Busy pre-summer property buying season

Written by Editorial Team
Last updated: 27th May 2019

Figures just released show that eight per cent more new buyers collected the keys for their first homes in May this year compared with 2017.

 And the number of new homemovers increased as well, with new homemover mortgage completions up 4.4 per cent on the year.

The figures are published in UK Finance’s latest Mortgage Trends Update.

Commenting on the brisk home-financing activity, Jackie Bennett, Director of Mortgages at UK Finance, says: “The mortgage market is seeing a pre-summer boost.

“It is also particularly encouraging to see an increase in homemovers, after a period of relative sluggishness in this important segment of the market.”

Affordability remains a challenge for some prospective buyers, says Bennett, reflected in a gradual increase in loan-to-income multiples, with lenders prepared more against borrowers’ salaries to help them get through the door.

The £5.4BN of new lending in May 2018 was 12.5 per cent more than for the previous year, for 32,000 new first-time mortgages.

The average first-time buyer is now aged 30 and has a gross household income of £42,000.

By contrast, new buy-to-let mortgages were down by 15 per cent on the previous year, constrained by recent regulatory and tax changes, the effects of which Bennett says “have yet to be fully felt.”