The increase in property sales in 2012 meant this trend has carried on for five years. 2012 actually saw a five per cent increase on 2011 with 932,000 transactions completed according to HMRC. This is good news for landlords as it means there are more opportunities to buy and develop their portfolios. If you are a landlord and looking to add to your properties then make sure you have adequate landlord insurance to cover any additions.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders has shown evidence as to why this is happening and why it will continue to happen. In the most recent “news and views” release it has said, “Overall, there has been a marked sense of improvement in the mortgage lending landscape over the past year, which we forecast will continue in 2013.”
Since the credit crunch started 2012 saw the highest amount of first time buyers entering the market, a huge 220,000. On top of this the amount of first time buyers that can enter the market without having any help from relatives. The Council of Mortgage Lenders have also said, “We estimate that there has been a slow and steady increase in the proportion of first time buyers buying without assistance from 32 per cent of all first time buyers in 2009 and 36 per cent in 2012.”
It is expected that mortgage lending will reach £156 billion in 2013 compared to the £143 billion seen during 2012. Despite this huge increase, compared to five years ago the figures are still nearly half of what they were. Commenting on this the Council of Mortgage Lenders have said, “Indeed, we suspect that consumer sentiment may not yet have caught up with the extent to which the mortgage market has already improved; and some commentators still take their benchmark the over-heated mid-2000’s.”
Many market analysts believe that another reason for the growth was down to the multi billion pound scheme that was introduced by the Government in August of last year. There are also other offers being launched such as Barclays “family springboard” mortgage”. This means buyers can climb onto the property ladder with a five per cent deposit if their parents put 10 per cent of the overall property price into a savings account.
