27th November 2019

FIRST-TIME BUYER NUMBERS HIT A 12-YEAR HIGH

Numbers of people buying their first home reached a monthly high in August, achieving a level not seen since 2007, before the financial crisis.

The average first-time purchaser borrowed £175,361 or around 80% of the property value. The amount borrowed equates to a multiple of 3.52 of first-time buyers’ income, but with continuing low interest rates, this only represents 17.1% of total household income.

These strong figures for first-time buyers are backed by research from Zoopla which shows that over a third (36%) of all proper ty purchases in 2018 were by first-time buyers. Reasons given include Stamp Duty relief, the Help to Buy scheme and Help to Buy ISA.

MORTGAGE BROKER OUTLOOK IS CONFIDENT

According to the latest Mortgage Market Tracker survey from the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA), 91% of brokers said they were either ‘very confident’ or ‘fairly confident’ about the outlook for the mortgage industry.

Executive Director of the IMLA, Kate Davis, said: “Continuing political uncertainty has failed to dent the confidence of mortgage brokers. Intermediaries remain confident that they are well-placed to weather the storm of political uncertainty. Brokers are upbeat about the prospects for Britain’s mortgage market.”

POSTCODE LOTTERY IN ESTATE AGENTS’ FEES

New research from Get Agent, the online estate agent comparison site, has found that selling your home through a high street estate agent can vary by as much as 261%, depending on your postcode.

The research analysed data from over 40,000 branches, listing properties in more than 2,400 postcode areas and found that the average fee (including VAT) in England and Wales was 1.53% and was as high as 3.07% in the most expensive areas. Postcode CT11 in Ramsgate, Kent was the most expensive, equating to a fee of £7,425, based on the average listing price of £241,849 in that area. At the other end of the scale, sellers in Benthall, Northumberland, which is postcode NE67, are typically charged 0.85%, which equates to £2,771 for an average property worth £326,000 listed in that area.

Since October 2016, all estate agents’ quotes should include VAT. Before this date, fees were quoted ‘plus VAT’.

Figures from UK Finance show that 35,010 mortgages were advanced to first-time buyers in August, which is an increase of 0.7% from August 2018.

 

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HOUSE PRICES HEADLINE STATISTICS

HOUSE PRICE INDEX (SEP 2019)* 123.0*
AVERAGE HOUSE PRICE £234,370
MONTHLY CHANGE -0.2%
ANNUAL CHANGE 1.3%
*(Jan 2015= 100)

  • UK house prices grew by 1.3% in the year to September 2019, unchanged from August 2019
  • House price growth was strongest in Northern Ireland where prices increased by 4.0% over the year to Quarter 3 (July to September) 2019
  • The lowest annual growth was in London, where prices fell by 0.4% over the year to September 2019
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HOUSE PRICES PRICE CHANGE BY REGION

R

Region Monthly Change (%) Annual Change (%) Average Price (£)
England -0.1 1.0 £250,677
Northern Ireland
(Quarter 3 – 2019)
2.3 4.0 £139,951
Scotland 0.3 2.4 £155,029
Wales -2.8 2.6 £164,433
East Midlands -1.2 0.1 £194,219
East of England -0.4 -0.2 £291,993
London -0.1 -0.4 £474,601
North East 0.0 2.0 £132,769
North West -0.3 2.8 £167,683
South East 1.0 0.7 £329,197
South West 0.0 0.5 £260,158
West Midlands Region -0.4 1.6 £201,273
Yorkshire & The Humber -0.1 2.2 £165,745
Source: The Land Registry
Release date: 13/11/2019 Next date release: 18/12/2019

 

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AVERAGE MONTHLY PRICE BY PROPERTY TYPE – SEPT 2019

PROPERTY TYPEANNUAL INCREASEDETACHED
£354,4530.80%SEMI-DETACHED
£222,2281.50%TERRACED
£189,4271.30%FLAT / MAISONETTE
£209,1481.50%

Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2017. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

 

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MORTGAGE ACTIVITY

    • Gross mortgage lending across the residential market in September 2019 was £22.3 billion
    • 3.7% higher than September 2018
    • There were 85,880 mortgages approved by the main high street banks in September 2019


    Source: UK Finance
    Release date: 24/10/2019

 

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It is important to take professional advice before making any decision relating to your personal finances. Information within this document is based on our current understanding and can be subject to change without notice and the accuracy and completeness of the information cannot be guaranteed. It does not provide individual tailored investment advice and is for guidance only. Some rules may vary in different parts of the UK.