Mortgage products 'still too expensive for first-time buyers'

Posted: 23 Mar 2010 09:36:56 GMT

Mortgage products are still too expensive for first-time buyers to be able to get a foot onto the property ladder, one expert has stated.

Linda Will, sales and marketing director at Stroud and Swinton Building Society, told Mortgage Solutions: "The products are still too expensive for most potential buyers. The fees are too high and raising a deposit is still challenging."

Her comments come in response to new data from Unbiased.co.uk, which reveals that first-time buyers accounted for 42 per cent of all mortgage advice enquiries in February.

While Karen Barrett, chief executive of the site, says that an increasing number of this group of buyers are attempting to enter the housing market to take advantage of lenders' competitive mortgage rates and high loan-to-value deals, Ms Will does not agree.

She thinks it will be unlikely that these enquiries will actually filter through to first-time buyers purchasing a home.

A recent study by the National Housing Federation showed that 86 per cent of 18 to 30-year-olds who want to buy a house do not think they will be able to in the current climate.

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