Quote Originally Posted by belgarion View Post
warthog, FYI - the UK banks enforce LVR ratios themselves and have done for years.
In NZ/AU yes. For now! If left to their own devices, as elsewhere, they will blow themselves up.

E.g. When I applied for a 95% mortgage the normalised rate offered (i.e. with mortgage indemnity insurance capitalised into the loan amount) was huge - circa 2.5% above what I'd have got with a 25% deposit. And this was with only 20% of our combined incomes servicing the debt which I could have serviced on my own income alone at less than 50%. ... The UK and Europe (and the US for that matter) are very different to NZ and Oz.
Yes indeed. The hog was once offered a 120% mortgage with some thousands in cash as an incentive by a large anglo-saxon bank.