24
Nov
Winter "a good time" for first-time buyers
First-time buyers may be able to take advantage of a generally slow
time in the market to pick up a bargain, an industry expert has
suggested.
Katie Tucker, technical manager at mortgageforce, commented: "This
winter is going to be quite a good time for first-time buyers
because the property market normally seizes up at this time of
year, so it may well be that properties fall a little bit [in
value]."
However, she pointed out that anyone only just beginning to look at
purchasing a house will have missed out on the stamp duty holiday,
which ends on December 31st this year.
Ms Tucker added that, while the increase in borrowing was an
encouraging sign, it has still not returned to anywhere near 2007
levels.
Earlier in November, the Council of Mortgage Lenders reported that
gross lending in October had risen to £13.5 billion. This is a
five percentage point increase over the previous month, but
compared with the same time in 2008, this represented a fall of 27
per cent.
