The rise of Luxembourgish mortgage brokers

The use of mortgage brokers has met with a strong interest in Luxembourg, despite the business still being in its infancy. Using brokers is a well-established practice for our European neighbours: in France, 50% of buyers use a mortgage broker when buying a property, and in England the figure is 70%. However, the percentage is around 8% to 10% in Luxembourg. But while the use of such a service is not yet automatic here, it is beginning to win over astute residents of the Grand Duchy, who are tempted by low-interest rates and the concept of saving time. "40% of our new customers come to us through recommendations. That’s a sign that our service provides satisfaction and offers much more than just the lowest possible loan rate", says atHomeFinance’s manager Yann Gadea.

A more sophisticated market needs expert advice

Financing property purchases in Luxembourg often requires more sophisticated, technical solutions than in France, for example, where, fixed-rate mortgages over a 20-year period predominate, or elsewhere in Europe where finance packages are routinely arranged online. By way of example, Yann Gadea cites the case of an individual who wanted to settle in Luxembourg for just five years. "In order to respond to his project, we proposed a fixed-rate, flexible, five-year loan, which would enable him to re-sell the property without being hit by early repayment charges. In this case, the objective was to limit the length of the fixed-rate mortgage to avoid jeopardising the planned sale. Luxembourg has the advantage of being very flexible in terms of the duration of fixed-rate loans. This provides room for manoeuvre and enables us to tailor the loan to the client's circumstances. However, overall, the trend still remains for fixed-rate arrangements, which are lower than the basic variable rate”.

  How atHomeFinance can help you

The role of an atHomeFinance broker is to assist his clients in preparing mortgage applications, without charging them any fees. He uses his expertise to check that any application made is solid before it is presented to the company’s bank and credit agency partners. An hour spent with an atHomeFinance broker results in the client’s applications being presented to ten banks, saving time and money. The broker has much greater bargaining power than an individual applying online. As a result, he can provide more competitive mortgages, track down more advantageous mortgage-protection insurance, or secure loan arrangements with lesser-known agencies for tailor-made solutions. Gadea stresses the importance of the impartiality of atHomeFinance brokers. "The broker commissioning system employed is identical from one bank to another, which avoids any institute being unfairly favoured. In addition, the final decision rests with the customer who chooses from among the transparently presented offers that have been negotiated in his interest."  

As agreed under Luxembourg’s Consumer Code, each atHomeFinance employee has at least three years experience in the mortgage-lending sector. While all team members come from the banking industry, which enables them to provide expert advice, they’re quite diverse in other ways with an age range between 26 and 46 years old. They’re ready to welcome clients in French or English from Monday to Saturday, during the day and into the evening.    Make an appointment now to review your property finance :