text: FTBs take lions share of home buying in 2019 - London Property News | londonlovesproperty.com
  Home Residential PropertyFirst-Time Buyers FTBs take lions share of home buying in 2019
  written by LLP Reporter 6th Sep 19 10:56 am
  Donnell said, "It is not just the high house prices and large deposits first-time buyers need to overcome to reach their goal of buying their first home. Mortgage regulations introduced after the global financial crisis to ensure households do not become over-indebted mean affordability testing creates an additional hurdle.
  "The impacts of these changes have been felt most in the highest value housing markets and London is the region where FTB numbers have fallen back over the last four years. Faced with affordability constraints, first-time buyers have two options: shift focus to buy smaller, less-expensive homes or take advantage of the increasing availability of high loan-to-value mortgages."
  Donnell said, "First-time buyers are not compromising on size and price of home. Our analysis suggests that they are taking the long-term view and buying a home with a longer-term horizon than they may have done in the past. Three-bedroom homes remain the primary housing type in demand and this drops to two-bedroom homes in London where housing costs and affordability pressures are greatest."
  Donnell added, "The greatest potential for further growth in first-time buyer numbers is in the North West and Scotland, where growth has been most robust recently. Changes to the Help to Buy scheme in England from 2021 could have an impact on the 14% of FTBs using this scheme to buy their first home. However, the impact could be off-set by higher loan to value lending and newer forms of tenure such as shared ownership. First-time buyers will be the largest buyer group this year and there is no evidence that the long run appetite for home ownership will diminish any time soon."