Healthy quarterly figures reported for first-time buyers

April 30, 2024 by Brendan O'Neill

House building

The opening quarter of 2024 has been a strong one when it comes to first-time homebuyer mortgage applications, with a sizeable increase being recorded in comparison to this time last year.

First Direct has taken a close look at the latest data published by CACI. This shows that first-time homebuyer applications worth £24.2 billion were completed during the initial three months of the year. That marks a rise of 37% on the figure that was recorded for the same three-month period in 2023 and is further evidence that the market is in recovery.

February proved to be a particularly good month for first-time buyer applications. Mortgages totalling £11 billion were agreed during that month alone, which is the highest monthly total for eight years. The total value of the first-time buyer applications agreed for the same month in 2023 was just £5.6 billion.

It means the opening quarter of this year is the best in terms of growth for first-time buyer applications since the autumn of 2022, when the mini budget was announced. February 2024 also brought the highest number of applications among this demographic since March of that year, at 49,982.

First Direct mortgages head Liam O’Hara told Financial Reporter:

“It’s been a positive start to the year across the mortgage market, with the volume of first-time buyer applications ahead of home movers and remortgages, shooting up to numbers not seen in nearly two years.”

Mortgage advisors who have CeMAP training will be delighted to see that people are still looking to buy.