New market analysis reveals that UK
banks offer poor value for
mortgages, and actually rank among the priciest
mortgage lenders in the country. Defaqto, the independent product research
business that provides data for
financial institutions, is expected to reveal the figures today.
The Defaqto research will indicate the expensive nature of taking out
mortgage loans from banks in Britain, despite HSBC heading the list for best value. Three out of the top four major banks have not made it into a list of 15 best value
lenders for 2005. Vast discrepancies in
mortgage interest costs are expected to be highlighted by the report.
Cheapest
mortgage loans were generally provided by
building societies, with Intelligent
Finance also offering great value for money. Borrowers were considered unlikely to take advantage of the short-term deals offered by many lenders, more often taking out
standard variable rate mortgages.
Bank of England base interest
rates were also shown to be higher in 2005 than in 2004, and this factor has had the roll-on effect of making standard variable rate mortgages more expensive to service. Defaqto noted that despite standard variable rates constituting only one part of the
mortgage market, they did offer a good indication of competitiveness.
