First-time buyers 'help drive mortgage market'

Date:Thursday 3rd December 2009
Author: Susanna Kavka

First-time buyers made up 14 per cent of the mortgage market in November, which is up from the ten per cent average, according to Mortgageforce.

Additionally, over half of these new buyers were getting mortgages with an 85 per cent loan-to-value (LTV).

In the last six months, the amount those climbing onto the property ladder have paid as a deposit has fallen from 28 per cent to 24 per cent in October.

Katie Tucker, technical manager at Mortgageforce, commented that the rise in 85 per cent LTV mortgages has been essential in helping people into the property market.

"Without them, half of the first-time buyers we helped would have been facing the high monthly payments of the sparse 90 per cent deals, or simply would not have been able to get on the ladder," she added.

In August, the company announced that 32 per cent of the market was made up of purchases, up from an average of 25 per cent in the preceding three months.