In the US (and, randomly, Denmark) it’s the norm to fix-rate your mortgage for the life of your mortgage. For us and most others, it’s now usual to fix your mortgage rate, but only for a couple or five years at most. So no affordability stress for Americans and plenty of extra hygge for the Danes. There’s a flip side, of course, isn’t there always. Rising interest rates are just as likely to bring down house prices over there, as no-one wants to move and risk losing their lifetime rate; and those lifetime rates can be pretty high. Our leaders might not favour them either, as if your mortgage payments don’t go up, your spending doesn’t have to go down and supposedly so reduce inflation. But, like movies and Big Macs, they’re probably coming our way across the pond.
“John Lewis foray into BTR could result in losses of £57m”
I did predict a while ago that Waitrose Homes rather than Waitrose Home Deliveries could be the future. John Lewis were probably the most benign big business to decide to go into the housing rental market, a move which could swing things away from the unpredictability of the mass of private landlords who dominate the sector.
