0 9479 9487 9493 9497 9503 9505 9509 9515 9517 9523 9529 9533 9535 9539 9545 9547 9553 9557 9559 9563 9565 9569 9571 9573 9574 9575 9577 9578 9579 9581 9583 9587 9589 9593 9595 9599 9605 9607 9613 9617 9619 9623 9629 9635 9637 9643 9647 9649 9655 9659 9665 9673 11751 expect in the future? Money Marketing asked advisers and mortgage providers for their thoughts on the current .state of mortgage products. Brentchase Financial managing director Mike Fitzgerald says: "Prime mortgages were going back down up until a few weeks ago and now they are going up again. But the big issue with prime is the loan to values - they are going down because it is the only way lenders can offer the deals." A Skipton spokesman says: "Prime will stay roughly where it is. With rates it is finger in the air stuff because Ihey move with the economy but it is going to be higher deposits that will define prime as time goes on. The pic model will shift towards the mutual one as savings become king, llie emerging 'superbanks' are going to get a foothold with increased savings, but mutuals are still the trustworthy model for savers - building society deposits are up 40 per cent. Safe is becoming the new sexy in prime lending." Fitzgerald disagrees it is going to be the mutuals who see increased prime margins: "Every prime deal we put through seems to be from one of the big boys and it is going to stay that way. Smaller players will fmd it harder to buy prime rates." Sub-prime Kensington marketing director Ian Giles says: "Right now there is no funding appetite for sub-prime and it is difficult to see when that appetite will return. There is no significant near-prime dealing. There is a large demand: the only question is how demand will fit with risk appetites of lenders given the experiences of the last year." London & Country mortgage expert David Hollingworth echoes the dire sentiments. He says: "There is not much sub-prime left and intermediaries are not holding their breath for a return. It's toughest on the borrowers because there is demand but not many options. For many brokers, it is nowjust down to managing sub-prime clients in distress." Giles says: "No one can put an exact number on when sub-prime will return but we are probably looking at2010or2011." First-time buyer Savills director Melanie Bien says: "The first-time buyer market is worse than it has been for a long while, which is ironic in the face of more affordable house prices. Deposits are hard to attain. If you have only 5 or 10 per cent there are few opportunities for you as a first-timer." A spokesman for HSBC says: "The problem with firsttime buyers isn't necessarily that they cannot get finance, it's that they are waiting for house prices to fall. We haven't chatiged our firsttime buyer offering for three years, but business is down. For us it is not a case of lending% Account Summary CSA
