Mortgages -
CML predicts easing affordability pressures - 12/02/2008
|
Mortgage affordability will improve across 2008 due to anticipated rate cuts from the Bank of England, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said today.
This month, the Bank has cut rates by 0.25 per cent to 5.25 per cent - the second such reduction in three months.
A key indicator of affordability is first time buyer numbers - which the CML says grew from 18 per cent in 2006 to 20.7 per cent last year as a proportion of total home purchasers.
Economists predict further rate cuts in the future - which could see first time buyer numbers increase further.
Commenting on the data, CML director general Michael Coogan said: "Affordability has been stretched further in 2007 but the recent base rate cuts and the expectation of future cuts will ease debt servicing burdens in 2008.
"The impact of payment shock on the large numbers of borrowers coming to the end of fixed-rate mortgages will also be less than we anticipated last year."
He added: "For first-time buyers, the combination of subdued house price inflation and lower mortgage rates means affordability should ease slowly as the year progresses."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|