Latest ONS first-time buyer mortgage sales report – Thoughts from the Industry
Following on from the ONS report where it shows first-time buyer mortgage sales at the lowest level since 2013. Here are some thoughts from the Industry.
Toby Leek, President of NAEA Propertymark:
“Many first-time buyers are being priced out of cities, especially throughout London where they have grown up or have a desire to nest themselves. This is spurring on aspiring buyers to relocate to more affordable areas of the country.
“Alongside this, other factors will continue to make it increasingly difficult for those looking to step onto the property ladder for the first time moving forward. With the average age of a first-time buyer increasing to around 33.5 years old and the amount of money needed to be put down as a deposit on a home continuing to rise to around £50,000, many people may find their home ownership aspirations hard to achieve.
“To combat this, the UK Government and the devolved administrations need to implement support mechanisms to enable more people to buy their first home well into the future, as well as continue in their missions of building new homes for a growing population, as an undersupply of properties will push up house prices even further.”
Simon Gerrard, Chairman, Martyn Gerrard Estate Agents:
“These figures will be a surprise to absolutely no one. We’ve had decades of insufficient supply coming to market, while the population in London continues to grow, which means that over time there are simply fewer properties available per person. As a result, the average first home now costs more than ten times the average salary in parts of London, pulling up the housing ladder for many and driving up the age that the fortunate few can actually make a purchase. The lack of available housing, enabled by the long-term planning rules that have made building almost impossible, has rendered property ownership unaffordable for far too many.
“I’m hopeful and supportive of the measures taken by the Government to stimulate the building of more homes, but I fear anything short of a total overhaul of our planning system will be insufficient to solve our housing crisis. In the meantime, the upcoming Stamp Duty changes in April for first-time buyers will only make a dire situation worse. If the Government is serious about helping first-time buyers, they should maintain or, better yet, abolish Stamp Duty relief for them altogether. The impact will at least be lessened slightly thanks to the Bank of England now lowering interest rates, which will make mortgages more affordable, but without more supply coming onto market, this will also increase the price of houses and keep homeownership out of reach for many.”
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