Five-year high in first-time buyer numbers

The number of first-time buyers reached its largest yearly total in five years, according to latest CML figures.

A total of 216,200 first-time buyers became homeowners in 2012, the first time the annual total has exceeded 200,000 since 2007, a year-on-year rise of 12% on 2011 when 193,000 loans were advanced.

On a monthly basis, lending to first-time buyers, home movers and remortgage lending all eased in December, reflecting the usual seasonal factors.

A total of 19,100 loans were advanced to first-time buyers in December, a 12% drop compared to November but up by 3% on the same period in 2011. By value, loans to first-time buyers totalled £2.4 million, a 11% fall on the previous month.

The fourth quarter total showed that lending to first-time buyers continued to strengthen. There were 60,500 loans advanced in the last quarter of 2012, worth £7.6 billion, an 8% increase from the third quarter and up by 14% compared to the fourth quarter of 2011.

In the fourth quarter, first-time buyers also accounted for 42% of all house purchase lending, above the 38% typically seen.

There was also a modest but discernible increase in lending at higher loan-to-value ratios in the last quarter. While the average loan-to-value ratio stayed at 80%, where it has been for two years, this masks some encouraging movement in higher loan-to-value lending. For example, 1 in 40 first-time buyers took out a 95% mortgage compared with less than 1 in 100 a year earlier. And around 1 in 5 first-time buyers borrowed 90% or more.

Table 1: First-time buyers, lending and affordability

Table 2: First-time buyers, lending and affordability (year-on-year)

Home movers

As with first-time buyer lending, lending to home movers dipped in December. There were 25,900 loans advanced to home movers in December, worth £4.3 billion, a 15% fall compared to the previous month and a 9% decrease on December 2011. By value, lending to home movers fell by 12% compared to November.

In the fourth quarter, home mover lending fell, suggesting that the drop in December may not have been entirely due to seasonal factors. In the fourth quarter, a total of 84,900 loans were advanced to home movers, down by 3% on the previous quarter.

Lending to home movers increased year-on-year, however, rising by 3% compared to 2011.

Table 3: Home movers, lending and affordability

Table 4: Home movers, lending and affordability (year-on-year)

Reflecting the fall in lending to first-time buyers and home movers overall, house purchase activity dipped in December. A total of 45,000 loans, worth £6.7 billion, were advanced in the last month of the year, down by 13% compared to November and by 4% on December 2011.

In the fourth quarter, meanwhile, the number of loans advanced increased compared to both the third quarter and the same period in 2011. There were 145,400 loans advanced, up from 143,500 in the third quarter.

Despite the fall in house purchase lending at the very end of the year, strong month-on-month increases throughout much of the year led to a 6% (7% by value) increase in house purchase lending in 2012 compared to 2011. A total of 540,200 loans were advanced worth £80.9 billion, the largest annual total since 2007.

Table 5: Loans for house purchase and remortgage

Table 6: Loans for house purchase and remortgage (year-on-year)

Following subdued remortgage lending throughout 2012, there was a 13% fall in 2012 overall. This pattern continued in December when the value of remortgage lending (£2.8 billion) was 18% lower than the previous month and down by -22% compared to the same period in 2011.

More positively, there was a 5% increase in the fourth quarter total when compared to the previous quarter.

The improvement in funding conditions, and in particular the Funding for Lending scheme (FLS) have stemmed the upwards pressure on interest rates seen through the first half of the year.

The CML said that is particularly true for fixed rate loans, the rates on which peaked at 4.25% on average in August (coincidentally when FLS was launched) and have subsequently fallen to 3.84%. Fixed rate loans became increasingly popular throughout 2012 – overall 69% of mortgages in 2012 were advanced on a fixed rate, up from 62% in 2011 and the largest proportion since 2007. This preference for fixed monthly payments was prevalent among first-time buyers, 83% of whom opted for a fixed rate loan in 2012.

CML director general Paul Smee said: “Despite the seasonal dip in lending that we normally see in December, the underlying trend for year-on-year increases in house purchase activity continued in 2012.