First-timers driving mortgage market

First-time buyers took out 27,000 loans in November, a modest rise in volume of 0.7% compared to October but up 24% compared to November 2012, Council for Mortgage Lender statistics have revealed.

The Bank of England reported earlier this month that UK gross mortgage lending was at £17bn in November, a 4% decrease from October yet still 30% higher than £13.1bn in November last year.

Loans numbers for home movers declined by 2.4% in November from October, while the amount of buy-to-let loans taken out in November remained at a steady 16,200.

Buy-to-let remortgage lending increased slightly in November to 7,700 loans, up 1.3% compared to October.

Peter Lawrence at Lawrence Rand added: “The availability of attractively priced mortgage funds and the introduction of Help 2 Buy is enabling many first time buyers to enter the market and many second steppers to make moves that were previously being held back.

2014 is likely to see a continuing improvement in transactional volumes and be a great time for those looking to move home or invest.”