Not much to report after a slow news week driven by two long bank holidays; apparently a celebrity couple got hitched and some bloke got knocked off by the Americans but I think that was it.
First-Time buyers have been in the news as ever with further reports of the difficulties faced with getting onto the property ladder. In fact, as our own research suggests, the average deposit now stands at £54,923 and a whopping £138,624 in London, property ownership may seem to be becoming the preserve of the “haves” rather than the “have nots”.
In fact, an article I wrote for MoneySavingExpert.com about this subject provoked some lively comments : Glimmer-of-hope-for-first-time-buyers
However, the good news is that there is a light at the end of a very long tunnel for those with property owning aspirations. Mortgage lenders are beginning to relax slightly and there is now a smattering of products available at 90% Loan-To-Value, with at least one lender offering 95%. Whilst the cost of these deals may seem expensive compared to the historically low Bank Base Rate, historically speaking these are pretty well priced.
Quite a few lenders have reduced their rates further and with the latest UK growth figures showing only a small rise, basically balancing out the previous quarter’s loss, most economists agree that any rate rises will not come until August at the earliest.