Mortgages Are For Life – The 52 Year Mortgage Is Here
The old days of mortgages lasting for 25 years are on their way out as lenders react to rising house prices and the squeeze on borrowers.
Until recently you had no choice about how long you had a mortgage for. You paid it back in 25 years or else. However our research shows the market has changed dramatically.
Now more than a third of mortgage lenders will offer terms of 40 years or more. Some will even lend for as long as 52 years. Put simply the longer you take to pay off your mortgage the less you will pay each month. But it’s not quite that simple.
You need to pay it off sometime
At the most basic level, mortgages fall into two categories: repayment and interest-only. With a repayment mortgage, you pay off your mortgage bit by bit every month.
With an interest-only mortgage, the borrower only pays the interest, but usually with a view to paying off the original amount borrowed at the end of the mortgage term. If you are only paying interest then that cuts the amount you pay each month.
Of course you also need some way to pay off the debt. That means having a...