First_timer Buyer Chances Lower

First-timer Buyer Chances Lower

First- time buyer chances of buying a home are lower according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has found that the cost of becoming a home purchaser in the UK has worsened by 351 per cent since 1996.  

A couple who are first-time buyers and whose lower quartile earnings total £26,595 after taxes, will now have to save up the equivalent of 104 per cent of joint take-home pay in order to build up the £27,779 needed for upfront buying costs on a typical home, costs such as deposit, fees and stamp duty.  Compared to 1996, when the ratio was at its lowest ever, only 23 per cent.

Our view

The main reasons for chances being lower were slight reductions in loan-to-value ratios that lenders were offering first-time buyers, as well as the continued burden of stamp duty and the costs of buying a home.  

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