first-time buyers
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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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Latest property news
More first time buyers being helped by family, say agents
A third of estate agents say first time buyers they deal with are being supported financially by parents or grandparents, according to research by equity release service Key Partnerships. It quizzed 104 estates agents across the UK and said that nearly half recorded an increase in the number of first time buyers being helped by family. Perhaps predictably Key Partnerships says equity release is one of the main ways grandparents in particular can raise funds to help grandchildren get on the property ladder, but that only 36% of estate agents were aware of this. Key Partnerships says most first time buyers turn to their parents or grandparents for help with a deposit, which on average is £33,000 according to lender the Halilfax, up from £17,500 ten years ago. In London, the average first time buyer deposit is £91,400 and in the South East, £44,000. “Estate agents are valued as a source of financial guidance and it is clear that those who can discuss equity release as a potential alternative fund-raising solution will be able to benefit from an additional revenue stream by referring potential clients to a specialist as well as securing more house sales,” says Will Hale, a director…
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Uncategorised
How long does it take first time buyers to save up?
Shocking figures just out reveal that it takes five and a half years for the average couple to save up for a deposit while it takes singleton savers ten years. The data from the London market is even more hair-rising. There, couples are taking on average nine years to save up a deposit while single savers require 14 years, says Hamptons International. This is despite recent help for from the Bank of England, which announced a cut in interest rates in early August. This has been passed on by lenders in recent weeks including to first time buyers (FTBs) and, if they shop around, rates for ‘discounted mortgage’ products can be found for under 3% while several two-year fixed rates are available at 3.5%. Overall, August’s 0.25% cut to interest rates, if fully passed on, mean that mortgage payments could on average be £244 a year lower for the average first-time buyer home in England and Wales. In London, the agent says, mortgage payments would be £518 lower. But despite the long wait to gather a deposit, enthusiasm for property ownership is not waning; figures from the National Association of Estate Agents show that the number of sales to FTBs has…
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Latest property news
The Brexit effect
It’s that ‘turmoil’ word again, as the UK flounders in a mire of political pronouncements and predictions.
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