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8 out of 10 UK home mortgage products now have terms exceeding 25 years

As little as two decades ago, the longest repayment term any UK home mortgage lender would give you on your UK home mortgage loan was 25-years. According to a new report published by Moneyfacts.co.uk, one in four UK mortgage lenders will now offer you repayment terms spread over 40 years or more, and as many as 8 out of ten lenders now offer maximum mortgage repayment terms in excess of 25 years.

Commenting on the report, Julia Harris, analysts at Moneyfacts.co.uk, said that first time buyers in the UK now needed to give very careful consideration to both the size of the mortgage they borrowed and the term over which they agreed to repay the home mortgage loan.

Harris stated that: "A mortgage for most of us will represent the largest and longest financial commitment of our lives. For many years the standard term considered for a mortgage in the UK was 25 years, but as affordability becomes increasingly difficult for many of today’s first time buyers, a 25-year term is perhaps no longer considered sufficient."

However, as Ms. Harris points out, many UK home mortgage lenders have reacted to the issue of affordability among the youth in the UK by offering to extend the term of the mortgage and also by increasing the income multiples against which home mortgage borrowers can borrow.

With some mortgage providers in the UK now offering home mortgage loans with repayment terms for as long as 52-years, Ms. Harris says that: "It's a frightening thought to think you could potentially be forking out for that hefty monthly mortgage payment from the moment you turn 18 until the day you retire at 70."

In this regard, debt experts are warning UK consumers that home mortgage loans with repayment terms exceeding 40 years were dangerous. A spokesperson for the debt charity Credit Action went so far as to say that: "People are left very susceptible to any sort of circumstantial change" if they agreed to such a long term repayment period with their home mortgage loan.

Calculating the additional cost to a UK homeowner in extending the term of their home mortgage loan, Moneyfacts.co.uk said that: "Based on a 25-year repayment mortgage of £130,000 at 5.25%, extending the term by just five years will increase the total amount payable by almost £25,000, while increasing to 40 years adds a whopping £77,500 interest to your bill."

Nonetheless, a recent Moneyfacts.co.uk user poll showed that the increased interest costs with a long-term mortgage did not deter UK consumers - with 38 percent of those it polled saying that they were searching for UK mortgage offers that had a repayment term exceeding 25 years.

Richard Smith
21st February 2007

 

More Information:

  • Mortgage Terms: What is the Best Length?
    How long would you like you mortgage to run? The simple answer would be as quickly as possible, but not everyone can, which means higher repayments and more strain on the household budget.
  • What Is A Mortgage?
    With the price of property ever increasing and no sign of the long awaited bursting bubble of the housing market, we ask what can young first time buyers do to gain their freedom and set up a home of their own in such an expensive arena and what is a mortgage anyway?
  • Why Does The Interest Rate Of Your Mortgage Change?
    The biggest difference between a mortgage and other types of loan is the fact that the interest rate changes throughout the term of the loan. Why is this? And which type of interest-rate arrangement is best?
  • The True Cost Of Your Mortgage
    It’s easy to say “go and research the market place to find the cheapest mortgage”, but is it that easy to actually do it and how do you know that you have really got the best mortgage deal when you’ve finished?

 

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