New mortgage lenders on home-buying horizon

Monday 25th April 2005, 12:00AM BST.

JERSEY residents could have access to five new mortgage lenders by the end of the year.

Within the next few weeks it is believed that a bank and a building society will be offering mortgages through existing brokers, with several more lenders waiting in the wings.

Peter Seymour of the Mortgage Shop Plus said: ‘This is a very exciting time.

They will be offering a mainland attitude and will revitalise lending in the Channel Islands.

It will put Jersey on the map for mortgage lending.’ Mr Seymour said the flurry of interest had come from the Bank of Ireland’s decision last year to sell Bristol & West’s mortgage book in the Island.

He said there had been 15 contenders for the book, which was subsequently acquired by RBSI trading as NatWest.

Another attraction for new lenders, he said, was the States Budget decision in December to remove stamp duty from remortgages.

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