From This is Money:
Falling average monthly mortgage payments have been credited with making homeowners better off than they were a year ago, in the study by mortgage giant Halifax.
However, with only the 50% of outstanding borrowers on tracker or variable rate mortgages benefiting from lower costs on their existing deals as the base rate plummeted, those on fixed rate deals have been left behind.
And while their monthly spending power may have increased a 18% drop in average house prices has left homeowners’ properties’ values heavily depleted.
Halifax’s research showed that between March 2008 and March 2009 household discretionary income ? the amount left after all the essentials have been paid for (mortgage, council tax, food, clothing, water, electricity, heating bills and other fuels) ? rose £97, from an average of £892 to £989 per month.
The rise is a result of the spectacular decline in interest rates over the period, which have sunk from 5% in October 2008 to their current 0….
Leave a Reply