House Buyer Demand Rises By 37%

Demand from prospective buyers looking for a new home jumped by over 37 per cent last month, new figures show.  In the usual New Year spike in property market activity, the number of would-be buyers rose from 268 per estate agent branch in December to 367 last month, NAEA Propertymark said. Meanwhile, average house prices dipped by 1.12 per cent last month to £245,742, but year-on-year grew by 0.8 per cent, separate findings from the Mortgage Advice Bureau reveal. Read more on the Daily Mail website.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-5441111/House-buyer-demand-rises-37.html

Housing Market Remains Steady Ahead Of The General Election

The UK housing market remained steady in April despite the news of a snap election in June and "ongoing uncertainty around Brexit", according to data from the Mortgage Advice Bureau. During the month the average selling prices increased by two per cent while the typical purchase loan size was up by the same amount. There was a minimal change in average size of remortgage month-on-month (0.6 per cent increase) while the average purchase price for first-time buyers remained broadly unchanged on the previous month (1.23 per cent increase). Read more on City AM.

Rise in Mortgage Approvals Spurred On By “Bargain Basement” Prices

Time may be running out for borrowers to gain a mortgage at a record low price before interest rates rise. “Mortgage approvals continued to climb in July, with the number of approvals for remortgage in particular seeing a significant annual increase. Bargain basement mortgage rates are attracting borrowers in their droves, and many are keen to lock into record low pricing before interest rates rise,” said Brian Murphy, head of lending at Mortgage Advice Bureau. “Not only do remortgagers stand to make significant savings by switching to a competitive deal, many are in a strong position to cash in on the rising value of their home. Savvy borrowers are increasingly making the most of house price rises by releasing money from their homes.” Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

Help to Buy 2 Makes It Cheaper To Buy Than To Rent

Paying back a Help to Buy mortgage is cheaper than renting, saving as much as £180 a year, according to Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB). The average price of a property bought under the mortgage guarantee version of Help to Buy was £153,447 in March, the firm said. MAB claims that based on a 95% loan on the average Help to Buy 2 property price, the typical monthly mortgage repayment for a borrower in their first year would be £753 (or £9,036 annually). In comparison, the average rent across England and Wales now stands at £768 per month. This means that Help to Buy 2 applicants could save £180 annually by paying for a Help to Buy 2 mortgage instead of renting – as well as paying off debt on their own home rather than for a rented property. Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

Help to Buy Equity Loan Scheme Helped Get More Homes Built

Fewer homes would have been built last year if the Help to Buy equity loan scheme (HTB1) wasn’t there to bolster demand, according to Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB). HBT1 help to avert a 5% drop in new housing completions in England last year, the company said. A total of 118,830 new homes were completed in England during 2014 according to data from the CLG. Equity loan completions over the same period – 28,666 – made up 24% of this figure, exceeding the 20% contribution of housing associations across the country. Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

Average Deposit Fell Below £8K with Help to Buy

The average deposit for a home bought under the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme (HTB2) fell below £8,000 towards the end of last year, according to an analysis by broker firm Mortgage Advice Bureau.  According to its National Mortgage Index the average deposit paid by a HTB2 applicant was just £7,856 in November 2014: said to be a record low for the year and 7% less than the previous low of £8,441 in October. Compared to the typical deposit in the wider purchase market (£68,828), HTB2 applicants in November needed 89% less finance for their deposit.  Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

Help To Buy Mortgage Guarantee Deposits Dip below £9K

The size of the average deposit needed to access the property ladder fell below £9,000 in September, according to Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB) – but only for those using the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme (HTB2). Home buyers using the HTB2 scheme were able to access the property ladder with average deposits of just £8,974 in September, according to new data from the company. This is a 3% decrease since August – when the average HTB2 deposit was £9,229 – and significantly lower than September’s purchase market average of £67,929 (-87%). Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

Help to Buy 2 Has “Normalised” High Loan-To-Value Mortgage Lending

Average deposits for home buyers using the Government’s Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme were less than £10,000 in August, the Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB) has claimed. The mortgage broker said its data indicated that a year on from its launch, the scheme is helping buyers with “smaller savings pots” to get on the property ladder. Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

Shrinking Help to Buy Deposits Spark Negative Equity Fears

First time buyers and home movers are scraping together increasingly smaller deposits to buy a house through the controversial Help to Buy scheme, new research shows. The Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB), which represents hundreds of UK brokers, said the average loan to value (LTV) for buyers using the mortgage guarantee element of Help to Buy, which provides Government guarantees for high LTV mortgages, rose to a record 94.4pc in the three months to June. It went up from 94.1pc in the quarter to May and 92.6pc in the first quarter of 2014. This was close to the maximum 95pc LTV available through the scheme.  The data raise concerns that if house prices fall sharply, more people will be at risk of falling into negative equity. Read more on the Daily Telegraph website.

Help To Buy Taking First-Time Buyers Backwards In Time

Buyers are using the Government’s Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme to “sidestep” four years of house price inflation, according to Mortgage Advice Bureau. In its latest National Mortgage Index, the mortgage broker firm shows the average house purchase using a Help to Buy 2 mortgage was £151,021 in April 2014. It’s been four years since the average first-time buyer paid a comparable price, MAB said; £151,000 in March 2010, according to ONS statistics. This average has since risen by 27% to £193,000 in March 2014, leaving a 22% difference between today’s typical first time buyer purchase and that using a Help to Buy 2 mortgage. Read more on the Housing Excellence website.