Positive news on inflation drives swap rates down

These positive figures have already had an impact on  swap rates, which had been edging down pre announcement but following it, as I type, 2yr swaps have now fallen to 5.41% from 5.81% two weeks ago, and 5yr swaps fallen to 4.63% down from 5.04% over the same period.

So, what does this mean?

Well, put simply, it means there could be a lot of re-broking for us brokers, as this could well see a reduction in rates as lenders start to acquire funds in the markets at lower swaps than have been available for a couple of months. But, hey we’re used to it. This has been the trend now since September ’22!

As brokers, for many of us, the job was done at offer stage in the past, all underwriting was complete, and we would set cruise control (minus a few hiccups along the way) to exchange of contracts and then wish our clients well in their new homes on completion. That path has somewhat changed where getting the mortgage offer is really just a start of the journey. The real work now starts post offer, where it is imperative to continue to track available rates from the lender and ensure no product enhancements hit before drawdown of funds. Particularly with the Mortgage Charter whereby we can now request a swap to a new rate if they drop before completion with the majority rather than the minority before this Charter.

Many borrowers, however, are still unaware that they can change products post offer, and this is where mortgage brokers are once again proving their worth with the so called “after sale” service that ensures that our clients are drawing down at the best product available to them at that time.

Once again, as we did through Covid, we are raising the bar, and proving our worth to our clients. In some instances, we are re-broking deals 3-4 times at no extra cost before drawing down, and that is a service that clients would not have been aware even existed previously.

This process is proving daunting to some, the mental aspect of the job is challenging, burn out is a phrase discussed more times now than ever, but my god we are all excelling. We have once again demonstrated the true worth of mortgage brokers, the service we provide and the skill set we have to do it.

We have all put in a shift over this last year and you know what, we should all be proud. We’ve  had to become therapists and counsellors, we have had a lot of emotional trauma to digest from payment shocks that our clients have not seen for decades, but we are still fighting, still proving our worth, and still as dependable, reliable and as resourceful as we have always been.

I’ve never been prouder to be a mortgage broker. In a time that will go down in history as a great economic challenge, we are still navigating our clients through the troubled waters, somehow!

Brokers be proud, you are all awesome and doing a great job.