Today’s Property Market For First Time Buyers
The 24th March saw our Chancellor Alistair Darling announce a stamp duty freeze on homes under the 250,000 threshold for first time buyers, in a likely attempt to sweeten voters as the General Election looms.
Politically motivated or otherwise, the news was welcomed by most as positive gesture to young, first time buyers who – despite depressed house prices – still struggle to get their foot onto the first rung of the property ladder.
Whilst the removal of the stamp duty levy under the quarter million threshold is one less obstacle to overcome, there are several others that young buyers still face. Getting an adequate deposit can often be the biggest struggle, as lenders require at least a 10 per cent deposit of the total mortgage amount; however in reality it is often much higher than that.
As the Communications Manager at the Council of Mortgage Lenders, Bernard Clarke, explains: “On average, now, [the deposit is] 25 per cent of the cost of the property, which is a very significant amount of money for a first-time buyer to acquire”.
Subsidising deposits with money loaned from the ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’, or pooling resources with friends and partners is therefore an option many young people must take in order to obtain the total amount required by lenders. The British Property Federation estimates that for the average 25 year old to build up 33,000 – the typical amount needed – they would need to save for 18 years.
This clearly poses a difficult problem for people keen to own their own home and to counteract this the Government has initiated the HomeBuy Direct scheme. In the scheme, people who are unable to afford a home themselves are able to purchase a new build property, assigned by the developer, through an equity loan of up to 30 per cent of the purchase price. This is jointly funded by the developer and the Government. The remaining 70% must be financed by the purchaser.
Housing developers are coming up with incentives too, to help make their property more affordable to first time buyers. Barratt Homes for example, the nation’s biggest homebuilder by volume, currently offers schemes like Shared Equity, Head Start and Parent Power to enable first time buyers and key workers to get onto the property ladder.
Philip Youngwood writes on a number of topics relating to property including first time buyers and stamp duty.