More first-time buyers receiving help with mortgage deposit

7 November 2008

More and more first-time buyers are relying on some kind of assistance to lay down a deposit for their home, reports the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

Younger first-time buyers are particularly likely to need some help getting a mortgage, the CML’s ‘news & views’ newsletter reveals.

In the second quarter of 2008, almost half of all first-time buyers under the age of 30 received assistance before they were able to lay down a mortgage deposit. In 2006, that figure had stood at just 38%.

‘We appear to be still some way off the size of correction in house prices that would allow most first-time buyers to buy without help,’ the newsletter observes. ‘It is, in fact, demonstrably harder for young people to be able to buy without a financial leg-up from their family.’

Between April and June 2008, the typical first-time buyer laid down a deposit of £19,000, up from £14,500 a year earlier.

Given the importance of first-time buyers to the housing market, the Council of Mortgage Lenders has welcomed the Homebuy scheme and other Government plans which should help them get ‘a foot on the housing ladder’.

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Tags: mortgage, mortgages, first time buyers

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