"At a time when millennials are facing significant affordability restrictions brokers have been vital in supporting and enabling these new buyers to get that longed for first home."
First-time buyer numbers saw an annual rise of 1% in Wales, 1.6% in London, and 4.5% in Scotland.
Homemover mortgages were down in London and Northern Ireland but saw a modest rise of 1% in Wales and 6.6% in Scotland.
Remortgages were up significantly in Scotland and Northern Ireland, were fairly steady in Wales with a small drop of 0.2%, but fell by 1.3% in London. However UK Finance says this dip in remortgaging follows a period of strong growth in London during 2018.
Louisa Sedgwick, director of mortgage sales at Vida Homeloans, commented: “Encouragingly, we have seen the highest number of first-time buyers get on the property ladder in the last ten years. At a time when millennials are facing significant affordability restrictions brokers have been vital in supporting and enabling these new buyers to get that longed for first home. However we are seeing this happening later, as the average age of a first-time buyer in London is currently 33 and 31 in Scotland.
“Lenders have also worked hard with brokers to provide new and innovative solutions that supports first time buyers who would ordinarily be turned away by high street lenders. Whether that be recognising the role the Bank of Mum and Dad plays or government schemes such as Help to Buy and Shared Ownership. As an industry, we must continue to support driving generation rent into generation buy.”
John Phillips, national operations director at Just Mortgages and Spicerhaart, added: “The regional lending trends data out today from UK Finance reveal that first-time buyer mortgages are up across the UK for quarter one, with the biggest hike in Northern Ireland, which saw a rise of 11.4%.
“Yes, there is a bit more action in terms of homemovers in Scotland, and I think this is because there is a bit of a north south divide at the moment with people in the north of England and Scotland feeling less close to the political and economic uncertainty being felt in London, but overall, the picture is what I’d expect to see, and until all this uncertainty is over, I don’t think this is going to change anytime soon.”
