The UK mortgage market has clearly slowed for most lenders however one bank seems to be immune announcing an increased share of mortgages in Britain. Abbey reports that it now has a 35% share of Britain’s new mortgage market.
Santander the Spanish owned bank who own Abbey seemed to have helped Abbey
Abbey’s first half figures indicated that its share of net mortgage lending was 26% compared with 6.6% in the first half of 2007. Net lending includes mortgages being repaid; Abbey’s gross lending was up 16% to give a mortgage market share of almost 13%.
So how is Abbey managing to buck the trend in what seems a shrinking mortgage market. Santander, like most other Spanish banks, remains largely unaffected by the credit crunch as it is not allowed to have special investment vehicles. The Bank of Spain does not allow its banks to use special investment vehicles so Santander never got caught up in the temptations of the sub-prime market in the first place,” said Magnus Mathewson at stockbrokers Hichens, Harrison & Co.
Meanwhile Lloyds TSB is forecast to report a fall in profits today and may face questions about whether it can sustain its dividend, which it increased for the first time in five years in February.
Recent French mortgage news saw finance lenders in France introduce new changes to their policies that they hope will increase international investment in the country. In the past, buyers from the UK and Ireland could only take a loan from French banks that were worth 80 – 85% of the property value for home that was being purchased. The new polices will raise the loan-to-value amount to 90%, increasing the ability of overseas residents to buy more and larger properties using loans and mortgages
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