Date Published 25 September 2018
There are now almost 6 times more mortgages being approved for first-time buyers than for landlords lending data is showing. The latest mortgage lending figures from banking trade body UK Finance shows there were 31,400 new first-time buyer mortgages completed during July 2018, compared with 5,500 for buy-to-let loans.
The first-time buyer lending figures were up just 1% annually, while the number of buy-to-let mortgage approvals has fallen 14.1% over the same period. Home movers are also having a tough time with the number of mortgage approvals for those moving down 3.8% annually to 32,600. Re-mortgaging continues to dominate the market, up 23.1% since July 2017 to 46,900.
Jackie Bennett, director of mortgages at UK Finance said; 'The residential re-mortgaging market saw its strongest July in over a decade as home owners pre-empted the latest Bank of England rate rise by looking into attractive fixed-rate deals. There was also considerable growth in re-mortgaging in the buy-to-let sector, showing that while recent tax & regulatory changes are impacting on new purchases, many existing landlords remain in the market. The number of first-time buyers has returned to modest year-on-year growth.
However, affordability remains a challenge for many perspective borrowers, underlining the importance of clarity over the future of schemes such as help to buy'.
This is positive news for first-time buyers looking to get onto the housing ladder, less buy-to-let investors means that there is more choice amongst the lower priced houses on the market. Smaller deposits & smaller mortgages will make it a lot easier for people to take that first, exciting step into property.
