Insurance News Archive

Buyers 'still struggling to afford deposits'

Only purchasers that have a large deposit or plenty of equity in other properties can take advantage of low mortgage rates, according to an expert.

"It's the loan to values that are still preventing people from buying property," says Hayley Martin, team leader at Click n go Mortgage.

She adds that mortgage lenders are not willing to offer home loans for purchase or remortgage over 90 per cent and "those rates are around seven or eight per cent, so they're still quite high".

Ms Martin continues that even when rates are low, buyers are struggling to find the deposit, for example first-time purchasers might be looking at properties at £150,000 with a ten per cent retainer of £15,000, which they often cannot afford.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders estimated that lending reached £12.6 billion in December last year, an 11 per cent decrease compared to the £14.2 billion worth of loans handed out the month before.

22 Jan 2009