First-time buyers are starting to come back into the property market, according to new research..
A survey of Equifax customers who have purchased a copy of their credit report found that 70% of the first-time buyers who responded felt more confident about stepping onto the property ladder as a result of the drop in property prices.
The introduction of a number of new products for the first-time buyer sector is also likely to have had an effect, with 75% saying that they had put a hold on their plans in the last year because of the lack of mortgage products on the market.
But the availability of a reasonable deposit still appears to be a challenge for a number of first time buyers, with only 12% having a deposit of more than 20% of the property value and over a quarter (26%) having just a 5-10% deposit. Unfortunately 35% said they had less than 5% deposit which was likely to continue to make it difficult for them to get a mortgage.
Two thirds of respondents also said that they had found it difficult to get a competitively priced deal with over a third (38%) blaming this on the size of their deposit.
However the importance of their credit history didn’t go unnoticed for 30% who said they thought they hadn’t been able to get a good deal because they had previously defaulted on credit or loans. And 17% felt their lack of any credit history to date had been a detrimental factor.
"Clearly the challenging financial conditions are still making it hard for first-time buyers to get on the property ladder," said Neil Munroe, External Affairs Director, Equifax. "But what our latest research, conducted in early October, shows is that there is a new level of confidence that probably hasn’t existed for the last 12 months or so."
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