First-time buyers benefiting from slowdown

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by Kay Murchie

First time buyers aiming to get onto the property ladder could take advantage of the current slowdown in house prices. Despite Nationwide reporting an accelerated rate of price growth this month, longer-term trends point to a softening in the market. According to FirstRungNow.com, this could give first time buyers just the opportunity they need.

Figures released by the Bank of England show that the wish to buy a property remains as strong as ever, with the number of mortgage granted remaining at 115,000 for the second successive month.

A spokesperson for FirstRungNow.com, the advice website for first-time buyers, remarked that if house prices stick, this is a time when first time buyers will be eager to buy their first home, particularly if it is likely that the house will increase in value again which FirstRungNow.com believe they will.

FirstRungNow.com concluded that the newly launched Home information packs (Hips) would provide detailed information to first time buyers, but highlighted that they could have provided more still had they not been scaled back before their launch.