Would that really be a bad thing Uncle? Those lucky enough to currently own a property will still own a property. Those who don't currently own a property will be a bit closer to being able to do so
Borrowers have enjoyed extraordinarily low interest rates for a considerable period now.
Apples and oranges and pears.
Its all about your personal preferences of course but with rates being what they currently are, id suggest that if your savings account is achieving more than 1.99% (your mortgage rate) then you are probably doing the right thing atm.
So if you are on interest only for a residential is now actually a good time to remortgage?
Oh I hadn't considered that actually, thanks
Lenders price their products every 5% and so improving your loan to value can never be a bad thing. Having said that, if you can get a better interest rate on your savings than you are paying for your mortgage then you will make more money doing it this way. You could then make a much bigger over payment further down the line when you deal comes up for renewal.
Or maybe we reset our national loathing of renting, make sure there is a well regulated rental sector with rent restrictions and reconsider our obsession with our homes as assets which would, in a heartbeat, reduce house prices. Much of what I see here is people bemoaning someone's ability to get on the 'housing ladder' because prices are 'too high' which is textbook ironic.
Yeah fantastic times, as was 15% in 1990, the financial crash in 2008. About time we had another good one. Woohoo. We'll all survive.
Stress testing is based on interest rates not property values so if someone applies for a mortgage with an interest rate of 5% the lender assessing whether they could afford the mortgage if rates went to 8%
The rental stock is falling, landlords are pulling out due to loads more regs, an obscure restriction on tax relief, voids/damaged properties ... this will only increase.
You have a decent rate fixed for another 3.5 years. You wil most likely have limits to how much you can pay offwhilst on a fix. My advice is to maintain your current payments BUT stick the money you would have paid in overpayments/bi-weekly payments/chunk into a savings account and see how the land lies in 3.5 years time. If things are 'back to normal' at the end of your fix move to another fix. If things are still bad, or things are good and just because you want to, use the savings to pay down the mortgage and get a better product switch/remortgage. This way you have covered all your bases; I do not feel there is much benefit to be had paying it down over the next 3.5 years, versus saving up, and as I say there might be limits.