Category: Blog
Well, that was a strange one… The year brought a range of challenges, from working-from-home and a complete dry-spell in March, to a surge of inquiries and cases after the stamp duty holiday; overwhelming both intermediaries and lenders.
Here we are, a new year and I always feel a sense of optimism about what is to come, but perhaps especially this year given the incredible challenges of 2020 and the hope with which we start 2021.
For the last 12 months, businesses have been in the throes of crisis management, trying to stabilise their operations, protect their workforce and communicate and transact with customers. But the phrase ‘crisis management’ implies a return to normal within weeks.
While attention focuses on electric vehicles and renewable energy, the mortgage market has a crucial role to play in the green revolution.
After the property sector was forced to halt everything during the first lockdown, the second half of the year saw demand for online conveyancing services bounce back dramatically.
I think I’m on fairly safe ground in suggesting, in the months and years ahead, there will be an increasing number of homeowners not only taking mortgage debt into retirement, but also willing to look at their house as an asset to be utilised.
In my previous article just before Christmas, I lauded the recent Mortgage Introducer awards as being one of the most memorable events I’d virtually attended and this wasn’t just because I hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol throughout the award ceremony itself.
Last weekend I was out for a long walk with my wife. I couldn’t really be bothered, but it was a nice enough day and, let’s be honest, there’s not a huge amount else to do on our down time at the moment.
No sooner had the new year begun, than any thoughts of 2021 representing some kind of break from 2020 were dispelled.
At the tail end of December 2020, we conducted a survey amongst a selection of our landlord customers to see what they expected 2021 to hold in terms of prospects for the buy-to-let market.