First Time Buyers Making Up Large Proportion Of Loan Applications
Over the course of 2008 and 2009, first time buyers in the housing and home owner loan markets were a rare breed indeed, as very few were prepared to enter into the market when it was so volatile, with very few home owner loan products to choose from.
But new research from Unbiased.co.uk has found that first time buyers are now making up the largest proportion of the home owner loan market, with around 43 per cent of all loan applications coming from first time buyers in January and the number looks to be increasing.
We reported recently on how property is now at the most affordable level it has been at for the past seven years and it would appear that first time buyers are taking advantage of this fact.
Property prices seem to have reached their lowest point and the number of home owner loan products is increasing all the time, as lenders introduce more competitive cheap loan products for first time buyers, many of which offer much higher loan to value ratios than recently, making it easier for individuals to get onto the housing ladder.
Karen Barrett of Unbiased.co.uk said “It is encouraging to see first time buyers are back out in force looking to get their foot on the property ladder, especially as they’ve been given a helping hand by those lenders who’ve now re-introduced competitive mortgage rates on high loan to value products.”
“This is a positive move, which suggests lenders now have a renewed appetite to compete at the bottom end of the market, after first time buyers were all but shut out by banks almost two years ago. Hopefully we will see more lenders follow these footsteps, in which case 2010 could turn out to be the year of the first time buyer.”
