first time buyers and buy to let

The average house price in the UK in March 2009 for first time buyers now stands at £133,535 which is an annual decrease of – 16.7%. The typical first-time buyer deposit in March was 25% (£35,013), the largest amount on record. The average first-time buyer borrowed 3.0 times their income and the average first-time buyer loan was £105,040. 3.09% of buy-to-let loans were in arrears of three months or more at the end of the first quarter, up from 2.31% at the end of 2008 and 0.92% at the end of the first quarter last year. The CML say that this proportion will have been significantly inflated because of the large reduction in many borrowers’ monthly payments. In the first quarter of 2009, 1,700 buy-to-let repossessions took place (0.15% of all buy-to-let mortgages), up from 1,300 in the fourth quarter (0.11%) and 900 (0.08%) in the first quarter of last year. The National Landlords Association (NLA) has recently undertaken research which reveals that 37% of landlords currently have tenants in arrears. Over the last six months, 44% of landlords have experienced rental arrears. Find a Property rental index shows May 2009 was the first time that rents have not shown a month-on-month decline since as far back as August 2008. Average asking rents remain unchanged at £819 pcm, but are still 5.5% lower than May 2008 when rents stood at £867 pcm. In May 2009, the average time a property was on the market was 65 days, 16 days longer than May 2008. Nearly half of all first-time buyers under 30 are receiving assistance with their deposit – most likely from parents or grandparents. If you would like advice on buying a property for the first time contact Mark or Clare now.