January Mortgage Approvals Fall Slightly

January Mortgage Approvals Fall Slightly

First-time buyer activity increased in January whilst mortgage approvals fell slightly in the opening month of 2020.

Small deposit borrowers, usually made up of FTBs gaining their first rung on the ladder by acquiring lower priced property, increased from 25.5 per cent in December to 26.7 per cent in January.

This key demographic had 17,623 mortgages approved last month, a marginal rise on the 16,895 recorded in December.

Overall, the December boom in mortgage approvals seems to have stalled slightly with the 66,002 residential mortgage approvals a 1.8% decrease on December’s total.

Richard Sexton, Director at e.surv, said:

“While the market fell slightly following the December bump, rumours of a Bank of England base rate cut appear to have had little appreciable impact on the mortgage market, with a strong performance among several key buyer groups in January.

“Existing homeowners benefited from low remortgage rates and were persuaded to switch to a new deal, while new buyers also swooped to seal low interest rates for their first purchase.

“The new Chancellor is due to present the government’s Spring Budget in March – the first opportunity for the Johnson government to lay out its spending plans.

“Homeowners, lenders, housebuilders, and anyone else with a stake in the UK housing market, will be watching with interest.”

“January saw an increase in approvals for small deposit buyers – typically an indication that more first-time buyers have made their first step onto the property ladder.”

Martin Parrin

Martin is a Senior Content Writer for Today’s Conveyancer, Today’s Wills and Probate, Today’s Legal Cyber Risk and Today's Family Lawyer Having qualified as a teacher, Martin previously worked as a Secondary English Teacher that responsible for Head of Communications. After recently returning to the North West from Guernsey in the Channel Islands, Martin has left teaching to start a career in writing and pursue his lifelong passion with the written word.

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