Good news in the housing market
There has been some good news regarding the property market in the past few days. According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders, the lower interest rates over the past months has continued to help first time buyers make their monthly mortgage payments some of the most affordable for almost eight years.
The average monthly interest payments for first time buyers have continued to fall. It typically eats up around 12.per cent of their income which is at the lowest level since January 2004. Home movers are also in a better position as they are paying around 9.2 per cent of their income, the lowest level since 2002.
The director general of the CML, Paul Smee said: "Despite the fall in lending in October, it is possible that we will see signs of increased activity by first-time buyers in the early months of next year, as we approach the end of the government’s stamp duty concession at the end of March.”
Another area of the housing market that has seen some improvement is the amount of new buyer inquiries which by November have increased for the third month in a row. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said that its figures show that for the first time since 2010 the market is showing an extended period of demand. The number of new sales agreed were on the rise, although some areas of the country were still witnessing less than encouraging signs of recovery such as in Yorkshire and Humberside, followed by West Midlands and Northern Ireland. |
|
