News

The Government must go further in its support for equity release as a key retirement funding solution. An All Party Parliamentary Group led by Baroness Hollis of Heigham, which was convened last week to discuss equity release providing a retirement funding source, said Government attention must focus on the need to increase public trust in equity release.

The Group said that a high standard of advice was needed to support the growing demand for equity release. Andrea Rozario, director general of Safe Home Income Plans, said: "Of course, developments must be made and challenges lie ahead for providers, distributors, government and consumers alike - but the debate produced by this Group is the first vital step in bringing equity release much closer to the heart of Government thinking."...Read more

The number of mortgage products available to brokers is at its highest since December 2008, according to figures from Mortgage Brain. The total number of broker products listed on Mortgage Brain’s sourcing system hit 4,876 as at March 1, up 9% from the 4,457 available products in February.

Broker product numbers have now rising for eight consecutive months. .Product availability has improved by 79% compared to this time last year, and is up by a massive 95% from six months ago. The number of fixed rate products has continued to rise, up 8% last month to reach 2,884 products.

Variable rate products are up slightly, going from 359 in February to 369 currently. An increasing number of trackers have been launched in light of the record low 0.5% Bank of England base rate, which has now stayed stagnant for a year.

Long-term analysis shows the number of trackers has shot up 200% compared to the same time last year.

There are 1,623 trackers ava...Read more

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has voted to keep base rate at 0.5% this month, marking the one-year anniversary of record low interest rates.

The MPC has also decided not to extend its quantitative easing programme beyond the £200bn it has already spent on buying up assets to boost the economy. Minutes published by the Committee last month show that the Bank may look to spend more on quantitative easing in the future, but wants to judge how effective its purchases have been before it commits more money to the programme.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics last week revealed that the UK economy had grown between October and December by more than was originally thought. UK gross domestic product grew by 0.3% in Q4 according to the latest revision, up from the sluggish 0.1% growth initially estimated by the ONS.

The quantitative easing programme was not expected to be boosted further this month as the Bank looks to ...Read more