Mortgages for UK property are now more affordable than they have ever been before, the Council of Mortgage Lenders has revealed.
Recently released figures for September show the average homeowner, first-time buyers not included, spent 17.7% of their monthly income on repaying their mortgage.
This represents a decrease from 23.7% in 2009 when interest rates were a lot higher and should give a lot more people the opportunity to make the first steps onto the property ladder.
Paul Smee, the director general at CML, said: “Mortgage affordability reached an historic low in September, for both first-time buyers and home movers, which partly reflects the re-pricing of mortgages following August’s base rate cut.”
This should help turn strong appetite for home-ownership into a reality as we approach the closing months of the year.”
However, “the days of the ultra-cheap mortgage could be numbered”, said the BBC’s personal finance correspondent Simon Gompertz.
The price of fixed swap rates, which was already on a slight increase, has made another jump up since Trump’s election to become the next president of the United States. Gompertz says: “”Part of a dramatic shift in expectations about interest rates if the president-elect delivers on his promise to double the growth rate of the US economy.”
Additionally, figures from the Office for National Statistics that were released earlier this week, showed a house price increase of 7.7% in the 12 months to September, the same as one month prior.
