The latest mortgage lending figures show more first-time buyers entering the market.
According to UK Finance, there were 32,200 new first-time buyer mortgage completions in May 2018, the latest month for available statistics.
This is up by 8.1% on the same month a year earlier, with total lending of £5.4bn, 12.5% higher year-on-year.
The data shows that the average first-time buyer is 30 years old and has gross household income of £42,000 a year.
Also in May, there were 31,100 new homemover mortgage completions. This was up 4.4% on the same month a year earlier and was 4.8% higher on a year-on-year basis.
It means that £6.6bn of homemover mortgage lending took place in May. UK Finance reported that the average homemover was 39 years old and has a gross household income of £55,000 a year.
More remortgages took place during the month as well, up 7.1% on the same month a year earlier.
36,000 new homeowner remortgages completed in May with £6.3bn of remortgaging taking place. This was 6.8% higher on a year-on-year basis.
There were 5,500 new buy-to-let purchase mortgages completed in the month.
This was down 9.8% on the same month a year earlier, reflecting the subdued market for property investors following government changes to the taxation of these assets.
By value this was £0.7bn of lending for buy-to-let purchases in the month, 22.2% down year-on-year.
Finally, 14,600 new buy-to-let remortgages were completed in the month.
This was 15% more than in the same month a year earlier and totalled £2.3bn of lending during the month, 21.1% more year-on-year.
Commenting on the data, Jackie Bennett, Director of Mortgages at UK Finance said:
“The mortgage market is seeing a pre-summer boost, driven by a rise in the number of first-time buyers and strong remortgaging activity. It is also particularly encouraging to see an increase in homemovers, after a period of relative sluggishness in this important segment of the market.
“However, affordability remains a challenge for some prospective buyers and this is reflected by a gradual increase in loan to income multiples.
“Meanwhile purchases in the buy-to-let market continue to be constrained by recent regulatory and tax changes, the full impact of which have yet to be fully felt.”
With continued uncertainty around Brexit negotiations, the strength of the UK economy and future interest rate changes, it will be interesting to see whether these lending figures continue to improve during the remainder of 2018.
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