First time buyers.

We believe the first time buyer (FTB) market is a potential growth area in 2012. We will be behind the drive to open up more lending for frustrated tenants and “wannabe” homeowners - we think this is a good thing to do for the right consumers and will help to lobby in this regard.

FTB NEWS

Thinking of becoming a Guarantor? National counties has created a 10 point guide (PDF: 35KB) to help with the decision making.

Woolwich mortgages from Barclays launches Helpful Start
Helpful Start, a new initiative to help more buyers onto the property ladder. The first part of this scheme by Woolwich mortgages from Barclays launches with their ‘Family Affordability Plan’. This enables parents to help their children get on or to move up the property ladder without giving a lump sum away through a joint mortgage. Visit Woolwich's lender page now for more information.

Great news - Halifax to pay half of borrowers' Stamp Duty bills
Halifax's new deal for any first-time buyers or homemovers is to pay half of the Stamp Duty bill, reducing a buyer's costs up to £1,250. Find out more information in Mortgage Solutions.

NewBuy scheme
The government’s NewBuy housing initiative has officially launched on Monday 12 March, with three lenders - Nationwide, Barclays and NatWest on board (Natwest, not currently through intermediaries). Halifax have also recently launched their range on April 16. The government hopes this scheme will help people to borrow up to 95% of the value of new homes.

Guarantor Mortgages
The Mortgage Works, a subsidiary of Nationwide now offers Guarantor Mortgages. This provides FTBs the opportunity to get onto the property ladder making ownership possible. Find out more.

Key benefits of Guarantor Mortgages:

• Full and Limited liability options available.
• Low deposit required from 15% (maximum LTV 85%).
• Variety of products with arrangement fee options.
• 2 and 3 year fixed and 2 year tracker options available.
• Annual 20% capital repayment allowance without incurring Early Repayment Charges.
• Also available for remortgages.

Whilst there’s much doom and gloom about the housing market, there are several positive reasons why first time home ownership may be a possibility for many:

• Affordability is getting better and the proportion of income spent on interest payment for FTBs has been dropping, now standing at 12.3% compared to 13.3% a year earlier*
  (*source CML October 2011 versus October 2010 - http://www.cml.org.uk/cml/media/press/3116)
• Renting is now in many cases much more expensive when compared to the average monthly mortgage payment – we’re lobbying lenders to take into account rental payment histories when considering affordability
• House prices are dropping in many areas, again leading to better affordability for FTBs
• The Government also realises that first time home ownership is a real issue and has launched many schemes to help FTBs. David Cameron said introducing taxpayer-backed 95% mortgages would help 100,000 buyers frozen out of the market by the lack of finance, while Get Britain Building will spark the construction of 16,000 new homes on building sites hit by the recession. The Council of Mortgage Lenders, which devised the scheme with The Home Builders Federation and the government, heralded the return of 95% deals, which it said would give a "welcome boost to housing market confidence".

Key lenders in this market

• Aldermore
• Skipton Intermediaries
• The Cambridge
• Nationwide for Intermediaries
• Woolwich
• National Counties BS

We want your feedback

We want this page to be your hub for information on FTBs – if you have any ideas of other information or material we should add, email us at mortgageclubmarketing@landg.com

---