First-time buyer levels have now reached their highest levels in over 12 years.
According to UK Finance mortgage data figures, more first-time buyers are obtaining finance for a mortgage than before the financial crash.
35,010 first-time buyers were able to secure a mortgage last month; numbers which have not been seen since August 2007 when 35,070 mortgage completions took place.
The figures also indicate an increase of 0.7% from August 2018.
However, there are still signs that the market is slowing with the 35,380 home mover completions decreasing by 5.5% from August 2018.
Remortgages and the buy to let sector were also seen to continue their decline in August. The 18,100 remortgages represented a fall of 2.3% when compared with the same time a year ago.
Buy to let mortgages also dropped 3.3%, falling to 5,900 in the year to August.
Mike Scott, chief property analyst at Yopa, said: “The main affordability constraint continues to be the need to find a large deposit, with the average first time-buyer mortgage advance being only 77.9% of the purchase price, with the remaining 22.1%, nearly £50,000 on average, having to be paid upfront.
‘These figures suggest that buyer activity in the housing market is still holding up well, especially among first time buyers, despite the continuing political uncertainty. The total number of home sales in the year should be close to 1.2 million, only slightly down on the average for the past five years,’ he added.
Housing Minister Rt Hon Esther McVey MP said: “It’s welcome news that first-time buyers have reached a 12-year high.
“This government is determined to open up the dream of home ownership – with more houses completed last year than in all but one of the last 31 years.”
Will record numbers of first-time buyers ensure the property market remains resilient amidst such political uncertainty?
