Defaqto mortgage study 'does not imply reduction in first-time buyers'

Date:Monday 12th July 2010
Author: Susanna Kavka

It is unlikely the number of first-time buyers securing a home purchase loan will drop, despite Defaqto mortgage research showing a fall in discounted products.

This is the view of MyMortgageDirect director Catherine Hearnden, who claimed the reduction in discounted mortgage deals is arbitrary, since the public know that the lender set the original price.

Her comments were made following a Defaqto mortgage report, which indicated that the number of such products on the market has dropped by 72 per cent in three years.

Ms Hearnden said: "I think discounted rate mortgages are a little bit vague anyway because no-one really knows what it is going to be discounted from."

She suggested a tracker rate is a far simpler product, in that it will change when the base rate rises or falls.

In her opinion, it is a good thing that discounted rate mortgages are disappearing from the market and it will not stop people getting on the property ladder.