New year bonus for mortgage market

14/03/13

By Ian Barnsley

Mortgage lenders want the Chancellor to do more to help them build on the best start to the year for home loans since 2008.

The latest study of the market by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has shown an 11 per cent rise in house purchase lending in January compared to the same month last year thanks to an increase in the number of first-time buyers managing to get their feet on the first rung of the property ladder.

But despite the good performance, the CML insists the market is still at a "crucial stage" in its recovery and is calling on George Osborne to introduce measures to help it even more in the Budget next week.

The 38,300 loans provided to homebuyers in January amounted to £5.7 billion in lending and was actually lower than the market's performance in December but higher than the figures for each January since 2008, when 47,800 mortgages were advanced. First-time buyers continued to inspire the upward trend for the third month in a row.

They were responsible for 42 per cent of mortgages approved in January and this suggests that recent measures designed to help people get on the property ladder are now beginning to bear fruit. Around 15,900 mortgages and £2 billion were given to first-timers in the opening month of 2013, 24 per cent more than last January and again the largest total for the month since 2008.

Like last year, people looking to buy their first property are still having to put down deposits of around 20 per cent but they are tending to target cheaper homes, meaning they are borrowing on average 3.20 times their income, slightly more affordable than the December rate of 3.28.

People moving home in January were provided with 22,300 loans to the tune of £3.7 billion, three per cent more than last year and yet another five-year high.

Seasonal factors could not stop the market recording the best start to a year since 2008, according to CML director general Paul Smee and he said members would be looking to do much more to help borrowers to own their own homes or move house in the rest of 2013.

The CML data shows there are now a third more mortgage deals on the market, thanks to the Funding for Lending scheme freeing up more cheap finance. Lenders have more money to offer and they are finding innovative ways to make the money available.

One of these, the Barclays family springboard mortgage, allows those looking to buy their first home to put down a five per cent deposit when their parents take out a savings account alongside the loan.

The Government's NewBuy scheme has seen 3,000 new-builds already snapped up by people putting down another five per cent deposit.

Legal and General's Mortgage Club managing director, Ben Thompson, is looking for the Chancellor's Budget announcement next week to bring more good news for the recovery of the mortgage market.

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