulatory approval. Coventry Building Society says its board has looked into whether it would need to get its members’ approval ahea ..read more

Residential mortgage lender Gen H has announced another expansion to their intermediary panel as it partners with Mortgage Intelligence Advisors with the Mortgage Intelligence network will gain access to Gen H pro, their proprietary submissions platform, which allows them to submit and track all cases. This partnership brings Gen H’s intermediary panel to over 16,500 advisors. Gen H launched to market in 2019 and rolled out to the intermediary market in 2021. The company announced earlier this year it would become intermediary-only to prioritise forging deeper partnerships across the industry ..read more

Co-operative Bank has warned brokers that current rates will be withdrawn at 5pm tomorrow to make way for price increases of up to 41 basis points. The lender is also trimming rates on some of its deals. In an email to advisers it says that in its residential range, selected two, three and five year fixed rates will rise by up to 41bps. Other residential two and five year fixes will decrease by up to 7 bps. In its professional mortgage range two year fixes will rise by up to 41 bps and five year fixes by up to 33 bps. There are no pricing changes on its product switch, buy-to-let or help to bu ..read more

More than two thirds (68%) of brokers expect to arrange more bridging loans in 2024 than 2023, according to the latest Castle Trust Bank Pulse survey. The research found that a quarter (25%) of brokers expect a ‘good increase’ in bridging business during 2024, with 43% saying they think it will be ‘slightly higher’. One in five (21%) of brokers expect demand to remain the same, whilst only 11% are concerned that bridging business levels may fall. This positive outlook reflects continued growth in demand for bridging finance. According to the research, 42% of brokers said they arranged more bri ..read more