By Enzo Mora, CEO and founder of The Mortgage Brain 

A week is a long time in politics, especially when there's an election on the horizon.

Now all the party manifestos have been launched, it's time for us all to take a look and make our decisions over who to vote for.

From our point of view, and to quote one of our former prime ministers, "nothing has changed" in the mortgage market since the election was announced. We've been as busy as ever, proving that homeowners and buyers are getting on with their lives, while hoping that there will be some good news for the property market, whichever party wins.

Promises, promises, promises

As expected, lots of pledges have been made - from keeping current Stamp Duty exemptions for first-time buyers on properties up to £425,000, and a new low deposit scheme; to capital gains tax incentives for landlords if they sell to current tenants; and increased house building targets.

New gardens cities have also been proposed, along with help for leaseholders fighting cladding problems following the Grenfell fire in 2017 and a continued promise for rental reform. These are all good ideas, so let's see who keeps their promises once in Number 10!

New homes are badly needed

I think we'll all agree that millions of new homes are needed, so any commitment to releasing land and speeding up planning to facilitate this is welcomed.

Our new build mortgage specialist team works with all the major national housebuilders to secure mortgages for their customers - who can be first-time buyers or homeowners moving up or down the ladder.

Often these mortgage offers have to be made within a tight timescale, so we make sure that all the questions are answered and paperwork is in place to ensure an offer can be made to meet the deadline.

Help for renters looking to buy

Rightmove has crunched the data to reveal that the price of the average first-time buyer property has gone up by 19% since the last election in 2019. Meanwhile, advertised rents for similar properties are up by 39%, and many are renting for longer. The imbalance between supply and demand has significantly worsened since 2019.

Many of our customers are first-time buyers and it's good to see that Skipton Building Society, one of the lenders we work with, has seen an excellent response to its 100%-loan-to-value mortgage called the Track Record loan.

This mortgage product allows tenants over 21 with a strong rental payment history to borrow the entire cost of a property on a five-year fixed rate, with a maximum term of 35 years. It has approved applications worth £91.5 million since its launch a year ago. The average purchase price for properties was £152,015.

Currently, zero-deposit products make up less than 0.5% of UK home loans, but are much needed to help renters become homeowners as rents and living costs rise.

Waiting game

This week, the Bank of England will announce if the bank base rate will fall from 5.25% and the latest inflation data will also be announced. It is currently 2.3%.

We know that applying for a mortgage can be a stressful time, but we'll make sure you see a range of the most affordable loan options to suit your circumstances and you'll be kept fully informed of the application's progress.

We know how important customer service is and we are delighted to consistently score a 4.9 Google star rating. And that's the best vote of confidence a mortgage broker can hope for.

To find out more about The Mortgage Brain, visit www.themortgagebrain.net or call 0333 340 8888.