Housing slowdown 'will help first-time buyers'
Published On 1 April 2008
An industry expert has suggested that the reduction in the number of available mortgages in the UK could be good news for first-time buyers.Paul Holmes, operations director of Firstrung, pointed to a recent study by Moneyfacts.co.uk that showed a 60 per cent decrease in the number of available mortgages on offer in the UK.
He explained that the lack of mortgages was likely to cause house prices to fall, which would be helpful to first-time buyers who had previously struggled to afford a property.
"You have first-time buyers who are flavour of the day from house builders who have over-developed massively and now have no customers and so the only people they can possibly look for are first-time buyers," Mr Holmes added.
"If first-time buyers think they've got a bargain, then fine, buy it.
"If not, they've waited this long so where's the harm in sitting out the market a little bit longer and watching as this drama unfolds?"
Recent figures from Nationwide showed that the annual rate of house price inflation dropped to 1.1 per cent in March, its lowest level in 12 years.
