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First-time Buyers

First-time buyers numbers up 14% in 2012

Julia Rampen
Written By:
Julia Rampen
Posted:
Updated:
31/01/2013

The number of people buying their first home in the UK increased by 14% in 2012.

According to research by LSL Property Services, the growth came despite an end of year rise in deposit size.

Last year 26,400 more first-time house hunters secured mortgages than in 2011, with an above average rise in December of 17%. The average first-time buyer mortgage rate also dropped to a nine-month low.

However, the average deposit size for these buyers rose by 2.3% in the final month of the year to £28,525 and nearly half of buyers relied on family assistance.

LSL Property Services commercial director David Brown said that while the Government’s Funding for Lending scheme had brought down mortgage rates, it had not yet reduced the size of deposits required: “This remains the key stumbling block from preventing new buyer numbers returning to anything like their pre-crunch level.”

The average first-time buyer in December was 28 years old and had an income of £34,000 – £7,500 above the national average. Deposits made up 83.9% of income, compared to 80.7% in the same month of 2011.

Deposits remained the most common obstacle for prospective first-time buyers, although 14% were concerned about the cost of mortgage payments and 13% about high transaction costs. Just one-in-15 were concerned by falling house prices.

Buying a home remained an aspiration of 89% of renters. Of these, 14% said they expected to buy in 2013, just over a third within the next five years and one fifth believed they would never be able to buy.


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