Market sees significant rise in applications from first-time buyers

June 4, 2024 by Brendan O'Neill

Property Market

The property market has witnessed a significant increase in the number of applications for mortgages from first-time buyers, according to a new piece of research.

This research comes from CACI, which is a corporate consultancy, and Yorkshire Building Society. It reveals growth in the number of first-time buyer mortgage applications of 33%. What it also reveals is that people looking to buy their first home now account for the largest slice of the overall purchase market in the UK since CACI started looking at the data, which was eight years ago.

That time period has seen a rise of close to 25% in the number of applications from buyers in this category. It means they are currently responsible for nearly 40% of applications on average across the property market. In contrast, the figure for 2016 was 30%.

Another fact uncovered by this latest piece of property market data analysis is that January saw first-time buyer applications surpass those from home movers. This is the first time that has happened.

The figures are also positive for Yorkshire Building Society as a whole. It has experienced a rise of around 25% in the number of applications since the start of this year.

Jeremy Duncombe from the lender told Mortgage Strategy:

“The picture is a fast-changing one, and despite continued inflationary pressures keeping interest rates higher than hoped, coupled with ongoing volatility caused by economic and political uncertainty, consumer confidence seems to be returning.”

This new development will likely be welcomed by anyone with CeMAP mortgage advisor training.