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21st May 2009
Rise in first-time buyer activity
Confidence started returning to first-time buyers at the beginning of this year shows the John Charcol Index, the monthly mortgage activity monitor from the mortgage adviser.
The index reveals a sharp increase in the proportion of purchases made by first-time buyers in the first four months of this year, with that proportion being three and a half times higher than in the previous four months.
First-time buyers represented just over 4% of the market in October 2008 and 5% in December 2008. But for the first four months of 2009, first-time buyers accounted for roughly 20% of all new mortgage cases.
Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at John Charcol, says: “The return of significantly more FTBs in to the market this year, despite the lack of high LTV mortgages, is one of the best indicators of confidence we’ve got at the moment.
"A surprising number of FTBs have managed to find deposits of at least 25% in order to access a wider choice of mortgages and get a cheaper deal.
"Many branches of The Bank of Mum and Dad have proved more robust than many of our high street banks, haven’t needed a government bail-out and recognise that providing their son or daughter with a sizable deposit is often a good way of utilising their savings."
Boulger says banks and societies bemoan their ability to attract savings in the current low interest rate environment but their mortgage rates give them the best gross margins they have experienced for many a long year.
With parents providing bigger than ever deposits for their FTB children, some families have found a way of cutting out part of the middle man’s turn, he says.
The proportion of all applications for fixed rate mortgages (i.e. not just FTBs) continued to climb in the last month, from 80.9% in March to 82% of all business written by John Charcol in April. This number is over 70% higher than the proportion of fixed rate applications in January, when it stood at 47.8%.
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