Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank Reenters Mortgage Market

21

October 2020
CYBG

Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank Reenters Mortgage Market

After withdrawing nearly all its mortgage products on 29 September, Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank has re-entered the market with residential and buy-to-let deals.

Landlords can qualify for two- and five-year fixes starting at 2.79% and up to a 75% loan-to-value (LTV) ratio.

On the residential side, mortgages top out at 80% LTV, which means Clydesdale and Yorkshire won’t be a destination for first-time buyers hunting for the now-elusive 90-95% mortgages—the ones Boris Johnson said could help younger generations onto the property ladder.

However, professionals can qualify for a five-year fix at 85% LTV. These mortgages are available to qualified accountants, actuaries, solicitors, dentists, doctors, pharmacists and teachers.

The bank had attributed its earlier withdrawal of mortgage products to a large number of applications and need to serve existing customers. 

The bank said in a statement in September: “We’ve temporarily reduced the range of mortgages we offer to new residential and buy to let customers. This will help us improve the service for customers and manage pipeline applications. We keep our products under constant review and we anticipate widening our mortgage range again by the end of October.”

Like many banks, it has been overwhelmed by applications from buyers eager to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday and an unfrozen housing market. Processing times for mortgage applications have soared, with some prospective homeowners waiting weeks to hear back from lenders.

Some lenders have launched one- or two-day flash sales, particularly of highly-leveraged mortgages, so as not to be overwhelmed with applications. Others, like Clydesdale and Yorkshire, have temporarily withdrawn their ranges before relaunching.

The Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banking Group is now the UK’s sixth-largest bank, with six million customers, after purchasing Virgin Money in June 2019 for £1.7 billion.