Accord Mortgages has announced the promotion of Gurpreet Chahal and Andrew Calder to corporate account managers, the two becoming the newest additions to its senior team. Their new roles will focus on managing relationships with key lending partners and driving the delivery of new propositions. They will be working closely with other senior team members including fellow corporate account manager Iain Cunningham, and Nicola Alvarez, senior manager for propositions. Chalal has worked for the organisation for 10 years, and his most recent position was retail area manager, where he was responsible ..read more

The average house price in Scotland has increased by 7.6%, or around £15,200, from January last year to January 2022, the latest Walker Fraser Steele Acadata House Price Index shows. As a result of the house price growth, the average Scottish house price in January was at £215,388, which is a rise of 1.2%, or £2,572, from the previous month of December 2021. This is the highest monthly growth rate since August 2021, and sets a further record average price for Scotland – providing an additional indication of the general upward pressure on prices. Read more: Average Scottish house prices reach r ..read more

2022 is expected to be a significant year for brokers operating in niche areas of the market, according to Jean Errington, business development manager at Harpenden Building Society. She said: “As a specialist lender serving the England and Wales holiday let market, we see strong indications that 2022 will be another significant year for brokers operating in this niche area as the de-mand for staycations continues unabated.” Errington went on to say that she believes staycations are here to stay and will continue to rise in demand. “Holidaying opportunities overseas may have increased but rema ..read more

A survey on a popular broker forum has revealed that mortgage applications for self-employed clients and contractors are the most difficult to place. Based on the results of the poll conducted by broker forum cherryplc.co.uk, 24% of brokers think mortgages for self-employed and contractor clients are the most problematic, closely followed by clients with adverse credit. Meanwhile, 18% of the broker respondents said they had problems placing applications for clients on a low income. Another 14% said that clients with payday loans proved the hardest type of case to place. Other difficult areas h ..read more

Intermediary-only specialist lender Foundation Home Loans has expanded its green buy-to-let product range to specialist property types, including short-term lets and standard HMOs for up to six occupants. Advisers are now able to access Foundation’s ABC+ green mortgage for landlords looking to purchase or remortgage specialist properties that have EPC ratings of A–C. The ABC+ green HMO product has rates starting from 3.44% for 75% LTV on a F2 five-year fixed rate, with a 0.75% fee. The ABC+ green short-term let product has rates starting from 3.94% for 75% LTV, again on a F2 five-year fixed ra ..read more

Seven in 10 portfolio landlords (70%) expect to remortgage or consolidate loans over the next 12 months, results of a webinar poll show. It was also revealed that the majority of broker respondents (53%) had one to five portfolio landlord clients who would remortgage or consolidate loans in 2022. Around 16% highlighted that they had over 10 portfolio landlord clients likely to remortgage or consolidate loans over the next 12 months. The poll was conducted by intermediary-only specialist buy-to-let lender CHL Mortgages during a Lender Spotlight webinar session, held in conjunction with Knowledg ..read more

Investment management company Elliott Advisors has acquired a majority stake in Watford-based Enra Specialist Finance. The deal, which was announced by Enra on Thursday, is subject to FCA approval. Elliott is purchasing the stake from management and Exponent Private Equity, which has owned Enra for five years and is now exiting its ownership position completely. Several global investment companies reportedly competed to acquire Enra, and the deal with Elliot was decided on after a relatively quick but competitive process. “In Elliott, we have found a partner that has deep experience in the UK ..read more

Two of the top building societies in the UK have pledged their support to the Ukraine humanitarian cause. Yorkshire Building Society has announced that it is making a £50,000 donation to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s (DEC) Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. “The priority in Ukraine now is to help people with access to clean water, health care, and immediate support. The experts in organisations like the DEC are clear that in these circumstances, right here, right now, immediate financial support for their efforts on the ground is what will make the most difference. We can step up to provide re ..read more

The easing of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions has prompted a return to aspirational spending for lifetime mortgage customers as data analysis has shown an increase in lifestyle-focused spending. According to internal data from Legal & General Home Finance (LGHF), more lifetime mortgage customers are using their property wealth to fund lifestyle expenses such as travel. Combined statistics from January and February 2022 show that the proportion of customers seeking to use lifetime mortgages to fund holidays and travel has almost tripled in comparison to the same period in 2021 – 20% in 2022 ..read more

A new platform aimed at reducing the time between offer and exchange by up to eight weeks has been launched by newly formed firm, YouConvey. The conveyancing service, which was itself launched only last month, unveiled the new app this week, claiming it will revolutionise the conveyancing industry. Read more: Start-up to speed up conveyancing process. It said the service will allow home movers to take control of the lengthy conveyancing process, resulting in a quicker and more transparent transaction. According to experts, conveyancing, the legal process of transferring the ownership of a prop ..read more