Low mortgage rates 'not useful for first-time buyers'

Date:Tuesday 20th January 2009
Author: Susanna Kavka

Low mortgage rates are not generally much help to first-time buyers, it has been claimed.

Hayley Martin of Click n Go Mortgages was asked how useful she believed the low mortgage rates would be to those attempting to get on to the property ladder.

She replied, "Not particularly", but added that shared ownership schemes might see benefits.

"They still want ten per cent, but ten per cent of a smaller share," she explained.

According to Ms Martin, Click n Go Mortgages is seeing a lot of shared ownership schemes at the moment as well as some remortgages.

But she said that the state of the mortgage market means that standard house purchases are not so common.

The Directgov website explains how some people, such as first-time buyers and social tenants, may be able to buy part of a property under the HomeBuy system.

This system involves three different schemes and allows the mortgage lender to take a share in any changes on the property value throughout the duration of the loan.