UK Mortgages on The Move
Over 25% of all householders with a mortgage have strong intentions to trade in their property for a different, probably better one. In addition they will remortgage between four and seven years. The motivation for putting oneself and ones family through this upheaval is to move up the 'property ladder'.
A very similar number took the opposite view in that they said that they would maintain their property for the next four to seven years. While a footloose 17% want to remortgage sooner than four years.
An opinion survey amongst typical UK homeowners found that only 7% expected to stay put for the whole period of their mortgage.
People in the South East and London in particular are the most keen to move, with 28% of mortgage holders in the region intending to stay in their next home for under three years.
This wave of change reduces the further north one goes, with just 13% of people in the Midlands and 11% of those in the North.
Age seems to play a part in this trend with younger homeowners striving hardest to move up the property ladder. Nearly half were not planning to spend less than three years in the house they are currently buying.
It seems that the age of settled communities where homeowners stay in the house of their parents and pass it on to their heirs are a thing of the past. The norm now is for people to buy their first home even before they get married and they will then trade up a number of times as their family circumstances and the mortgage market change.
Nearly 2,500 UK householders were questioned as to their intentions as part of the survey. The underlying reasons behind this social mobility trend are domestic, economic, or in reality a combination of both.
Families grow and shrink and their homes have to change to accommodate this. People move home to be nearer to their place of work or to find a job in the first place. As income grows in the normal course of an individuals' working life so do their home owning aspirations. Spending priorities change with stage of life and clearly the UK young are preoccupied with mortgages.
It is difficult to know how much impact the changes in the mortgage product market have on the trend for home exchanges. What is clear is that young people in particular are increasingly knowledgeable about alternative home finance choices. They regularly, possibly even continually, review their mortgage options. Whether they move house or not they will almost certainly change their mortgage contract and or their lender.
The willingness to remortgage drives the already high level of competition amongst lenders even higher. Competition drives prices down and service levels up. People may not move in order to remortgage but they will consider a remortgage when they move.
This complexity and speed of change makes the services of an independent mortgage broker an essential first step for the modern homeowner.
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