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First Time Buyers At Lowest Point In Nearly Three Years, National Association of Estate Agents Report Finds

Housing Market

First Posted: 25/11/11 08:44 GMT Updated: 25/11/11 08:44 GMT   PA

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The share of first-time buyers in the housing market has dwindled to its lowest point in nearly three years, estate agents have said, prompting calls for the Government to do more to lift the "lending barrier" preventing people getting onto the property ladder.

The National Association of Estate Agents' (NAEA) market report for October found that 16% of overall sales last month went to first-time buyers, shrinking back from 22% in September.

This is the biggest slump recorded by the NAEA in nearly three years, with December 2008 being the last time agents reported such a low figure, when first-time buyers made up just 10% of the market.

On Monday, the Government outlined plans to inject life back into the stagnating housing industry, including underwriting mortgages for first-time buyers. It is hoped the scheme will allow people to purchase newly-built homes with deposits of around 5% rather than the 20% regularly demanded by lenders.

But the NAEA, which represents estate agents across the UK, said the Government should go further by extending its plans beyond new-build homes as well as giving lenders clearer incentives to lend cash to first-time buyers.

NAEA president Wendy Evans-Scott said: "This week's housing strategy announcement from the Government is welcome news for first-time buyers.

"But our latest figures show that despite reported increases in mortgage approvals by the larger UK banks over the course of 2011, there is still a lending barrier facing those entering the housing market for the first time.

"To address this, government could ensure that banks are given clearer incentives to offer mortgage finance to the UK's embattled first-time buyers, and also extend the mortgage guarantee for first-time buyers announced this week beyond just new-build homes."

The NAEA report also found the number of house-hunters registering at branches also dropped off slightly as winter approaches, with 305 per branch in October compared with 308 in September, but the figure was higher than this time last year.

The number of sales and supply levels in October remained the same month-on-month, with an average of eight sales and 72 houses available per branch.

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The share of first-time buyers in the housing market has dwindled to its lowest point in nearly three years, estate agents have said, prompting calls for the Government to do more to lift the "lending...
The share of first-time buyers in the housing market has dwindled to its lowest point in nearly three years, estate agents have said, prompting calls for the Government to do more to lift the "lending...
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majdf18148
I have nothing to declare but my curiosity
248 Fans
08:27 PM on 11/25/2011
In all of this media hyperbole about how hard it is for first time buyers to get onthe first rung of the property market let us not forget why! This whole debacle has come about due to greed and inappropriate borrowing. By that I mean 120% mortgages almost being the norm before the system went bust, hundreds of thousands of people remortgaging as their properties gained inflated values, using the money for holidays and the like never dreaming what goes up almost always comes down again, hence negative equity! I remember when I first got a mortgage I had to show I could save each month for two years, we were only allowed to borrow 3X my income, my wife's income was considered transient and not taken into account. All that meant we saved for a deposit, bought a house we could afford to pay the mortgage for and were able to manage. It took us three years to save the deposit, three years of going without and making sacrifices, every spare penny went into that building society account. During the past decade we, as a nation, lost track of the values in life. We expected everything now, we forgot to save for a rainy day or for the untoward happening and borrowed more.That's why we are where we are. Unpalatable and not the case for everyone but for very many people it is the truth and nearly everyone is paying the price now.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
floodberg
Attorney (ret.)
857 Fans
08:12 PM on 11/25/2011
Housing prices are being kept artificially high in the UK, due to several factors:

◘  Prices are inflated with rental prices; the more competition for renting, the higher the house prices go until they're too high for most folks to afford. 
◘ That rental market is fueled by 250K migrants a year (legal) and unknown amounts of nonlegal migrants, folks who have overstayed visas, etc.
◘  The employment rates in UK for citizens are awful, and wages are dropping while basic goods/services are rising. 
◘  The use of privately owned rental properties as council housing (some in very ritzy areas) causes even more price inflation.

But for the factors listed, the UK should have experienced the same 30-50% drop in value that the US suffered.   The new initiative to bypass the 20% down rule will keep housing prices going up, and ensure that the buy-to-let market continues to reap huge profits for those rich enough to invest in it.

'We're all in it together' apparently applies to the rich and their golden trough, not the recession and the folks whose taxes refill said trough.
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pepekitch
33 Fans
 
07:03 PM on 11/25/2011
The housing situation is in a mess and you would have to been living in another planet not to no.A lot of people made money on the housing market around year 2000 2003.While interest are so low no bank building society will lend,why, they dont stand to make any profit on mortgages,untill house prices really fall,and interest go up the market will really stagnate,all we can do is sit tight,hope that business will imptove,get labour goverment in,because what ever your plitics are,it is becoming more apparent that this goverment should have listen to the labour, when this gov took over growth was up,spending was down albeit v small,it was not as bad as it is now,it is time for this goverment to listen to us ordinary people who i am sure would do a better job at running the country because we do live in the real world
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honesttaxpayer
52 Fans
04:49 PM on 11/25/2011
Who would be STUPID enough to go into the housing market now? The prices have still a long way to fall as we slide into stagflation and recession. Stay out for at least another 12 months and there will be lots of houses on the market as rapidly increasing unemployment will result in soaring repossions.
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davm744
58 Fans
03:03 PM on 11/25/2011
does this suprise anyone no should be your answer and we know why .
unemployment up
food up
enrgy up
petrol & diesel up
car insurance up
home insurance up
imigration up
crime up
this tory government promised everything and have after nearly 2 years deleivered nothing ......
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
mirola
Read between the lines
39 Fans
06:26 PM on 11/25/2011
Again the immigration word rears it's ugly head and has got nothing whatsoever to do with falling property prices (unless a neighborhood has become a ghetto, that's different). More people equals higher demand equals higher prices, rent or buy. Again someone putting all the blame on immigration when this has nothing to do with it. Sounds a bit like 'it's all the Jews fault' that the Germans yelled 70 years ago, while as we know now it wasn't. The government is to blame for all of this, including immigration.
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davm744
58 Fans
06:49 PM on 11/25/2011
your right imigration is ugly to the uk, it costs us billions and that money could be spent creating jobs like building houses for the people that are here not for the people that smuggle theselves here for free everything . and they still let vodaphone off with 6-75 billion pounds that could have paid off a little debt ?????????????????
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