The trend in recent years has been for borrowers to favour low cost tracker rates, although many fixed rates are now cheaper than trackers, so offering the perfect solution of low cost, as well as security.

Watch mortgage rates in the next few weeks and don’t be in a hurry to decide on your choice of product too early if you are applying for a mortgage.  If rates do shift downwards in the coming weeks, serious consideration should then be given to lock in to a fixed rate for the next three or five years.

LOCAL MARKET CONDITIONS

What about the property market? Ignore anything that the media has to say about house prices in Central London, or the UK. Jersey is fortunate to find itself in a totally different financial, economic and geographical situation, and house buyers pulling out of transactions in the Island “because of Brexit” are not reading the market correctly.

It is important for house buyers to remember why they are purchasing a property. In most cases it should not be deemed as a short term investment.  The fundamentals of people needing a home and the current lack of supply in some of the sectors of the local market still apply.  Remember, you can’t buy in the next town, as you can do in the UK, or in Europe, as the small problem of that strip of water that surrounds us on all sides tends to get in the way!

SAVINGS TO BE MADE

With the lowest interest rates that have ever been seen, it is not just first time buyers or home movers who are able to cash in on the current bonanza. If you bought your property a few years ago and locked into a long term fixed rate of 15, 20 or 25 years, then do consider a remortgage – the savings that we can achieve for our clients are huge – with one very happy couple in St Clement being able to reduce the total end cost of their mortgage by £80,160, or £445 every month over the remaining 15 year term of their new mortgage, subject to their new rate remaining constant.