First-time buyers 'will see little difference from election'

Forecasts for first-time buyers appear to remain bleak, despite an increase in the stamp duty threshold offered by Chancellor Alistair Darling.

An article in the Times looks at the prospects for the property market and it claims that, in spite of an increase in the number of approvals, deposits are continuing to remain the largest stumbling block.

The report highlights the dilemma facing first-time buyers with smaller deposits leading to larger mortgage costs in the long-term and the alternative for prospective homeowners is to save up for deposits often in advance of 20 per cent of the value.

Journalist Francesca Steele said of the situation: "Lenders say it is not their fault; they blame a lack of wholesale funding … and regulations that now force them to keep large reserve deposits to avoid a credit crunch meltdown."

Last month, an investigation from the same publication claimed that fewer first-time buyers would benefit from the stamp duty holiday than original treasury forecasts.

Such arguably unpromising forecasts may deter first-time buyers from attempting to get onto the housing ladder and encourage them to look for property to rent in the London borough of Greenwich, or elsewhere in the UK, instead.

By Andy Britten

Published 12th April, 2010

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