'Tough year' for first-time buyers

Date:Thursday 24th December 2009
Author: Max Freedman

First-time buyers are set to face another difficult year, according to one mortgage specialist.

Lucian Cook, director of residential research at Savills, said that it will be a tough year for those looking to get on the property ladder, with no quick solution available to make the market more accessible to them.

"First-time buyers are likely to be some of the last people to be able to freely access the housing market again," Mr Cook said.

He believes that, as a consequence, more people will be relying on the private rental market, which could result in some short-term increases in this sector.

Over the last four months, there has not been any significant improvement in the number of mortgage approvals, suggesting that there are still constraints in place.

These comments followed the report from the National Association of Estate Agents which said that only 19 per cent of buyers in December were individuals looking to get on the property ladder.

By comparison, six months ago first-time buyers made up 43 per cent of the mortgage market.