New data has indicated that first-time buyers are now making up a bigger portion of housing market activity.
According to UK Finance, September statistics from HM Revenue & Customs indicated that transactions from those purchasing their first property had grown from 25% to nearly a third since last year. In contrast, there was a fall in the number of cash and buy-to-let buyers.
Whilst cash buyers still represented the highest share of the market at 35% in September, this is still a decline from 37% during this corresponding month last year. The share of buy-to-let owners saw an even steeper drop year-on-year, down to 5% from 10% in 2016.
Though the number of loan approvals saw a decline in October, additional data from UK Finance showed that mortgage lending actually grew during the month, with figures showing an annual rise of 14%.
Remortgage approvals also saw a rise in October, growing by 37% to 34,036, but in contrast, the number of loans to buyers dropped. At 40,488, this an annual fall of 3%.
Commenting on the statistics was senior economist for UK Finance, Mohammad Jamei. He stated that whilst remortgage ativity had driven the growth in lending, low mortgage rates had caused first-time buyer activity to rise.
“The anticipated bank rate rise saw a flurry of remortgage activity as many home owners took advantage of the competitive rates on offer.
“Borrowing was also boosted by stronger first-time buyer activity as this segment benefitted from good credit availability, lower rates and government housing schemes.”
