Anthony Gregori - Mortgage Adviser

22/04/2026

Mortgages are getting longer. Is your protection keeping up?

Many homeowners over 40 are now extending their mortgage terms well into retirement. While this makes monthly payments manageable, it also means you are carrying debt for longer. If your health took a turn, would your family be able to stay in the home? It is time to look at your protection as closely as your interest rate.

Contact me for a review.

21/04/2026

The number every 40-something needs to know: 46.

In the UK, the average age of a critical illness claimant is just 46. At a time when most of us are at the peak of our careers and mortgage commitments, life can throw a curveball. Being underinsured is a risk you don't have to take. I specialise in making sure that if the worst happens, the mortgage is the last thing you need to worry about.

Send me a message to check your cover.

09/04/2026

Mortgage holders coming off fixed-rate deals are facing an extra £444 a month on their repayments as lenders push rates higher.
Several major lenders have confirmed mortgage price hikes this week as inflation fears continue to drive up borrowing costs.
Halifax has increased all two and three-year fixed rates for new purchases by up to 0.15 percentage points. Five-year fixes have gone up by up to 0.05 percentage points.
BM Solutions is raising residential and buy-to-let rates by up to 0.15 percentage points. Accord Mortgages has lifted tracker rates by up to 0.20 percentage points.
Average two-year fixed rate costs have jumped from 4.84% to 5.84% in the last month alone. Average five-year fixes have climbed from 4.96% to 5.75%.
Someone coming off a five-year fix at 1.23%, which was the lowest rate available when they took it out, would now face a typical rate of 4.66% for an equivalent deal. That's an extra £444 a month on a £250,000 loan over a 25-year term.
Anyone taking out a typical two-year fix today will pay £150 more per month on average compared to just a few weeks ago.
The biggest payment shock will hit those coming off older five-year deals. Rates have more than doubled, pushing up repayments by hundreds of pounds every month.
The number of available mortgage deals has crashed by 1,283 over the last month. That's around 17% of the market disappearing. It's the steepest market contraction since the 2022 mini-Budget.
Around 5.2 million mortgage holders could face increases in their monthly repayments by the end of 2028. That's 58% of all mortgage holders.
If you're coming off a fixed-rate mortgage in the next year or two, brace yourself for a massive jump in monthly payments. £444 extra a month is £5,328 a year.
Check what rate you're currently on and start budgeting for the increase now.

27/03/2026

If anyone is worried about rates especially if you are coming to the end of a fixed rate term, feel free to get in touch for a chat.

NatWest and TSB have announced further rate rises today of up to 45 basis points, following increases they both set out yesterday. Swaps have risen today,

23/02/2026

TSB has reduced residential rates on selected products. The lender's two-year fixed house purchase, including affordable housing, products at 0% to 75%

22/10/2024

Fingers crossed they are right.

The Bank of England is about to begin a series of rate cuts that will lead the base rate to hit 2.75% next November, according to Goldman Sachs. The forecast is an upgrade by the US investment bank, which last month said the UK central bank would settle at a 3% interest rate by September 2025. It sa...

11/10/2024

Blog: Boring, boring mortgages – which 2 or 5 year fixed would you like?

Malcolm Davidson
11 October 2024



It’s the same question over and over right now: ‘Would you prefer a two-year or five-year fixed rate?’ The lack of true product innovation in the mortgage market over the past two decades is striking, especially when contrasted with progress in other areas like technology and lending criteria.

To be fair, lenders have certainly made strides in those areas. Advancements in tech and more flexible criteria have streamlined processes and opened doors for many borrowers. But when it comes to the mortgage products themselves, there’s little variety to discuss with clients beyond, ‘Have you thought about how long you’d like to fix your rate?’

This lack of variety isn’t new, but it’s surprising that more lenders (especially those outside the ‘big six’), haven’t seized the opportunity to genuinely innovate. Smaller and mid-sized lenders often struggle to compete with larger institutions that can afford to keep products on the market longer without compromising service standards.

We’ve seen what happens when a smaller lender puts out a highly competitive fixed-rate product: they can quickly become overwhelmed, with some taking months to recover after pulling such products too late.

Yes, we’ve seen the likes of Skipton and Accord bring higher LTV products to market, but this isn’t exactly groundbreaking. I remember when 100% mortgages were more mainstream, with a mortgage indemnity guarantee (MIG) paid by borrowers to protect lenders.

More recently, with the base rate cut, several clients have asked me about tracker mortgages. And while it might seem logical to consider a tracker product in a potentially falling rate environment, is there really any value in a 5.89% tracker rate* when you can get a five-year fixed at 4.64%? The numbers don’t add up; you’d likely be losing out for quite some time before you even break even.

Capped rates? They seem to have vanished. Offsets? Sure, but have you seen the pricing lately?

What we’ve seen instead is lenders relaxing scorecards and tweaking criteria to attract more business. For example, some are now catering to borrowers who would have been previously excluded, such as foreign nationals. This is undoubtedly welcome, but it doesn’t address the elephant in the room: the monotonous product range, dominated by two- and five-year fixed-rate deals.

So, here’s my challenge to smaller lenders: Is now the time to break the mould? Could you lead the way in offering more diverse mortgage products? You might need to educate your teams (and perhaps even some brokers newer to the industry) on how these products work, but there’s a real opportunity here. By bringing more choice to the table, you could not only attract more business but also differentiate yourself from the larger players, all whilst managing risk responsibly.

So, will you please step up and stop being boring?

*Rates as of October 2024 based on a 90% LTV purchase

04/10/2024

Bank of England comments about a “more aggressive” stance on base rate cuts, followed by repricing by major lenders, have prompted brokers to suggest these moves may lead to “low 3%” mortgage rates by the end of the year. Central bank governor Andrew Bailey said it might be the time to becom...

18/07/2024

Sticky inflation has dealt a blow to the chances of the first Bank of England base rate cut in more than four years coming next month, say economists. Rising prices held steady at 2% in the year to June, figures from the Office for National Statistics show. But services inflation was also unchanged....