First-time buyers took out 61,300 loans in the first quarter 2015 - down 24% on the fourth quarter of 2014 and 11% down on the first quarter of 2014. First-time buyers borrowed £9 billion, which was down 23% on the fourth quarter of 2014 and a year-on-year decrease of 5% compared to the first quarter 2014.
First-time buyers typically borrowed 3.36 times their gross income in March, unchanged from February. The typical loan size for first-time buyers increased month-on-month to £123,290 in March, up from £122,285 in February. The typical gross income of a first-time buyer household changed slightly to £38,500 in March from £38,085 in February.
First-time buyers in February paid 18.8% of gross income towards covering capital and interest payments, down from 19.1% in February but still significantly less than the recent peak of 24.8% in December 2007.
In the first quarter 2015, first-time buyers typically borrowed 3.37 times their gross income, down slightly from 3.38 in the fourth quarter 2014. The typical loan size for first-time buyers also decreased quarter-on-quarter to £122,794 from £124,450 in the fourth quarter 2014. The typical gross income of a first-time buyer household changed slightly to £38,139 from £38,324 the previous quarter.
First-time buyers in the first quarter paid 19% of gross income towards covering capital and interest payments, down from 19.2% the previous quarter.
Paul Smee, director general of the CML, commented:
"It was a slow start to activity in the first couple of months of 2015 but the market started to get out of the dip in March, a trend that we think will continue as the year goes on.
"We will have to wait and see how the housing market reacts to the general election result and the reduction in the risk of a prolonged period of market uncertainty which could well have been damaging to businesses and the housing market.”
