There was huge contraction in the amount of mortgage lending in 2008. The credit crunch has swept through the housing market and all but obliterated most of the mortgage deals that were available in 2007.

 The CML figures show total lending is down by a third on 2007’s figure of £364bn and is at its lowest level since 2002, these figure demonstrate the impact of the credit tightening on the market. Mortgage lenders pulled there high loan to value deals that were attractive to first time buyers as they found it increasingly hard to raise the funds as the money markets dried up and the cost of inter bank lending started to rise.

Most lenders still don’t have any high loan to value mortgage deals available as they are still wary of first time buyers. They have adjusted there credit score to ensure only the best clients qualify. For a first time buyer to stand a chance and that includes shared ownership and shared equity purchases you must tick all the correct boxes.

The government has outlined its new proposal this week to help unfreeze the market and get lenders lending again. But if lenders open there doors again to new business will people be reluctant to buy whilst house prices are still falling.

If you want to know more about first time buyer schemes including shared ownership & shared equity mortgage schemes, then contact Click n go Mortgages here.

Banks need to use these facility’s to help breath life into the failing housing market as First time buyers and home movers continue to window shop.Right move has reported that supply remain constrained due to a falling housing market. There were 43,000 new listings in the month to January 10, compared with 89,000 in the same period last year, with inquiries rising to 429,560 in four weeks to January 10 from 199,762 in the same period last year.

The Governments second package of new measures are aimed at helping the banks provide new lending to first time buyers and home movers, shared equity and  Shared Ownership purchases. It’s this market that is suffering the worst, as lenders require a substantial deposit. With out this activity the housing market is slowly grinding to a halt.

Council of Mortgage Lenders director General Michael Coogan said: ‘At long last, the government has announced a comprehensive and coordinated package of measures sufficiently large in scale to have an impact on improving the flow of new lending.’

Northern Rock has been given longer to pay back its loan. This will give the lender more flexibility to offer new lending to help boost the economy.

If you want to know more about shared ownership & shared equity mortgage schemes, then contact Click n go Mortgages here.

When the market does turn, first time buyers will re-enter the market, driven by the renewed affordability of owning over renting. With lenders cautious on loan to value ratios, there will be new types of shared ownership and shared equity schemes to be in high demand.

This will not only be amongst households which qualify for the Government’s Homebuy scheme. There will be more opportunities for private Shared Ownership schemes to meet demand from more affluent households with limited equity, they will sell there home and rent it back.

Margaret Beckett warns would-be first-time buyers not to delay in the hope of further price falls, because “when the upturn comes, there will probably be a mad rush”. She has just launched a shared equity scheme to help first-time buyers purchase Barratt homes.

Most people believe that paying rent for years is as good as throwing money down the drain, the British perception of renting isn’t going to change. Estate agents are reporting an increase in new enquiries, there is still a demand for property that isn’t going away.  

If you want to know more about shared ownership & shared equity mortgage schemes, then contact Click n go Mortgages here.

The Council of Mortgage lenders (CML) have reported that their was only 33,000 new loans granted in November, that’s a 17% reduction compared with last month. First time buyers are finding that they have to put down a large deposit. On average a first time buyer has to put down an 18% deposit of the properties value.

Larger deposits protect lenders from falling house prices. For 95% or even 90% mortgage products to find there way back into the mortgage tables house prices will have to stabilise. When you take a mortgage out the property is used as security against the loan. Banks are restricting there lending to the lowest risk investments therefore providng a wider margin of equity as protection.

The CML predicted that lending would fall further in the next few months.

“Limited mortgage funding and reduced consumer demand will weaken lending activity further in coming months,” said the CML’s director general, Michael Coogan.

“The flow of funds to the mortgage market will not improve this year without further intervention by government,” he warned.

Borrowers are being advise to use any savings from mortgage rate reductions to reduce there loan thus decreasing there loan to value against there property. By doing this you will stand a better chance of getting the best mortgage deal available when your current deal comes to an end.

If you want to know more about first time buyer schemes, then contact Click n go Mortgages here.

My partner and I are lowly first time buyers with a few savings, certainly not enough for a deposit. We rent our slightly shabby 2 bed house, which I long to decorate but don’t want to add value, and are slowly but surely paying off our landlords’ mortgage.

Many times we have been sat in a Bank or Building Society opposite a sympathetic but otherwise unhelpful Mortgage Advisor, who, after informing us that sadly we need a larger deposit and much larger salary, almost runs to the next awaiting couple.

We had heard the terms such as Shared Owneship Mortgage , and Shared Equity Mortgage and basically ignored them, assuming that it was all a con designed to rob us of our rightful place on the property ladder as fully fledged owners. But as time went by and our landlord raised the rent again I decided to put my pre conceptions aside and find out the facts.

My first point of call was our bank, who confirmed that they did not lend on these schemes, so my next contact was a Mortgage Broker. As the Broker explained the difference between the Shared Ownership Mortgage and Shared Equity Mortgage, I found myself listening with interest, then anticipation, and finally excitement; finally there was a way for us to buy our own property.

The Broker explained that if we would consider new builds we could buy a property without a deposit. Initially we would buy 75% of the property value, and buy the remainder over ten years. Because only 75% was required, our salaries were sufficient, and best of all no deposit was required. Apparently the Builder Shared Equity Mortgage has been around for years, to say I was overjoyed is an understatement.

Within a few hours our Shared Equity Mortgage  had been agreed in principal, we had vital information such the maximum we could borrow, and the monthly payments (which was not much more than our current rent). That weekend this couple viewed 3 developments (we actually had a choice), and we were treated with respect by the sales team, after all, we had our finances agreed! We settled on a gorgeous 2 bed terraced with a downstairs loo, heaven!

The moral of this story is that if you talk to the right person, who knows the market and who is familiar with the latest schemes, whether it be Shared Equity Mortgage, Shared Ownership Mortgage, or Open Market Homebuy you can have your very own home to decorate and slowly but surely pay off your own mortgage.

If you want to know more about first time buyer schemes, then contact Click n go Mortgages here.