The world certainly feels like a crazy place at the moment. Going to bed hearing reports of yob riots across the country and waking up to violent, anarchic images on the news doesn’t exactly fill any of us with the joys of spring. This, compiled with volatility of the world’s economy, paints a pretty grim picture of life right now.
But there was a piece of research that drew my attention yesterday that I felt I really must highlight as there are some glimmers of light in this piece of property news.
Research carried out by Rightmove is claiming that seven UK regions are now purchasing ‘blackspots,’ for first time buyers (FTBs). The research showed that the level of first time buyers across the country made up just about 20 per cent of all transactions in July.
Unsurprisingly, the research showed that raising enough money for a deposit is the greatest hurdle for first time buyers, but they have failed to identify the host of facilities the industry has put in place to aid FTBs and alleviate their deposit concerns – one of those major facilities being Firstbuy. This new equity loan scheme is a vital and bright light in the dark for potential home owners, and for the wider property market. We are fortunate enough to be able to offer FirstBuy across our English regions and we have already helped our first Miller Homes customer onto the property ladder with the aid of the scheme.
First time buyers should not be fooled that they will never be in a position to buy because of deposit problems, there is plenty of support out there, we just need to make sure that the house-building industry is doing all it can to promote the solutions.
FirstBuy allows those who qualify an equity loan of up to a maximum of 20 per cent of the purchase price (based on the open market value). This means that buyers will only need to fund the balance of the purchase price (as little as 80 per cent) by means of a conventional mortgage (from a qualifying lending institution), savings and any deposit where required.
The comments that the Rightmove report makes on a dip in first time buyer transactions in July is perhaps an indication of the overlap between the HBD funding coming to an end and the implementation of FirstBuy. For all developers, FirstBuy was not available until the end of July, so it was too soon for it to take effect last month. We are very confident that over the coming months this percentage will increase once the availability of FirstBuy is fully promoted by housebuilders and FTBs start to make use of the scheme in numbers.
FirstBuy and similar developer-led schemes are working tirelessly to give new buyers a fighting chance to fulfil their home owning dreams and FTBs should see this as the perfect opportunity to get on the property ladder now.
In the meantime, stay safe and let’s hope that normality is restored and that the outlook for the rest of the UK is brighter on all fronts.
Sue Warwick, national sales and marketing director, Miller Homes
