first-time buyers
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Latest property news
Stamp Duty cut: first-time buyers rejoice, but experts warn of price rises
If Chancellor Philip Hammond thought his Stamp Duty cut for first time buyers announced during yesterday’s Budget would get a unanimous thumbs up, then things definitely aren’t going to plan. Firstly Robert Cote, Chairman of the Office for Budget responsibility, revealed that his organisation thought the tax cut would push up prices by 0.3% and that “the main financial gainers will actually be people who already own properties, rather than first time buyers themselves”. Treasury Chief Secretary has subsequently dismissed the OBR’s prediction and just a “minor increase”. But Mark Hayward, Chief Executive of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) (pictured, left) also sounded a note of caution saying that although overall it was a positive move, it would increase house prices by pushing up demand for first time buyer properties. “We have seen this in areas where Help to Buy is offered, as it attracts a great deal of interest from first time buyers,” he said. Sarah Beeny, TV presenter and founder of online agent Tepilo (pictured, right), also weighed in, saying she thought the measures would not make a huge difference to the market. “Cutting stamp duty for first time buyers is unlikely to do much –…
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Latest property news
Jeremy Corbyn locks horns with Strutt & Parker over “ridiculous” first time buyer research
Two of the unlikeliest political sparring partners locked horns over the weekend – agent Strutt & Parker and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Commenting on Strutt & Parker’s press campaign last week that suggested first time buying couples could save up the average UK deposit of £33,000 over five years by cutting out six things from their lives, Corbyn said “we have a housing crisis that needs to be addressed, to reduce the whole thing to people drinking cappuccino…is frankly ridiculous” Items of expenditure that Strutt & Parker suggested first time buyers should cut out included on-the-go coffees (£6,248), gym membership (£5,500), mini breaks (£3,500), takeaways (£13,200), playing the lottery (£4,160) and mobile phone upgrades (£770). Out of kilter Speaking at a Labour regional meeting in Huntingdon, Cambridge (pictured, right) over the weekend Jeremy Corbyn told the Press Association that “the idea you can conflate the price of sandwiches to the extortions of the housing market is slightly out of kilter here”, he said. “We have a lot of young people who work really hard, have to rent in the private rented sector, and are spending half, even more, of their take home pay on rent, cannot save to buy, [are]…
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Latest property news
“Ill judged” Strutt & Parker advice to Millennials stirs up a Twitter storm
Strutt & Parker has prompted a Twitter storm today after releasing a report that suggested Millennial young couples should give up six ‘luxuries’ to save up enough money to get on the property ladder. The report suggests that young ‘generation renters’ could save up £64,000 within five years by cutting down nights out, takeaways, shop-bought lunchtime sandwiches, the annual city break holiday, lottery tickets and mobile upgrades. Strutt & Parker’s Head of Research Stephanie McMahon told the Evening Standard that “affordability is a problem for every major city around the world – and in London, it is raising the deposit that is the particular challenge”. “Getting on the property ladder in London is harder than ever, and with an average deposit of £94,000, people are thinking, ‘What luxuries am I willing to forgo now that will pay off five years down the line?’.” The reception for report was distinctly chilly, particularly among the Millennials targeted in the report by Strutt & Parker, which was bought by BNP Paribas in August. On Twitter the report was described as “monstrously ill judged” by blogger @Indiablock on Twitter while decidedly non-Millennial Henry Pryor also took to the social media platform to criticise the…
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Latest property news
First time buyers counting on parents’ death to get on property ladder
Young first time buyers can seem like a desperate lot sometimes as they scrimp and save for a deposit, or beg deposits off their parents. But now a new kind of desperation has set in – those waiting for their parents to die. Research by online agency TheHouseShop.com to find out which options offer younger people the best chance of getting on the property ladder discovered that only 10% are taking the traditional route of saving up. Completed by YouGov, the research found that instead many first time buyers are instead hoping to take a rather morbid short cut. Just over a fifth hoped to become home owners when their parents passed away and left them the family home, while 17% were relying on using the money left to them by their parents. Property ladder Also, another fifth were expecting to borrow money off their parents before they die, meaning that nearly 60% of first time buyers are relying on their family or parents in one shape or another to get them on the property ladder. One surprising figure from the research is that the government’s Shared Ownership Scheme is obviously seen as a strategy of last resort – just…
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Features
Kate Faulkner: c’mon agents, let’s sell more new-builds
Buyers may dream of a cottage with roses around the door, but, says Kate Faulkner, buying a new home can get FTBs on the ladder.
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Resources
House price myths debunked
Designs on Property tracks and summarises the monthly property indices. Kate Faulkner says, “The average age of a first time buyer today is hardly that different from 2003, 14 years ago, even in London!”
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Latest property news
First-time buyer frenzy
First-time buyer activity rose to 36 per cent of market activity in February...
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Features
Are you ready for a first-time-buyer rush?
With a new Government focus on first time buyers, Matt Dendle says “Modernise now to make sure you’ll be able to navigate the rush!”
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Latest property news
‘Bank of mum and dad’ backed first time buyers driving property market, it is claimed
If you’re wondering which way the property market is moving, then be heartened by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). It says that while the number of home loans dropped 1% year-on-year, the number of first-time buyer loans has increased by 9%, driven in part by parents re-mortgaging to help their offspring get on the property ladder, it has been claimed. The number of first time borrowers in the market hit 337,000 last year, the highest level in any twelve month period since the financial crash of 2008, the CML says. Re-mortgaging activity in the property market increased by 54% between December last year and January this year, and although this is driven in part by competition among lenders to offer lower and lower rates, agent Haart says it’s also driven by ‘bank of mum and dad’ parents. “We are seeing more and more parents on the ground looking to release equity in their homes to support increasing numbers of young people who are leaning on their parents for support to get onto the property ladder,” says Haart’s CEO Paul Smith (pictured, left). “With rents sent to increase as landlords are squeezed, and ONS figures showing that house prices have reached 10 times the average…
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Features
Focus on first-time buyers
More first-time buyers bought a home in 2016 than in any year since 2007, says Tara Dulake, that’s great news for estate agents.
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