Top seven stories this week in housing and investment: 18 January

First-time buyer mortgage numbers on the rise

First-time buyers helped to give the housing market a sense of momentum towards the end of 2018, new figures from UK Finance have revealed.

November saw 36,200 mortgages completed for first-time buyers (FTBs), a rise of 5.8% on the same month a year earlier. The £6 billion of new lending to FTBs in the month was an increase of 9% year-on-year, with stamp duty relief and the Help To Buy scheme helping to encourage those taking their first steps on the property ladder.

Stamp duty relief and Help To Buy make an effect

FTBs took advantage of the end of stamp duty on properties up to £300,000, a measure announced in the Budget of 2017.  Chancellor Philip Hammond followed this in October 2018 by revealing that this relief will be extended to all FTBs on shared ownership properties valued up to half a million pounds. The numbers of FTBs was also recently shown to be back to pre-financial crisis levels by the Yorkshire Building Society.

The recent Budget also extended another measure that has helped FTBs get started, namely the Help To Buy scheme. This offers a government-backed loan worth 20%, providing the buyers can provide a 5% deposit on a new-build home. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) revealed that 88% of Help To Buy-backed completions were by FTBs, and Mr Hammond has announced that the scheme will extend until 2023.

Jackie Bennett, Director of Mortgages at UK Finance said, “A mixture of competitive deals and schemes including Help To Buy saw even more first-time buyers get a foot on the housing ladder during November.”

There were 39,600 new homeowner remortgages in November, a 1.3% rise compared to the same month in 2017. The £6.8bn of remortgaging in the month was the same year-on-year.

In the rental market, UK Finance’s findings reveal a quieter picture. The 6,100 new buy-to-let mortgages are 9% down on the previous year, while the 15,100 buy-to-let remortgages were a 9.5% increase.

FTB market in a good place

Matt Andrews, managing director of mortgages at Masthaven, said: “The first-time buyer market continues to remain strong thanks to stamp duty relief and government initiatives such as Help to Buy.

“This trend should only continue throughout this year, following the extension of the equity loan element until 2023. The withdrawal of Help to Buy ISAs, however, will affect this segment of buyers, so it’ll be interesting to see how these figures play out.”

“These figures show Brexit uncertainty hasn’t prevented first-time buyers from grasping the opportunity to step foot on the housing ladder,” Dilpreet Bhagrath, Mortgage Expert at Trussle. “The reality is that there are good deals to be had and many first-time buyers are taking advantages of schemes such as Help to Buy.”

Self-certified Sophisticated Investor

Please read

I declare that I am a self-certified sophisticated investor for the purposes of the restriction on promotion of non-mainstream pooled investments. I understand that this means:

I am a self-certified sophisticated investor because at least one of the following applies:

I accept that the investments to which the promotions will relate may expose me to a significant risk of losing all of the money or other property invested. I am aware that it is open to me seek advice from someone who specialises in advising on non-mainstream pooled investments.

High Net Worth Investor

Please read

I make this statement so that I can receive promotional communications which are exempt from the restriction on promotion of non-mainstream pooled investments. The exemption relates to certified high net worth investors and I declare that I qualify as such because at least one of the following applies to me:

aerial-view-uk-houses

緊貼市場趨勢

立即登記搶先獲得最新項目及獨家物業投資機會。

我們會定期發送電子通訊,介紹最適合您的全新發布項目及獨家優惠。 我們受到超過 30,000 名活躍買家的信任,不斷更新最新英國物業市場資訊。

  • 最新發展項目及獨家優惠
  • 樓市走勢專業分析
  • 物業市場成交數據
  • 項目建築進度定期更新
UK holiday let

最新最快英國樓市新聞。

追蹤我們最新樓市觀點,爲您提供前瞻性的建議和分析。

自 2005 年成立以來,我們是英國地產市場權威,提供前瞻性的建議和分析。我們的英國物業資訊獲得 Apple News 及 Google News 授權發佈。

  • 英國樓市趨勢
  • 按揭申請攻略
  • 業主放租須知
  • 物業指南及投資建議

請即聯絡

立即聯絡我們英國物業專家查詢更多:

 

+852 6699 9008

辦公時間 9am-6pm