News from the UK yesterday that 25% of mortgage applications are currently turned down for one reason or another.
That seems like quite a lot, until you compare it with our experience in Spain in the past few months, where I suspect that only 1 in 10 mortgage applications have been successful.
We have had to deal with :-
Spanish banks not wanting to lend to non-residents
Spanish banks not dealing with brokers
UK based banks withdrawing products and moving the goalposts
LTV's being slashed to 60% if we're lucky
Valuations being either a pleasant surprise or a complete disaster - the touble is there's no bloody consistency
Poor quality journalism and publicity about the Spanish property market, focussing on "tabloid" type disasters
Exchange rates to make you weep
Rentals being hit because less Brits are going on holiday
Plus all of the woes in the UK have been affecting those owning or wanting to buy holiday homes in Spain - UK unemployment, recession doom and gloom, lack of lending in the UK so less equity can be released, housing market uncertainty etc etc
Considering that in about 2005 almost anyone that could produce a bit of paper with some numbers on it could get a mortgage in Spain, the turnaround is remarkable
Thanks for reading
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1 comment:
Until the banks start lending again the housing market will remain stagnant. Until then only property investors with cash available will be the ones benefiting from discount property.
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