High house prices and mortgage rates are adding to affordability pressures on first-time buyers and those looking to remortgage or move home, the Building Societies Association (BSA) warns.
Its June Property Tracker report reveals that more than half (56%) of people think the deposit required to buy a home is too high and for first-time buyers this increases to 63%.
The typical first-time buyer now needs a deposit of around £60,000, a whopping 160% higher than the average £23,000 required in 2005. But wages have grown by less than half this amount in the same period.
Seven out of 10 (68%) would-be purchasers reckon affordability of monthly mortgage repayments is a growing barrier to buying a home while similar number (65%) find raising a deposit is an obstacle, up from 60% in March.
UNSURPRISING
Paul Broadhead, BSAPaul Broadhead, Head of Mortgage and Housing Policy at the BSA, says: “It’s unsurprising that housing market sentiment has declined this month, as mortgage affordability continues to be a significant barrier to buying and owning a home.
“A cut in the Bank rate would have provided a little much-needed optimism to homeowners and first-time buyers.
“Whilst it is pleasing to see the main political parties recognising the struggles of homebuyers, particularly first-time buyers, in their manifestos, it will take more than short-term government schemes to fix our broken housing market.”
He adds: “The new government must commit to working with lenders, regulators, the wider housing market industry, and the public to make homes more affordable, more available, and more appropriate to the needs of those living in them and the world we live in.”
