The model will help the building society to dramatically reduce its average time to offer by 75% while also making considerable cost savings.
The Realtime Valuation System utilises Hometrack’s database of over 6 million property records to undertake online valuations for lenders. This will speed up the mortgage process for a significant amount of the building society’s business, as well as significantly reducing costs through a much faster and less expensive valuation procedure. In addition, the model will ensure that Newcastle is well placed for the changes to the house buying process brought about by the Housing Act.
Robert Hollinshead, Chief Executive of Newcastle Building Society commented: “Adopting Hometrack’s Realtime Valuation System has both enhanced our customer service and delivered immediate cost savings. We believe it will prove to be a tangible asset to our business and will strengthen our ability to maintain the high standards our customers expect.”
Many Hometrack customers are now starting to use AVM technology for large scale portfolio revaluations such as those needed for Basel 2, mortgage book purchases, securitisations or marketing exercises.
Mark Witherspoon, Chief Executive of Hometrack Data Systems commenting on this milestone announcement added: “We’re delighted to be able to offer our services to The Newcastle Building Society and are confident that the Realtime Valuation System will enhance their current business operations. We’ve been extremely pleased with the increasing take-up of a variety of our property products in recent months and are proud to be helping simplify and improve the mortgage process. It shouldn’t be too long before we sign up our 100th customer.”
The Realtime system is used by some of the biggest names in the industry. Hometrack is now working with more than a quarter of the prime mortgage market as well as a considerable proportion of the sub-prime and second-charge markets.
