Mortgage completions for first-time buyers, home movers and landlords ended last year on the rise.
Data from trade body UK Finance shows there were 29,490 first-time buyer mortgages completed in December, up 0.3% annually, while the number of home mover loans increased 3.2% to 29,400 compared with a year before.
There were 5,700 new buy-to-let home purchase mortgages completed in December 2019, up 3.6% annually.
Commenting on the figures, Sam Harhat, head of financial services at Andrews Property Group, said: “This latest data shows that chaos can often be a catalyst for action.
“While the closing stages of 2019 were among the most volatile for decades politically, many people decided to cut their losses and move home before any further potential upheaval.
“There’s a sense that first-time buyers were particularly wary that if our departure from the EU didn’t bring the roof in, they could soon be left behind.
“Fears of Brexit ultimately proving benign and the market rebounding caused many first-time buyers to make their move in 2019.
“What’s also encouraging is that buy-to-let completions were also up on the previous year. The buy-to-let market appears to have stabilised and is showing it has got fight left in it yet.
“Since the second half of January, the new climate of political certainty has unleashed a lot of pent-up demand.
“Mortgage approvals look set to continue to pick up during the Spring, with the aspirational buyers that have been missing for so long taking up the slack.”
Full article: https://propertyindustryeye.com/signs-emerge-of-property-market-recovery-as-mortgage-completions-rise/