First-time buyers 'face larger mortgages'
Published On 12 April 2007
Figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) seem to indicate that young people in the UK are struggling to find mortgages to purchase their first home.According to data released as part of the ONS report on the changing lives of the nation's children, 58 per cent of men aged between 20 and 24 still live at home with their parents.
Similarly, nearly four in ten (38 per cent) women in this age range still live in their family home.
The ONS suggests that part of the reason more and more young people are living at home for longer is that houses has become increasingly expensive for first-time buyers, meaning that they would have to take on larger mortgages to afford a property.
ONS figures show that, while average income has increased by 92 per cent since 1995, the typical house now costs 204 per cent more than 12 years ago.
Figures published recently by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) show that more first-time buyers are opting for fixed-rate mortgages as they fear future interest rate increases.
"With the chance of at least one more interest rate rise this year, first-time buyers are taking the sensible option of taking out fixed-rate deals, and locking into the payment security they provide," CML director general Michael Coogan explained.
