There are currently 3, 641, 000 self-employed workers in the UK, which is a 112 per cent rise within the last five years.
Recent figures from the Office of National Statistics show the number of workers taking the plunge and becoming self-employed is at its highest ever.
GMAC-RFC strongly believes this rising trend in people working for themselves will mean more homeowners looking for increased flexibility when managing their finances.
Self-employed workers often have fluctuating incomes which are further compounded by short-term contracts and bonuses. Therefore there is a natural relationship between rising self-emplyment numbers and increased demand for self-cert mortgages.
Jeff Knight, Director of Marketing at GMAC-RFC, said: “With the rise of the self-employment worker in the UK, we expect to see even more demand for self-certified mortgages in 2006. We expect this rise to be fuelled further by the increase in the number of people living off income generated by buy-to-let properties.
“Lenders therefore, need to be aware of the needs of all potential customers and self-employed workers and landlords are another example of a growing group of borrowers looking for more flexible options.”
The busiest time for people to become self-employed is between March and may and this should also bring rise in demand for financial services and flexible products that are tailored to meet the needs of the self-employed.
This rise is likely to be heightened by the increase in he number of workers in the UK with second jobs. Officials figures from ONS show that the number of people with second jobs has increased to 1, 075, 00 – 3, 000 more than in 2004.
Knight said: “Lenders such as GMAC-RFC provide a range of products to meet this demand as we understand that people have individual circumstances and it’s not simply a case of one mortgage fits all.”
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