The latest figures released by e.surv, the chartered surveyors, show that the number of mortgage approvals for October remained roughly the same as that for September – thanks to competitive rates offered by lenders.
The monthly Mortgage Monitor from e.surv found that October brought a total of 65,922 mortgage loans, almost the same number as in September. However, this does mark a dip of 1.2% in comparison with the number of loans that were approved during October last year, with e.surv indicating that the reason for this is the current state of the UK housing market, which is not enjoying much growth.
However, while it noted the issues the slow housing market is creating, e.surv pointed out that numbers have remained virtually even between September and October despite this, which is a sign of how competitive the mortgage sector is.
It has managed to avoid a slump due to a rise in the number of small deposit mortgage loans agreed in October, which accounted for almost 29.2% of the total number. Banks are offering these deals with very low levels of interest, sometimes as little as 1%, making them extremely attractive to first time home buyers.
Richard Sexton from e.surv stated that this influx of first-time buyers was helping the industry avoid being too negatively impacted by the fallow state of the housing market.
Mortgage advisors take CeMAP training so they have the knowledge needed to help first-time buyers find loans with low interest rates to fit their budgets.
