House sales increase in March |
Latest figures from the HMRC show that 60,000 homes (worth over £40,000) were sold in March, compared with 43,000 in February. Whilst sales in March would normally be expected to be higher than February, the increase is still a sizeable amount on seasonally adjusted figures, i.e. 54,000 in Feb to 61,000 in March or 13%.
This might come as good news for those looking to move in the near future, but obtaining a mortgage is still much tougher than it was just a few months ago. The Council of Mortgage Lenders reports that in February, first time buyers had to put down an average deposit of 25%. With the average first time buyer loan being £95,000, that means an average deposit of just under £32,000 – a significant amount for all but the most affluent buyers. The CML also reports that 2 million households would be unable to move now due to negative equity or inability to raise a deposit on a new property.
November 17th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Its sad to see this dat but it does explain why we have a lot of property rental and flatshare or room to let websites today.
I guess if buying has become a difficulty, you’ll just have to rent.