About Sunny Avenue
Sunny Avenue is a UK property and personal finance blog by Stuart Crispe, a CeMAP-qualified mortgage and protection adviser with 15+ years in UK banking and financial markets.
Sunny Avenue is a UK property and personal finance blog. Sunny Avenue publishes clear, practical guides on the money decisions that matter: mortgages, buying and selling a home, protection, pensions, savings, credit and tax.
Who writes it
Stuart Crispe founded Sunny Avenue, and writes and edits it. Stuart Crispe is a qualified mortgage and protection adviser (CeMAP) with over 15 years of experience in UK banking and financial markets.
Stuart advised customers on mortgages and protection at a UK high-street bank for three years, then moved into structured credit and derivatives at a global investment bank. That covers both sides of money: the everyday, from personal banking and mortgages to protection, and the technical, from interest rate derivatives and bonds to credit default swaps and market operations. Stuart now works in investment operations.
Qualifications
- Certificate in Mortgage Advice & Practice (CeMAP): The London Institute of Banking & Finance
- Diploma in Financial Studies: The London Institute of Banking & Finance
- Capital Markets Programme: Derivatives: The Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment
- ACI Dealing Certificate: ACI Financial Markets Association
- ACI Operations Certificate: ACI Financial Markets Association
The London Institute of Banking & Finance now trades as Walbrook Institute London, and continues to award CeMAP under the LIBF name.
You can verify all of this on Stuart's LinkedIn profile, which lists the roles and qualifications above with dates and employers. Sunny Avenue is also on LinkedIn.
In the press
Stuart's commentary, and Sunny Avenue's own research, have been quoted in the national and trade press, including The Telegraph, The Independent, Newsweek, Yahoo Finance, This is Money, MoneyWeek, the Daily Express, FTAdviser, Mortgage Introducer, IFA Magazine and The Intermediary.
National press
- The Telegraph: on whether mortgage rates had reached their peak after a surprise fall in inflation
- The Independent: on ONS private rent and house price figures
- Newsweek: on reviewing your mortgage and household bills, March 2023
- This is Money: hard-hit homeowners on the mortgage crisis
- This is Money: homeowners on rising mortgage rates
- Yahoo Finance UK: on Help to Buy borrowers struggling with equity loan interest, March 2023
- Daily Express: on the cost of Bank of England money printing
Trade and specialist press
- The Intermediary: Sunny Avenue research: 38% of listed properties had dropped their asking price, July 2023
- The Intermediary: 75% of people have delayed moving plans, June 2023
- Mortgage Introducer: is confidence returning as swap rates edge down? July 2023
- FTAdviser: too early to tell whether swap rates are on the way down (PDF reprint), July 2023
- IFA Magazine: on the Land Registry House Price Index
- IFA Magazine: on proposals to relax planning rules
- BTL Insider: on buy-to-let supply and house prices
- Mouthy Money: on whether 0% finance is too good to be true
How we work
Everything here is written to be genuinely useful and free of jargon, and we keep it accurate. Where the numbers matter, we build free calculators so you can work things out for yourself rather than take our word for it.
A quick but important note
Sunny Avenue provides general information, not regulated financial advice. Your circumstances are unique, so before making a financial decision please speak to a suitably qualified, FCA-authorised professional. You can check whether a firm is authorised on the FCA register.
Get in touch
Questions, corrections, or an idea for a guide? Visit our contact page.