The first time buyer is no longer lesser spotted

A recent report from UK Finance has confirmed that 2018 saw a 12-year high in the number of first-time buyers. This is good, make that great news. First-timers are the very lifeblood of the mortgage market. They’re the first part of many chains, so if they’re missing in action, the rest of the market suffers accordingly.

The report confirmed that in 2018 we saw 370,000 news first-time buyers complete on a mortgage application, 2% higher than the previous year, and the highest figure since back before the world fell apart, in 2006. But let’s not bring that up again hey.

So, what’s the reason? Well, firstly the market has been improving for some time now and confidence is in a far better place than it has been for a decade. In addition, we have the prevailing low interest rate environment, a welcome return of competition between lenders and schemes such as Help to Buy.

Yet it’s not all rosy. There’s still the pressing issue of having enough money for a deposit. We don’t think that monthly affordability is, in the main, an issue. But hopefully the positive green shoots will continue to grow and more products that require less of a deposit will be released by lenders. After all, everyone needs a healthy and sensible property market.