It has been reported that restrictions in the mortgage market have resulted in a drop in first time buyer numbers. A report has been released by the property website Right Move, with the data showing that there has been a significant drop in the number people looking to purchase their own home this July compared to the same month last year.
The property company claims that the number of first time buyers looking to buy their own home this July fell to 22 percent and this compared to 31 percent in July of last year. The research indicated that there were a number of possible reasons for the sharp drop in first time buyers looking to get onto the property ladder over the past twelve months.
Right Move officials also warned that the number of first time buyers was at half the level that was required for a healthy housing market. This will come as a blow for the property market, which has been experiencing real difficulties since the onset of the global credit crisis and has only recently started to experience any degree of recovery.
The availability of mortgages is a major concern for many people, and with banks still being very cautious over mortgage lending many may be concerned that they will not be able to get a mortgage. Another problem is that many would be first time buyers cannot raise the deposit that lenders are demanding, and this could be made even worse by news that the Bank of England may be intervening to have mortgage loans capped thus restricting access even further.
Miles Shipside from Right Move said: “With the number of prospective buyers at the bottom of the chain being half of normal levels, the question sellers further up the chain will be asking is ‘who will be at the bottom of my chain?’”