Affordability test

joep2

With BoE withdrawing affordability test effective 1 August, would it be easier to get mortgages in the future? Will they allow us to self certify income without having to go through intrusive questions around payslips, bank statements, outgoings, etc.?

kingstreet

I suspect not.

You might see the end of stress-testing but that will be about it.

https://www.mortgagesolutions.co.uk/news/2022/06/20/fpc-to-withdraw-mortgage-affordability-stress-test-from-august/

K_S

joep2 said:

With BoE withdrawing affordability test effective 1 August, would it be easier to get mortgages in the future? Will they allow us to self certify income without having to go through intrusive questions around payslips, bank statements, outgoings, etc.?

@joep2 I wouldn't expect any significant changes on the income verification part.

However, over time I expect it to gradually get easier to borrow a slightly higher income-multiple than at present as lenders will have a bit more freedom to tinker with that part of the equation with the stress-tests gone, even though they'll still have an overall restriction on how much of their book is lending at over 4.5x LTI.

ACG

Lenders can still only lend more than 4.5x income for no more than 15% of customers. Some choose not to take advantage of that. 

In addition to that, the immediate future is not exactly looking rosy. I cant imagine many lenders wanting to increase their risks. But you might find some lenders bringing out some quirky products for a very small number of people. 

london21

I think they will become stricter because the current market is not sustainable.

If they are not lending responsibly what happened in 2008 likely happen again.