First Time Buyers Seeking Loan Advice
It would appear that first time buyers looking for a suitable home owner loan are returning to the market in large numbers, according to the latest figures from the independent loan broker website, Unbiased.co.uk.
The first time buyer market has been struggling ever since the credit crunch hit the UK a few years ago and tighter criteria from banks and building societies on things like loan affordability and maximum loan to value ratios, have excluded many would be home owners from the housing and home owner loan market.
But the latest figures show that first time buyer enquiries accounted for around 40 per cent of all home owner loan and mortgage cases during the month of June this year. This is the highest percentage since April last year and shows positive signs for the first time buyer market, which in turn will help the rest of the housing and home owner loan market.
The Government are now offering new incentives and methods to help first time buyers get a suitable home owner loan, by introducing things like the Firstbuy scheme which provides an additional unsecured loan to help with the deposit, or allowing friends to join together and share the cost of the loan.
Also, many lenders are starting to relax their criteria and offer much higher loan to value products, along with cheaper loan rates, making home owner loans more accessible to many would be buyers who have previously been excluded.
Karen Barrett of Unbiased.co.uk said “Figures suggest that confidence in the mortgage market is returning. We are seeing quite fast paced changes with a number of mortgage lenders having made their products more available by increasing the loan to value and offering attractive rates as the base rate remains historically low.”
