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First-time buyers coming back: Unbiased
Searches for first-time buying advice have risen to a 23-month high, according to statistics from IFA promotion website Unbiased.co.uk
The total number of searches in January this year reached 41 per cent, the website’s latest Advice Drivers data showed, a rise of 5 percentage points on December’s total.
While apparent interest in buy-to-let advice dropped in January, after huge demand in Q4 2011, the appetite for re-mortgage advice returns have been driving enquiries using the ‘find a mortgage adviser search’.
|
|
Top ten mortgage advice drivers in January 2012 |
% of total in January 2012 |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
First-time buyer |
41% |
|
2 |
Remortgage |
30% |
|
3 |
Buy-to-let |
19% |
|
4 |
Residential |
16% |
|
5 |
High loan-to-value |
8% |
|
6 |
Self Employed |
6% |
|
7 |
Equity Release |
5% |
|
8 |
Flexible |
3% |
|
9 |
Sub-Prime |
3% |
|
10 |
Commercial |
1% |
Latest figures from unbiased.co.uk’s Advice Drivers report show first-time buyer mortgage enquiries remain the number one advice driver for consumers looking for whole-of-market mortgage advice according to unbiased.co.uk’s ‘find a mortgage adviser’ search.
The professional advice website’s data shows buy-to-let enquiries dropped off in January; searches for this area of mortgage advice fell to 19 per cent, despite ending the year on a high, generating 25 per cent of all enquiries on unbiased.co.uk’s ‘find a mortgage adviser’ search throughout October, November and December 2011.
However, year-on-year searches still remain up from last year, from 14 per cent in January 2011, reflecting an increased appetite from consumers for this type of mortgage advice.
Interest in re-mortgage advice crept back up again in January to 30 per cent, having dipped last year from 36 per cent in November to 29 per cent in December.
Karen Barrett, chief executive of unbiased.co.uk, said: “We are seeing an increasing number of high loan-to-value mortgages return to the market, which can only be good news for first-time-buyers trying to get their foot on the ladder.”
The data came after chancellor George Osborne announced there may be a cap on LTVs.
