first-time buyers
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Latest property news
‘Don’t blame buy-to-let landlords for first time buyer problems’
TheNational Landlords Association believes mortgage access and high deposits are real reason for first time buyer pain, not buy-to-let landlords.
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Latest property news
Wales launches ground-breaking green scheme for Help to Buy
The Help to Buy scheme in Wales is being modified to offer those buying greener homes through the scheme a better chance of being accepted.
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Latest property news
Government’s first time buyer Stamp Duty give-away has failed in South, claim surveyors
The government’s attempt to kick-start the first-time buyer market by removing Stamp Duty and Land Tax (SDLT) for all but the wealthiest has proved a damp squib in London and the South, surveyors have claimed. In last November’s Budget Chancellor Phillip Hammond eliminated SDLT for 80% of first time buyers, and cut the duty for 95% of those who pay it. But the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) says in its latest property market snapshot that new buyers’ enquiries fell for the eleventh month in succession. “This would appear to suggest that the government’s attempt to breathe fresh life into the market through eliminating the stamp duty charge for most first-time buyers in the Budget is not having a significant impact on overall demand,” says RICS’ Residential Market Survey for February. Affordability is the key to demand among first time buyers, the figures show. The SDLT stimulus appears only to be working in the north of the UK where house prices are more affordable; the number of enquiries to agents from first-steppers increased in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Yorkshire, Humberside and the North, but stalled elsewhere. RICS also says the number of properties available to sell has continued to drop.…
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Features
The Budget unravelled
There’s been a great deal of fuss about the so-called ‘Housing Budget’, but, says Jamie Till, at Instinctif Partners, does it do what it says on the tin?
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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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