Intermediaries and their clients can expect a very competitive end to 2013 with lenders ‘aggressively’ seeking business, according to a senior executive of the Nationwide Building Society.
Speaking as part of a lender panel debate at today’s inaugural Financial Services Expo (FSE), Ian Andrew of Nationwide Building Society, said lenders were likely to be particularly competitive in seeking business towards the end of 2013 and the start of 2014 but this could tail off in March and April as lenders got used to the new Mortgage Market Review (MMR) environment.
When asked about their thoughts on future gross mortgage lending levels for next year all members of the panel – Andrew, Paul Kane (NatWest), Richard Tugwell (Virgin), and Alan Cleary (Precise) – said they anticipated growth of approximately 10% on this year. Panel members said this was likely to see gross lending rise to between £175-190 billion.
Cleary said any growth this year and next should however be seen in the context of “the last three years of disastrous growth” and that 2014 was difficult to call as the market could “not be sure what impact MMR will have”.
The Government’s Help to Buy 2 scheme was broadly welcomed however Andrew, Tugwell and Cleary refused to confirm whether or not their organisations would be taking part. The need for further detail was cited as the main reason why they were unable to join NatWest in confirming their involvement.
Cleary suggested that talk of Help to Buy 2 escalating a ‘housing boom’ was wide of the mark. “The ‘boom’, even in London, isn’t universal,” he said. “Plus the ripple effect that comes from London takes at least two years to move out to the suburbs.” He also said that “anything that encourages builders to want to build new properties has to be a good thing.
All members of the panel agreed that the intermediary sector was likely to be the short-term beneficiary of more positive market conditions, greater appetite to lend and the launch of Help to Buy. However, those lenders with direct to consumer and retail channels – NatWest and Nationwide – said they were putting a significant amount of resource and investment into these areas.
