Calls To Make First Time Buyer Loans Easier
The number of first time buyers who are entering the housing and home owner loan market has dropped to its lowest level in a number of years, as potential buyers are unable to afford the monthly loan repayments and struggle to raise sufficient deposit to meet lenders maximum loan to value lending criteria.
Earlier this week, Grant Shapps, the housing minister chaired a meeting of home owner loan and housing industry experts, in order to try and develop ways of encouraging first time buyers to purchase a property and also to make it easier for them to be accepted for a home owner loan or mortgage.
Mr Shapps told those at the meeting that it was their responsibility to take action in order to help first time buyers with loans and to get onto the housing market and that top down regulation from the government alone was not sufficient to kick start the first time buyer loan market.
The meeting was attended by bodies such as the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), the Building Societies Association (BSA) and the National Housing Federation, although no representatives from banks or building societies were at the meeting.
Amongst the matters discussed, were suggestions to introduce new types of home owner loan and mortgage schemes for first time buyers, as well as plans to increase the availability of shared ownership schemes and equity loans through local authorities.
Mr Shapps said “There are 1.4 million households who aspire to own a home but are simply unable to do so because of house prices and mortgage availability.”
“ We want to do more to help aspiring first time buyers. This cannot be achieved simply by top down diktats from government, there will need to be a unified effort and creative solutions from across the board to make sure we do not lock young people out of the housing market.”
