Emma Graham, business development director for Hodge, explains how the after- effects of the pandemic will mean borrowers will need more flexibility than ever, in this new normal.
The Covid-19 outbreak and subsequent lockdown stages have presented more than a few challenges for the property market. Initially, customers applied for three-month mortgage holidays, while the fear of infection between households put the brakes on those looking to move. And now, after three months of being at home 24/7, most people are, predictably, bored of their existing four walls and looking to move. In line with this, England saw the demand for homes increase by 88% according to Zoopla’s April UK Cities House Price Index when its property market reopened.
All this means that lenders have to think outside of the box, and not just for their clients, but also for the sector as a whole. Despite the reported surge in interest for new properties, the uncertainty of what a post-Covid economy could look like will no doubt discourage many people from taking the plunge just yet.
More than 9 million people have been furloughed since the pandemic hit the UK. That equates to nearly 2 million companies who have applied to furlough staff, from all sectors and in all regions of the UK. Those statistics are frightening at best, so you can understand why there is so much reticence to make any major financial moves.
So, what do we do as an industry to help? Weighing up the rights and wrongs of making a big mortgage decision in the current climate may be difficult for some customers, but at Hodge we believe our Early Repayment Promise that we introduced in 2019, will give borrowers the reassurance they need to make a move.
Our Early Repayment Promise is available across all of our later life mortgage products. It comes with no time constraints and no need to downsize. It is a feature which we added to our products as part of our promise to continue to offer a flexible and more bespoke service to our clients. We now envisage that this promise will be very attractive to new clients, as well as current customers, in the post-Covid mortgage world.
The promise will allow home owners to sell and move out of their home, pay off their mortgage completely without any early repayment charges, helping them out of any financial predicaments they may confront or when they feel they can move and have more confidence in the housing market.
As we enter into the unknown adventure that is the post-Covid world, we have to adapt our sector norms to suit our customers. It is virgin territory for all of us, and a time in which we will no doubt learn some very valuable lessons. But what has been clear throughout the past few months is that flexibility, innovation and dealing with each customer’s circumstances with as much support and empathy as we can during this time, will stand the sector and the whole economy in good stead as we step into 2021.
To find out more about the Hodge Early Repayment Promise or discuss as specific case with us, you can contact us on 0800 138 9109 or [email protected].
The views of contributors are not necessarily those of the Council.
