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Aug 14, 2006
New data from the
Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) reveals that the average first-time property buyer
in the UK
was paying 3.21 times their income to get a mortgage in June. This figure is the
highest on record, up from 3.20 times the average income in May, and 3.06 times
in the same month last year, CML explained.
Despite this rise,
the CMS survey shows that number of first-time buyers taking out new loans went
up by 14% - from 34,800 in May to 39,500 in June. This is the highest number of
first-time buyers since December 2002 (44,000). As a percentage, first-time
buyers accounted for 36% of all new loans - unchanged since April, but down by
2% on June 2005, CML reported.
The survey also
revealed a jump of 24% in the number of people taking out tracker loans.
Tracker loans went up from 30,000 in May, to 38,800 in June, and accounted for
19% of all new loans. Conversely, fixed-rate mortgage products declined
slightly by 2% - from 143,200 loans in May, to 140,600 loans in June. Despite
this, CML says fixed rate products still accounted for 68% of all new loans -
up from 57% in the same month last year.
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