First-time buyer numbers increased to their highest level in 12 years, driven by Government incentives and competitive mortgage deals.
That’s according to trade body UK Finance which revealed the number of mortgages which were completed by buyers who were new to the property market soared in 2018, with the amount be loaned to them rising by nearly 5%.
Schemes such as Help to Buy have been identified as being one of the key drivers of this rise in numbers. However, support has also come from lenders who have been reducing rates on mortgages for borrowers with low deposits.
Indeed, recent figures revealed the average rate for buyers who needed to borrow up to 95% of their property’s value had fallen from 3.95% to 3.41%.
Richard Campo, a mortgage broker with Rose Capital Partners, said lenders had been making it easy for first-time buyers over the last couple of months.
He pointed to recent figures released by Defaqto which reported a 46% increase in mortgages offering a loan of 95% of the property’s value.
And he said specialist mortgages offering extra support to borrowers, such as Lloyds’ Lend a Hand’ deal which offers a 100% loan to borrowers with a parental guarantee, were also helping first-time buyers.
Don’t wait too long…
But he urged anyone thinking about taking their first steps on to the property ladder, to act soon.
He said: “The conditions are the best we will see for the next decade, with low house prices, readily available credit and cheap high LTV mortgages.
“Those looking to buy their first home need to move quickly as the next logical step in this cycle is for the number of available houses to tail off, pushing prices sky high.”
The UK Finance Mortgage Trends report, released today, also revealed remortgaging rates had increased in the last year but buy-to-let borrowing was down. It also reported the number of home movers had fallen.
