BREAKING PROPERTY NEWS – 15/09/2021
Daily bite-sized proptech and real estate news in partnership with Proptech-X. Today, Stanton looks at Trussle’s five-day mortgage promise, Property Franchise Group’s half-year results, and the winding down of SDLT phase two.
- Trussle promise a mortgage decision in only five days
- Property Franchise Group half-year results show an impressive uptick
- SDLT holiday phase two is ending in two weeks
Trussle promise a mortgage decision in only five days
Trussle, an online solution recently bought out by Better.com in July, can guarantee a mortgage decision in five days. If they can’t, it’ll give you £100.
Trussle is all about speed and transparency and its service is not based upon the size of the lending that borrowers need. It says: “Our team of expert mortgage advisers will compare 12,000 mortgage deals and find the right mortgage deal for you. You can chat with, call, or email your adviser at any time. Your adviser won’t be paid a commission based on the size of your loan or choice of lender. Their only motivation is to help you get a mortgage quickly and easily.
“And we do more than get you a mortgage. We check that you can still pay it if the unexpected happens, so you’re protected against losing your home.”
Some lenders move quicker than others, and some of the big names like Barclays, BM Solutions, Clydesdale Bank, Fleet Mortgages and HSBC are very much in the frame with a promise that others will be added when it can facilitate the approval rate that allows five-day decisions.
Ian Larkin, CEO of Trussle, said: “Trussle was created to make mortgage applications easier and now we want to give our customers the certainty they desperately need at a very early stage in the process … using technology and automation to cut out needless hassle, we can give our customers decisions in days not weeks, without compromising on service.”
Property Franchise Group half-year results show an impressive uptick
It has been a challenging year for all agency groups, not least for The Property Franchise Group.
Having only recently acquired and absorbed Hunters Group against the backdrop of the pandemic, the CEO is now in charge of a business that has seen its share price riding high, and the tell-all key financial metrics appear to be very positive.
At the halfway point of this year, its pre-tax profit was £3.1 million, with a cash flow that helped in the strategic purchase of the Hunters Group.
CEO Gareth Samples said: “We have capitalised on the increased activity in both the residential lettings market and more notably residential sales market in H1 2021. This, together with signs that the sales market continues to perform strongly into the second half, means that we now anticipate reported profits to be ahead of current market expectations for the full year.
“Hunters has delivered just over three months of profitability to our Group and has much more to give. Our strategic partnership with LSL is gathering pace and has been enhanced by our post-period acquisition of The Mortgage Genie.
“We firmly believe that we have put in place the building blocks for earnings enhancing growth and, looking shorter term, that the high activity levels at the start of H2 will deliver record profitability for our Group in 2021.”
The CEO also said that the franchise EweMove was also performing well, and The Property Franchise Group was in a resilient place, ready to grasp the challenges and opportunities that the rest of 2021 was likely to bring.
SDLT holiday phase two is ending in two weeks
Very little has been reported about the number of properties set to complete this September. This is odd because the sales pipeline of properties not yet exchanged was far higher coming into September than it was in June, the last cut off point of the Chancellor’s stamp duty ruse.
With a housing market that is super-heated and mortgage rates at a historic low, not to mention inventory also at its lowest for over a decade, it will be interesting to learn in October, whether September or June 2021 was the high tide for completions in the UK, and if it was the start of a more normal market.
Or was it the start of a very different market? One where seasonal moving became replaced by the need of WFH buyers, looking for an ideal home (with space for an office) to live and work in, or older people looking to retire and downsize earlier having decided life is too short to work forever.
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