20th February 2019
over 370,000 buyers being accepted for the first time
The number of first time buyers hit a 12 year high last year with official statics showing over 370,000 buyers being accepted for the first time.
This figure is 1.9% higher than those in 2017 and was the highest number of first time buyer mortgages since 2006. The £62 billion of lending was also up 4.9% year on year according to trends reported in the market.
December was a particularly good month despite uncertainties regarding Brexit with 30,900 first time mortgages being completed, this was 1.6% higher than the previous December in 2017.
Buy to let remortgages also saw a huge spike in December 2018 compared to the same month in 2017 with 12,400 being completed which was a rise of 25.3% and equated to the value of £2 billion of lending in the month.
According to commentators on the market, it is widely believed that the government help to buy scheme is boosting the market but it is also attributed to competitive rates being offered by lenders across the board, a trend which is expected to continue into 2019.
