It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.
It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years.
Here we speak to Sarah Parkin, director at Hollybeck.
What a 2022 it has been! In my 20 years in the mortgage industry, never have I seen such turbulence and chaos than that of the latter part of 2022.
And I believe that with interest rates continuing to rise, and property prices set to decline, 2023 will continue to have its challenges.
Experts predict a 5-7% reduction in property prices for 2023. This will stabilise a bullish property market and put the buyer back onto some equal footing after some serious bidding wars! After an increase of over 12% during 2022 for the East Midlands*, this is a welcome calming of the property market for first time buyers and those moving up the ladder.
Whilst the mortgage figures for house purchases will reduce in 2023, we expect a big increase in the ‘remortgage’ numbers. With around four million people set to come off fixed rates in 2023, it’ll be another busy year for mortgage brokers. People will be worried about their future interest rate and, as we have seen these past few months, more and more people will turn to brokers for advice.
Mortgage affordability is under pressure due to the cost of living and interest rates, with many mortgage lenders reviewing their affordability models. Customers will find that they cannot borrow as much as they could because of tighter affordability and so we expect to see higher numbers of customers sticking with their current lender, as no affordability checks are made when switching to a new rate. Lenders have shown us that they intend to reward customer loyalty with lower interest rates, which is great news for customers.
As an industry we’ve weathered many storms. There is no doubt that 2023 is going to be a tough year – our clients will be affected by many of the global issues affecting all families. We’ll keep a positive attitude, have a clear plan and work hard to come out of the other side stronger than ever.
*Source: Nationwide House Price Indicator.
