This figure is 2 per cent higher than in March and 17 per cent more than in April 2005. The increasing popularity of fixed rate products reflects attractive deals being offered by lenders, coupled with consumers wanting to lock into low-rate long-term deals.
The CML survey reveals that the average first-time buyer loan size is now £106,400, up from £103,839 in March and significantly higher than the £94,995 in April last year.
And in April, first-time buyers borrowed 3.21 times their income to get a mortgage – up from 3.15 times in the previous month.
However, mortgage interest payments as a proportion of income have actually fallen to 16.2 per cent, from a peak of 17 per cent in June 2005.
Michale Coogan, director general of the CML, says: “Today’s data confirms that the market is in good shap. The strong take-up of fixed-rate deals is encouraging because they give consumers confidence in their mortgage payments and allow them to plan ahead financially.
“It is also interesting to see that while both first-time buyers and movers are borrowing a greater multiple of their income to get a mortgage, their payments as a proportion of income are lower than in the same period last year. This is potentially due to the higher take-up of attractive fixed-rate products over the past year.
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